Urban operations update

Infantry Magazine, Spring, 2002 by John J. Bastone

In October 1996 the Defense Science Board concluded that the most likely battlefield of the future would be an urban area. The board also made some recommendations, essentially stating that the armed forces of the United States needed to improve their capabilities for conducting urban operations (UOs). Understanding this need, U.S. Army Infantry School established the Combined Arms MOUT Task Force (CAMTF) in June 1999, with the charter of updating UO doctrine, developing an overall training strategy, and identifying training requirements. This article provides a short synopsis of what the task force has accomplished to date.

Doctrine

The following is an overview of the UO doctrinal update effort throughout the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC). The doctrinal update methodology consists of three efforts on parallel axes:

* Link Field Manual (FM) 3-06 (90-10) to FM 3-0(100-5) and Joint Pub (JP) 3-06; provides all inclusive urban operational doctrine.

* Link FM 3-06.11 (90-10-1) and 7/71 Series FM updates to FM 3-06 (90-10); provides UO combined arms doctrine at brigade level and below.

* Link TRADOC proponent efforts to update respective proponent manuals to the above field manuals; provides branch specific UO doctrine.

In short, published and emerging doctrine is sound and applies to current forces as well as Transformation forces.

The capstone Army doctrinal manual--FM 3-0 (100-5), Operations, provides the doctrinal framework for the Army. The keystone doctrinal manual, FM 3-06 (90-10), Urban Operations (Final Draft), provides the Army with operational doctrine for conducting UOs. (The current FM 90-10, Military Operations on Urbanized Terrain, written in 1979, focuses on high-intensity urban combat against a Warsaw Pact threat in Western Europe.) FM 3-06.11 (90-10-1), Combined Arms Operations in Urban Terrain, formerly An Infantryman's Guide to Combat in Built-Up Areas, and the 7/71 Series FM updates provide tactical level combined arms UO doctrine. Finally, proponent efforts across TRADOC provide branch-specific doctrine for conducting of urban operations.

Figure 1 depicts the horizontal and vertical integration of the doctrinal update methodology, along with the key doctrinal concepts found in the manuals.

Figure 2 shows the CAMTF's doctrinal update effort. Note that UO doctrinal updates for FMs 7-30, 20, 10, 8 and FM 7-92 are posted on the General Dennis Reimer Digital Library. Updates to FMs 7-7J and 71-I are to be incorporated into the revision of both manuals. FM 3-06.11 is in the process of being posted on the digital library.

Training

Equally important was the effort to give the Army an overall UO training strategy. The training doctrine was outlined in Training Circular (TC) 90-1, Training for Military Operations on Urbanized Terrain. The TC described how to use the MOUT Assault Course and the Collective Training Facility (CTF). One of the inherent problems under this system was that no operational and maintenance funds were provided for the upkeep of the facilities, nor was any provision made for live fire. Installations and units often fabricated shoot houses and used hand-held video cameras to collect data for after-action reviews (AARs). Additionally, targets were often fabricated, and there was no standard targetry that could be used for either long- or short-range precision engagements.

The CAMTF's primary effort has been to revise the live UO training strategy. That strategy--which will be found in the revised TC 90-1, Training for Urban Operations--consists of the Urban Assault Course, the Shoot House, the Breach Facility, and the Combined Arms Collective Training Facility (CACTF). The overall cost of each facility includes estimated operation and maintenance as well. The revised TC 90-1 has been approved, and posting on the digital library is now pending.

Urban Assault Course. The assault course (Figure 3) is a five-station facility designed to train individuals, squads, and platoons. It includes a two-story offense/defense building, a grenadier gunnery station, an underground trainer, and two training lanes for tasks and techniques for individual through platoon level. This facility will include an instrumented three-dimensional target package and a conventional live-fire pop-up target package at the grenadier Figure 4 gunnery station. The assault course supports the training strategy as outlined in TC 90-1. The facility is designed for recommended training before using the shoot house or the collective training facility. (Recommended frequency of use: Quarterly for the active components, and during pre- and post-mobilization for the reserve components.)

Live Fire Shoot House. The shoot house (Figure 4) is a single-story designed for individual, squad, and building with multiple points of entry, platoon live-fire training. It will have full audio/video instrumentation, portable after-action reviews (AARs), and three-dimensional precision targetry packages. This facility supports the training strategy as outlined in TC 90-1. (Recommended frequency of use: Semiannually for the active components and during pre- and post-mobilization for reserve components.)