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...still, there seems be a lag between maneuver expectations and the fire support system's ability to deliver.
Clearly, we have worked hard and done well to improve our ability to focus our fires on close support. We have improved our ability to attack "targets or objectives that are sufficiently near the supported force." Yet the perception exists that the fires needed to enable maneuver success, fires that support close contact at the task force (TF) and company commander levels, are not there.
The May 2000 final draft of FM 6-20-40 Tactics, Techniques and Procedures for Fire Support for Brigade Operations (Heavy) lists one of the four tasks of the direct support (DS) Field Artillery battalion as providing "responsive FS [fire support] that protects and ensures freedom of maneuver to forces in contact with the enemy" (emphasis added). (2) Yet, in the view of many maneuver commanders, fires fall well short of their expectations of protecting and ensuring their freedom of maneuver when in contact with one of the Combat Training Center (CTC) opposing forces (OPFORs). Accuracy, responsiveness and availability are their primary issues.
The perception is Field Artillery fires and close air support (CAS) support the brigade operation only. In one article criticizing fire support, an Infantry lieutenant colonel author said, "If a fire mission happens to aid a battalion ground movement, it is a coincidence. Maneuver commanders cannot make it happen intentionally." (3)
Why have we drifted toward close fires vice close supporting fires? The provision of close supporting (contact) fire support is tough. When a maneuver force comes into direct fire contact, the battlefield character radically changes. This environment can be characterized is time-sensitive (fires must be fast when he race goes to the swift). There is a very small margin for error (fires must be accurate when they inherently are dangerously close). The situation is fluid and confused (fires must be flexible when clearance is difficult). And there ire multiple critical demands for fires now (fires must be overwhelming when assets are limited).
To be decisive, fires must be fast, accurate, flexible and overwhelming. Fires, both direct and indirect; must produce complementary or reinforcing effects. This environment requires an agile combined arms response.
As a combined arms community, we must improve our ability to rapidly focus fires in support of a company-team that has just made contact. Failure to respond rapidly with fires may allow the enemy to render opportunities gained with close fires (sufficiently near the supported force) moot.
The combined arms community can use two techniques to provide "close contact" fire support and improve both the responsiveness and availability of fires. The first technique is to allocate a "dedicated" battery in support of a main effort TF in contact. The second is to use a parallel process for clearing fires while adjusting on them to the target.
The Dedicated Paladin Battery. Part of slow response hinges on a lack of clear standards for tactical decision making and rapidly accessing the fire support system to attack a target in support of a company-team in contact. Typically, unless the fires are planned as part of an essential fire support task (EFST), the brigade combat team (BCT) commander and (or) the fire support coordinator (FSCOORD) have to decide whether or not to shift from one target to attack a newly identified target. Training standards do not dictate how fast the commander or the FSCOORD must make that decision.
Clearly, if it takes any time at all, for the company-team in contact, it is too long. This is especially true if fires are...
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