The Canadian Army Journal

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in the COE, 27 in order to support operations and contribute to pervasive fire through a
non-contiguous AO. At the same time, the capability to aggregate to the battery level,
physically or in effects, must be retained to support aggregated close operations. The
traditional fundamentals of artillery employment 28 will generally remain the same for far
fire; coordination, flexibility and economy of effort will all continue to define use of far fire.
However, precision effects will supplant concentration of force as a fundamental.
Massed fire may still be called for particularly at times when mission units or sub-units
aggregate to conduct decisive operations, but in general “combat power is fundamentally
shifting from mass to precision and agility” 29 and even where mass is required it must go
hand-in-hand with precision.
Leopard 2A6 in Kandahar
Far fire is a decisive element in the COE through fire to deep, close and rear
operations. With the additional role of contributing to pervasive fire, future far fire
systems will be key enablers of the ADO concept. Unfortunately, even with
overwhelming fire support, the operational experience in Afghanistan has proven that
there is and will continue to be a requirement to close with and destroy the enemy. That
close destruction is executed through the employment of close fire.
Close Fire
Close fire is an evolution of organic firepower, which is the capability integral to a
manoeuvre element. Organic firepower includes “small arms, machine guns, vehicle
mounted cannons, grenade launchers, anti-armour weapons, mortars and tank guns.” 30
Close fire encompasses the integration of manoeuvre LOS, NLOS and new BLOS
capabilities into a complete system for the close destruction of the enemy. Close fire
enables those arms that “close with and destroy the enemy,” 31&32 and close fire enable all
arms to defeat the enemy that attempts to engage in a close fight.
Unlike descriptions of organic firepower, it would be too limiting to think of close fire
as primarily direct fire (or LOS). The path of the ammunition between launcher and
target is irrelevant. A close fire system is characterized by the following:
Canadian Army Journal Vol. 11.1 Spring 2008
Photo Source: Combat Camera