U.S. Army Field Artillery School Annual History (Rcs Chis-6 [R4])

U.S. ARMY FIELD ARTILLERY SCHOOL ANNUAL HISTORY (RCS CHIS-6 [R4]) 1 JANUARY 2012 THROUGH 31 DECEMBER 2012 BY FIELD ARTILLERY BRANCH HISTORIAN’S OFFICE FORT SILL, OKLAHOMA ii COMMANDANT’S INTRODUCTION The 2012 Annual History captures key training and leader development initiatives and combat development accomplishments of the U.S. Army Field Artillery School. During the year, the Field Artillery School continued to meet future requirements by playing a key role in futures development and integration. Emerging weapons systems, such as the Paladin Integrated Management, and Field Artillery munitions, such as the Guided MLRS and the Excalibur, assured unparalleled precision lethal fires, while the School’s ground work on Army Doctrine 2015 prepared the School and the Field Artillery to move into the future. The Field Artillery School’s core mission remained training Soldiers and leaders for Field Artillery units of the operational forces. During the year, the Field Artillery School provided Field Artillery Soldiers and leaders with world-class training and instruction. The School furnished assignment-oriented training to prepare leaders and Soldiers for their next or first assignment and worked to introduce Army Learning Model 2015 and to modernize gunnery. The School also engaged the Army through Warfighter Forums, developed an engagement strategy to encourage West Point and Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets to select the Field Artillery as their branch of choice and to tell the School’s and the Field Artillery’s story, and integrated a Culture and Foreign Language Program to develop leaders with an understanding of foreign cultures and languages and their impact upon Army operations. As part of the Fires Center of Excellence, the Field Artillery School participated in growing the next generation Fires force. Around the world, Redleg Soldiers are the pride of the Nation’s forces. At home, Field Artillery units continue to train to unprecedented levels of high-quality performance -- preparing for whatever challenges wait them. Now more than ever, the Caissons are indeed rolling along. Artillery Strong! (original signed) MARTIN C. CLAUSEN Colonel, FA Commandant iii PREFACE The 2012 Annual History for the U.S. Army Field Artillery School follows the decision-making process as closely as possible. Through interviews, email, messages, staff reports, fact sheets, correspondence, briefings, and other documentation, the Field Artillery School Historian’s Office has recreated as closely as possible how the Field Artillery School made key decisions concerning joint issues, training, leader development, doctrine, force design, and equipment requirements. Because the Field Artillery School was involved in many diverse activities during the year, the Historian’s Office under the direction of the School Commandant selected only those activities deemed to be the most historically significant to include in the History. Preserving historical documents forms a vital part of the historian’s work. After they are collected from the various organizations during the process of researching, they are filed in the historical records and documents collection in the Historian’s Office. All documents are available for use by School staff, other U.S. governmental agencies, and private individuals upon request. Because new documents are often found after research and writing has been completed, this contemporary history is subject to revision. As new documents are discovered, interpretations and conclusions will change. Comments and suggested changes should be directed to the Historian’s Office. In the process of researching and writing the History, the historian becomes indebted to many people for their advice and assistance. The Field Artillery School Historian’s Office would like to thank the people who provided their technical expertise. Without their help writing the history would have been far more difficult. (original signed) BOYD L. DASTRUP, Ph.D. Field Artillery Branch Historian U.S. Army Field Artillery School iv TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE i COMMANDER’S INTRODUCTION ii PREFACE iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv CHAPTER ONE: MISSION, ORGANIZATION, AND PERSONNEL Mission 1 Organization Commanding General, Fires Center of Excellence 1 Commandant 2 Assistant Commandant 3 Maneuver Center of Excellence Fires Cell 4 Field Artillery Proponency Office 4 Women in the Army and the Field Artillery 7 Fires Center of Excellence and Field Artillery School Preparation for Accreditation 8 Strategic Communications 10 Warfighter Forums 10 CHAPTER TWO: LEADER DEVELOPMENT: TRAINING AND EDUCATION Introduction 12 Deputy Commanding General for Initial Military Training Program of Instruction Visit 12 Cultural and Foreign Language Program 13 Army National Guard Regional