February - Fort Sill - U.S. Army

“ BAT provides a quantum leap in our
long-range fires capability . . . [it] allows us
to alter the enemy's plan by interdicting
his uncommitted armored forces.
”
The
uses knowledge of the enemy's order of
battle, his doctrine, terrain, weather and
current enemy activity to determine his
probable courses of action.
The IPB also identifies critical threat
activities the enemy must perform to
accomplish his mission. Frequently, one
such threat activity is the commitment of
his reserve or reinforcing forces (tank
and mechanized forces with many
ACVs).
Locations on the battlefield where
these critical threat activities are
expected to occur are identified and
"tagged" as named areas of interest
(NAIs). Sensors are then allocated to
monitor and report the presence or
absence of enemy activities in those
NAIs. The best places to attack these
enemy activities or functions in
relation to a friendly course of action
are then identified and expressed as
target areas of interest (TAIs). This
analysis, including terrain, frequently
identifies the most effective battlefield
locations for BAT employment (e.g.,
choke points that restrict lateral
movement).
The attack process for BAT is easy to
understand but can be difficult to execute.
First the easy part: targets are acquired in
the NAIs and predictions and
computations occur to engage the targets
at the right time and place in the TAIs.
Now for the hard part.
Long-Range Fire Planning and
Execution. For BAT to be effective
against moving targets, the time lapse
from target acquisition to the
submunition's dispensing must be as
short as possible. Fortunately, a
methodology exists to streamline the
targeting process.
Decide-detect-deliver is a methodology
used to employ long-range fires, including
BAT. The corps tactical operations center
(DTOC) uses it with the intelligence
estimate, commander's guidance and
probable enemy courses of action
serving as its framework.
The NAIs and TAIs are identified in
the decide phase. Sensors are identified
and assigned NAIs to monitor and
collect information. The unit(s) to fire
BAT is identified and issued the
munitions. The planning in this phase is
crucial for successful events to occur in
the detect and deliver phases.
The most important process that
occurs in the detect phase is "separating
the wheat from the chaff." This means
identifying only prioritized, high-payoff
targets to engage—a difficult task. The
amount of information sensors of the near
future will provide could be
overwhelming, even with the
discrimination routines many sensors will
employ. The information will have to be
analyzed and fused with other all-source
data and targets developed as a result.
The deliver phase is no different than
any other MFOM fire mission. The most
crucial element in the fire mission for
BAT employment against moving
targets is time. The capability to
accurately predict the target velocity,
variance in speed and (or) change in
direction all contribute to the total
targeting uncertainty. As the amount of
time spent processing a mission
increases, the distance the target has
traveled increases proportionately.
Command and Control. One method
available to shorten the time line between
target acquisition and engagement is by
delegating the delivery authority to the
MLRS battalion. As with other MFOM
types, you can command and control
BAT missions using two basic methods:
centralization at the corps fire support
element (FSE) and decentralization at the
MLRS battalion. In both methods, the
sensor confirms the target's type, size and
activity before launch.
Sensors. A key target acquisition sensor
for BAT is the joint surveillance and target
attack radar system (Joint STARS). Also,
the Air Force airborne synthetic aperture
radar system (ASARS), the Army Mohawk
aircraft's side-looking airborne radar
(SLAR) system and the unmanned aerial
vehicle (UAV) can be used.
Joint STARS ground-station module
(GSM) supports both centralized and
decentralized missions. GSMs will be
present at the corps FSE and the MLRS
battalions. The GSM operator programs his
equipment to receive only that portion of
Joint STARS information that's pertinent to
the corps' area of interest. This filters out
information not required for the mission
and prevents the GSM operator from
becoming overwhelmed with data.
The GSM also has a target prediction
routine that's useful in predicting when the
target will arrive in the TAI. Target
prediction with other systems is much
more time-consuming than with Joint
STARS because the other systems
primarily calculate the predictions
manually.
BAT provides a quantum leap in our
long-range fires capability. It's an organic,
near-all-weather munition that allows us to
alter the enemy's plan by interdicting his
uncommitted armored forces. As it comes
out of the Black shadows, it comes with a
new delivery system for it—TSSAM.
Using munitions such as BAT, we'll be
able to attrit enemy ACVs at depth and
"meter the flow" to make the close battle
more manageable and victory more likely.
Major Kenneth M. Roberts, a Field Artillery
officer in the Army Acquisition Corps, is
the Assistant Training and Doctrine
Command (TRADOC) System Manager for
Rocket and Missile Systems (TSM-RAMS)
at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and has worked in
the materiel acquisition field for more than
six years. He has served in various
cannon, missile and target acquisition
positions, to include as the Fire Support
Officer for 3d Brigade, 2d Infantry
Division, Korea, and as Commander of
Headquarters Battery, 3d Battalion, 79th
Field Artillery (Lance), 42d Field Artillery
Brigade, Germany. Major Roberts is a
graduate of the Command and General
Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas,
and holds a Master of Business
Administration Degree from Golden Gate
University, San Francisco, California.
32 Field Artillery