FM-3-09 Fire Support and Field Artillery Operations Download
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Fire Support in Depth During Large-Scale Ground Combat Operations 30 April 2020 FM 3-09 6-9 Rapidly shift fires from support of the defense to support the counterattack and offense. Coordinate and synchronize air support on known, suspected, and likely enemy locations. MANEUVER 6-40. Maneuver allows a defending force to achieve and exploit a position of relative advantage. Even in the defense, there are elements of the offense. FS assists defending forces create opportunities to maneuver against the attacking force by: Delaying the movement of enemy reserves. Coordinating all means of available FS to delay, destroy, or limit the enemy's advance, and to weight the attack(s) of the striking force in a mobile defense. Supporting the obstacle plan by placing fires in front of, on top of, to the side of, and behind obstacles to maximize their effect. Providing fires to support the disengagement of maneuver elements and their repositioning to subsequent battle positions. Channelizing enemy movement into EAs. MASS AND CONCENTRATION 6-41. Defending forces seek to mass and concentrate fires against enemy forces. This produces overwhelming combat power at specific locations to support decisive operations. Concentrating forces increases risk of large scale losses from enemy fires. This risk can be mitigated by using deception and employment of fire support. FS considerations for this characteristic of the defense include: Support the rapid destruction of an enemy force when it is most vulnerable or when it is on the verge of gaining a significant advantage. Allow a commander to accept prudent risk by using minimal maneuver forces in one area in order concentrate forces in another area. Mass fires to create an important demoralizing psychological effect that is not achieved from smaller-scale fires. Use fires, TA, and CFZs to protect concentrating enemy forces. OPERATIONS IN DEPTH 6-42. Operations in depth is the simultaneous application of combat power throughout an area of operations (ADP 3-90). The headquarters FSE plans the employment of available Army and joint fires to achieve depth and simultaneity and secure advantages for future operations. This includes disrupting the enemy's approach to and movement within the MBA, destroying high-payoff targets (HPTs), denying or interrupting vital components of enemy operating systems, and using obscurants to conceal friendly movement. They create conditions favorable to friendly forces by disrupting enemy long range fires, sustainment, and command and control. The defending commander directs the delivery of effects in multiple domains to establish positions of relative advantage necessary for a successful counterattack. Operations in depth prevent enemy forces from maintaining their tempo. FS assets rapidly and continuously engage enemy forces throughout the operational framework to: Disrupt, delay, and attrit the enemy in the deep area. Destroy enemy long-range fires, ADA sites, and sustainment efforts. Destroy and neutralize enemy sustainment and C2 nodes. Allocate responsive fires to support the decisive operation. Disrupt the enemy's tempo in the close area by attacking enemy forces preparing to attack. Plan observation and fires to defeat or disrupt enemy attempts to breach friendly obstacles. Plan obscurant fires to deny enemy observation or screen friendly movements between defensive positions. Neutralize enemy threats in the support and consolidation areas.