Training Institutes 13 Functional Course Review 14 Functional Courses 16 Field Artillery Mobile Training Assistant Team 18 Gaming 18 Leader Decision Exercise 19 Army Learning Model 2015 20 Modernizing Gunnery Instruction 22 Distance Learning 22 Training Aids, Devices, Simulators, and Simulations, Fires Center of Excellence and Field Artillery School 23 Field Artillery Lessons Learned Branch 24 Advanced Individual Training 25 Noncommissioned Officer Academy and Noncommissioned Officer Education System 25 Warrant Officer Education System 29 Officer Education System 30 Joint and Combined Integration Directorate 35 v Precision Fires Courses 36 Target Mensuration Only and Collateral Damage Estimation and Weaponeering Courses 39 Joint Fires Observer Course 39 Joint Operational Fires and Effects Course 41 Joint Fires Observer Team 42 Non-lethal Training 43 Electronic Warfare Courses 43 Special Technical Operations Course 47 Tactical Information Operations Course 48 CHAPTER THREE: COMBAT DEVELOPMENTS: FORCE DESIGN, DOCTRINE, AND REQUIREMENTS Introduction 49 Force Design and Doctrine 49 Grade Plate Review 49 Army 2020 Redesign 50 Fire Supporter Reorganization 50 Fires Command Force Design Update 51 Army Doctrine 51 Tactical Wheeled Vehicles Studies 53 M777 and M119 Composite Battalion and Precision Fires 55 Precision Fires, Target Location Error, Quick Reaction Capability, and Handheld Devices 56 TRADOC Capabilities Manager Brigade Combat Team-Fires 59 Excalibur Extended-Range Guided Projectile 59 Precision Guidance Kit 66 Future Cannon Munitions Suite 69 M777 Towed 155-mm. Howitzer 70 M119 Towed 105-mm. Howitzer 74 Paladin Integrated Management 77 Improved Position and Azimuth Determining System-G 81 TRADOC Capabilities Manager Fires Cell 83 Modernizing Gunnery Material Effort 83 Precision Fires Warrior Ensemble 83 Warfighter Information Network-Tactical 84 Bradley Fire Support Vehicle 85 Knight Vehicle 87 Lightweight Laser Designator Rangefinder 88 Joint Effects Targeting System 90 Fire Support Sensor System 91 Profiler 92 Command, Control, and Communications Systems 94 Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data System 94 Handheld Command and Control Systems 97 vi TRADOC Capabilities Manager Fires Brigade 97 Multiple Launcher Rocket System 97 Munitions 97 Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System Alternative Warhead 101 Launcher 104 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System 106 Army Tactical Missile System 109 Enhanced AN-TPQ-36 Radar 110 Firefinder AN/TPQ-37 112 AN/TPQ-50 Radar 112 CHAPTER FOUR: FIRES BATTLE LABORATORY 115 Appendix One: Student Production for Fiscal Year 2012 122 Appendix Two: Key FCoE and USAFAS Personnel 123 Appendix Three: Field Artillery School Commandants 124 Appendix Four: Chiefs of Field Artillery 126 Appendix Five: Assistant Commandants 128 Appendix Six: Command Sergeant Majors of USAFAS Since 1991 130 Appendix Seven: Command Sergeant Majors of NCOA 131 Appendix Eight: USAFCOEFS Organization Chart as of 8 April 2013 132 Appendix Nine: Field Artillery Commandant’s Office Chart 133 Appendix Ten: List of Documents 134 Index of Names 135 CHAPTER ONE MISSION, ORGANIZATION, AND PERSONNEL MISSION Influenced by the new field artillery technology introduced after the Spanish- American War of 1898, the development of indirect fire, and the lack of adequately trained Field Artillerymen, the War Department opened the School of Fire for Field Artillery at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, on 15 September 1911. While War Department, General Orders No. 72 of 3 June 1911 tasked the school to furnish practical and theoretical field artillery training to lieutenants, captains, field grade officers, militia officers, and noncommissioned officers, War Department, General Orders No. 73 of 5 June 1911 integrated the school into a sequential and progressive educational system for officers. In 2012 the U.S. Army Field Artillery School (USAFAS), the U.S. Army Air Defense Artillery School (USAADAS), the Noncommissioned Officer Academy (NCOA), and the 434th Field Artillery Brigade composed the training mission of the U.S. Army Fires Center of Excellence. During the year, the Field Artillery School trained the Field Artillery forces of the United States Army and United States Marine Corps, provided joint training, developed Field Artillery leaders and Soldiers, helped design and develop fire support tactics and doctrine, and supported unit training and readiness.1 ORGANIZATION Commanding General, Fires Center of Excellence On 4 May 2012 MG Mark McDonald became the Commanding General of the U.S. Army Fires Center of Excellence and Fort Sill. He was commissioned in the Field Artillery through the Army Reserve Officer Training Corps at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, in 1980. Early assignments included tours with the 1-509th Airborne

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