READY FOR TODAY – EVOLVING FOR TOMORROW
with all joint and coalition fires available . Deep fires is the collective and coordinated use of indirect fire , armed aircraft , and other lethal and non-lethal means in support of the commander ’ s battle plan that give us the competitive edge to dominate the air , land and sea .’
Setting the Parameters
This short and unclassified look at delivering Corps Deep Fires will be limited to the involvement of Aviation ( Avn ) and Surface to Surface ( S2S ) fires available within Corps Troops . It is beyond the scope of the article to discuss Air , Electronic Warfare ( EW ) or Information Operations ( IO ), except in passing comment where their involvement is intrinsically linked to the delivery of Avn and S2S fires . The article will firstly define , in simple terms , a number of key assumptions the author has devised to frame the context in which the article is set . It will then discuss the planning and targeting process used to assist decision-making before concentrating on the delivery of Deep Fires ( including the role of Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance ( ISR ) and the rules that govern fires ) before briefly looking forward to what ’ s next .
Assumptions
a . Corps Deep Battlespace ( fig 1 ): An area reaching forward of the Corps left and right boundary ; starting no further forward than the planning range of AS90 approximately 15 km beyond the Forward Line of Own Troops ( FLOT ) and indicated by the Corps Co-ordinated Fire Line ( CFL ) – and ending no further forward than 280 km beyond the FLOT ; indicated by the Fire Support Co-ordination Line ( FSCL ).
b . Integrated : Combining Air , Avn , S2S fires , ISR and other resources ( Lethal and Non-Lethal ) to achieve concentrated , massed fires throughout the Corps Battlespace is essential .
c . High Tempo : Conducting fires in a NATO Article 5 , high intensity warfighting scenario , against a peer or peer plus enemy should be the planning assumption .
d . Multinational : Using a combination of fires assets from the 29 members of NATO additional partnering nations taking part in an operation is inevitable .
Figure 2
The Corps Targeting Cycle ( Decide , Detect , Deliver , and Assess ( D3A ))
The key to effective deep fires is accurate , timely intelligence that can be translated into targeting data for execution by the full range of fires assets available to the Commander and having a robust , multinational , interoperable , Command Control Communication Computers and Information ( C4I ) structure to support it .
Within HQ ARRC ’ s Joint Fires and Influence Branch ( JFIB ) the Joint Fires team ( consisting of ACOS Joint Fires , Joint Fires Current Operations ( JF Ops ), Joint Fires Plans ( JF Plans ) and Joint Fires Targets ( JF Tgts )) are responsible for the nominating , planning , refining and the execution of integrated and synchronised deep strikes on legitimate enemy High Priority Targets 1 ( HPT ). These sub teams however , do not work in isolation . They are intrinsically linked , effectively working as one entity to deliver Deep Fires on time and on target .
JF Tgts works closely with G2 and other branch leads to analyse the enemy ’ s Centre of Gravity ( COG ), tactics and laydown and in conjunction with the results of the Intelligence Preparation of the Environment , to plan targets out to 96 hrs using the D3A cycle ( fig 2 ). JF Plans work with G5 and G35 to inform Corps planning and the refinement of resulting Courses of Action ( COA ). They synchronise fires and fires resources with the manoeuvre plan at every stage .
1 HPT : Targets , the loss of which would significantly contribute to the success of the commander ’ s mission .
ALLIED RAPID REACTION CORPS 39