Military Review English Edition November-December 2015 | Page 64

FLIR that ADA vehicles were sent ahead of
convoys to clear routes and identify IEDs or
other threats along routes throughout the
entire 1st Armored Division zone.14

According to the AMD strategy, “AMD capabilities
are critical to the future force and the Army mission.”15
When a force maneuvers, and when gaining access requires seizing key terrain, how can air defenders enable
the maneuver commander without nonstatic-engageMisperceptions of Air Defense
ment-AMD capabilities? In a 2013 issue of Fires, Brig.
There is a clear disconnect between the maneuGen. Donald Fryc, commander of the 32nd Army Air
ver and air defense communities. Students attending
and Missile Defense Corps, said the C-RAM system “is
the Maneuver Captain’s Career Course (MCCC)
not suited to move and [cannot] protect the support
are taught a false conceptual application of proelements of a brigade combat team when not in that
tection from aerial threats because the curriculum
[BCT’s] fixed location.”16 This statement applies to all
incorporates legacy doctrine for air defense. MCCC
HIMAD assets—the priorities of the AMD strategy.
scenarios include air threats that require students
The Army AMD strategy has emphasized the reto receive nonstatic-engagement-AMD assets, such
duction of nonstatic-engagement-AMD for more than
as Linebackers, which are no longer fielded, and
ten years. As part of Army transformation in 2005,
Avengers, which are available in very limited quantity. the air defense branch announced the inactivation of
In addition, the current platform of the Avenger is the divisional ADA battalions, the removal of the Bradley
high-mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicle, which
Linebacker, and the downsizing of the Avenger force.17
no longer meets protection standards, thus rendering
Meanwhile, maneuver forces continue to request
the system obsolete and unusable for combat operaAvenger assets to support global response force packagtions without deliberate modernization efforts. As a
es and to augment their exercises at the Joint Readiness
result, maneuver leaders are being taught the employTraining Center ( JRTC) and the National Training
ment of nonexistent air defense enablers.
Center (NTC). In 2013, an ADA battery provided
nine Avenger teams to augment JRTC rotation 1301.18 Another battery
provided three Avenger
teams in April 2015 to
augment JRTC rotation
15-06 while simultaneously
being attached to the 82nd
Airborne Division global
response force.
During JRTC and NTC
rotations, training scenarios
incorporate unmanned air
assets, such as the Raven—a
lightweight, high-mobility
UAS designed for low-altitude surveillance and
reconnaissance, to simulate
the growing UAS threat.19
In a 2013 Infantry magazine
article, Capt. Jeremy Phillips
provides an insightful per(Photo by Sgt. Christopher Kaufmann, Joint Combat Camera Afghanistan)
spective of an infantryman’s
Sgt. Aubrey Caplinger and Spc. Gabriel Vega, Battery B, 3rd Battalion, 62nd Air Defense Artillery
concern for units needing
Regiment, pull security atop an Avenger 4 March 2004 during the opening ceremony of the Ghazni
Provincial Reconstruction Team facility, Ghazni, Afghanistan.
counter-UAS enablers. The
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November-December 2015  MILITARY REVIEW