Deconflicting army aircraft and indirect fires: brigade-level [A.sup.2][C.sup.2]

FA Journal, March-June, 2004 by Daniel A. Pinnell, Victor S. Hamilton, Michael T. Oeschger

[FIGURE 4 OMITTED]

In the example shown in Figure 4, a 105-mm battery is firing Charge Five at a range of seven kilometers. Both the target and the battery are at the same altitude, which is near sea level.

According to the data from the trajectory tables, the projectile will pass above 300 feet AGL (approximately 100 meters) within the first 500 meters of the trajectory. Based on this, the brigade can construct a circular ROZ with a 500-meter radius that has a minimum altitude of surface and a maximum altitude of 300 feet--the coordinating altitude.

In this example, the angle of fall of the projectile as it nears the target is just slightly steeper than its angle of departure from the tube. That means the brigade can use the same rough 500-meter radius cylinder to envision the danger area along the gun-target line at the terminal end of the trajectory, using informal airspace coordination areas (ACAs) around the target. Dimensions will vary based on several factors.

Deconflicting Attack Helicopters in SSCs. This is a little more complex. If the aviation task force (AV TF) has been given its own AOR, such as between the airhead line and the coordinated fire line (CFL) or in a security zone in the defense, and a tactical task to accomplish (i.e., screen), then its parent headquarters must clear fires within that AOR. No special ACM/FSCM are required at the brigade level inside the AVTF AOR in this case, but the aircraft should be restricted to air corridors when transiting to and from their AOR and other locations.

When attack helicopters are placed under the tactical control (TACON) of another battalion task force and operate inside that subordinate unit's AOR (i.e., in and around the terminal effects pattern), additional measures are required. First, when flying inside another unit's AOR, the aircraft must maintain a communications link with the unit that owns the AOR (battalion, company, etc.). When TACON to that subordinate unit, the aircraft's primary net should be either the controlling unit's command or fires net and the aircraft should execute movements only under the positive control of the supported unit. To affect this control, commanders and FSOs should first use existing graphic control measures (GCMs), such as phase-lines (PLs) and company/platoon boundaries, to separate aircraft from the effects of fires.

When indirect fires are requested, aircraft can be ordered easily to move beyond the effects range of the system by directing them to "Stay east" of a certain PL or outside of a specific unit's AOR until end-of-mission. Informal control measures, such as an informal ACA, can achieve the same end state, but they carry a higher risk of error in repeated use because not all leaders and aviators will have the same graphics posted to the same degree of fidelity on their maps.

Figure 5 shows the integrated [A.sup.2][C.sup.2] plan for a brigade AOR using a combination of ACMs and FSCMs to deconflict indirect fires from aviation.

Controlling/Deconflicting Measures for Military Operations in Urban Terrain (MOUT). Additional formal and informal measures help control and deconflict indirect fires and attack helicopters in high-intensity operations concentrated in small areas, such as MOUT. Two techniques, the holding area (HA) and the Kiowa Warrior cross, enable the combined arms attack of targets in village fights as well as in live fire at the JRTC. Both are examples of time and lateral separation techniques for executing the formal and informal ACAs described in Appendix D of FM 3-09.4 Fire Support for Brigade Operations (Heavy).