Fire mission pre-planning
Pre-planning fire missions during the mission design or briefing phase helps ensure that indirect fire support can be delivered rapidly and accurately once operations are underway. It also enhances coordination with manoeuvre elements by reducing the time needed to identify, communicate, and engage targets.
Common components of fire mission pre-planning include:
- Pre-Planned Targets (PPT): Plotting likely enemy positions, chokepoints, or objectives ahead of time allows for quicker engagement during execution. These targets should be labelled using standard MTO formats (see FM/BS-726) to streamline communication and avoid confusion.
- Target Reference Points (TRPs): TRPs serve as shared map references that observers and gun crews can use to orient fire missions. They are typically placed on prominent terrain features and labelled in accordance with FM/BS-802. This practice simplifies communication and improves accuracy, particularly for on-call missions.
- Fire Support Standards: Establishing default parameters for suppression, smoke, and general-purpose fire missions ensures consistency and saves time under pressure. These may include:
- Rounds, volume, and rate for Immediate Suppression
- Rounds, volume, and rate for Immediate Smoke
- Preferred munition types and location methods Set standard fire-support parameters FM/BS-804
- Fire Mission Types:
- Pre-Planned: Coordinated before the operation and often linked to a PPT or TRP. Enables faster delivery due to known parameters.
- On-Call: Requested dynamically during the mission. Often relies on TRPs or observer data to establish target locations quickly.
Pre-planning these elements helps ensure fire support is available when and where it’s needed, without delaying the momentum of the operation.
