A joint publication for U.S. Artillery professionals November - December 2018 Dynamic Fires High technology of the future fight Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. Headquarters, Department of the Army. PB 644-18-6 http://sill-www.army.mil/firesbulletin • 1 Table of contents 3 Countering the 34 Rising to the unmanned aerial challenge systems threat Fighting and winning with Editor By Col. Brian Gibson the M777A2 at National Marie Berberea Training Center 7 ON COMMS Art Director One battalion’s pursuit of By Capt. Aaron Palmer and Sgt. 1st Class Charles Lairson Rick Paape, Jr. secure long-range digital Assistant Editor communications Drone defense from By Lt. Col. Leighton Anglin Sr., Lt. 38 Monica Wood Col. Jonathan Shine, Capt. Lucas combined arms The Fires staff can be reached by email at usarmy. Fulmer, Sgt. 1st Class Brian Price, for air defense to [email protected] or by Staff Sgt. (P) Timothy Vinson II phone at (580) 442-5121. organic ground 11 Operationalizing Disclaimer cyber, electronic based air defense Fires, a professional bulletin, is published bi- By Lt. Col. Thomas Groborsch warfare, space, monthly by Headquarters, Department of the Army special technical 46 35th ADA Brigade under the auspices of the Fires Center of Excellence, leads the charge for 455 McNair Ave., Fort Sill, OK 73503. The views ex- operations for pressed within are those of the authors and not the decisive action C-UAS operations in Department of Defense or its elements. The content Lt. Col. Clint Tracy PACOM contained within Fires does not necessarily reflect the By Capt. Jonathan Pasley U.S. Army’s position or supercede information in oth- 15 Air defense artillery er official publications. Use of new items constitutes An atrophied warfighting 48 Target acquisition neither affirmation of their accuracy nor product en- skill dorsements. Fires assumes no responsibility for any By Lt. Col. Sean Dublin for long-range unsolicited material. By order of Mark A. Milley, Gen- An integrated precision Fires eral, United States Army, Chief of Staff. 18 By Patrick McKinney brigade deep fight Official: Brigade Deep Battle 2.0 49 Cross-domain By Capt. Joseph Schmid, 2nd Lt. Hector Lopez, 2nd Lt. Zach concerns Tousignant, and 2nd Lt. Paul Defeating a hybrid state’s Gerald B. O’Keefe Mirabile grand strategy Administrative Assistant to the 22 Strengthening light By Victor Morris Secretary of the Army HIMARS for multi- 52 Competitive Auth. 1513304 domain operations convergence By Capt. Brennan Deveraux, 1st How is the field artillery Lt. Sean Skelly and Staff Sgt. Evan Wilson A. Shoffner Fowler battalion preparing against pacing threats? Major General, United States Army 24 RIMPAC ‘18 By Sgt. 1st Class Andrew Commanding General, Fort Sill, Okla. exercise highlights Campbell, Sgt. 1st Class Cole Deblieck, Sgt. 1st Class Randy Purpose versatility of Feliciano, Sgt. 1st Class Heath Originally founded as the Field Artillery Journal, SHORAD Weisiger and Sgt. 1st Class Fires serves as a forum for the discussions of all Fires By 1st Lt. David Lara Brandon Williams professionals, Active, Reserves and National Guard; disseminates professional knowledge about progress, 26 Tactical joint Fires 54 Advising at the development and best use in campaigns; cultivates a integration training battery level common understanding of the power, limitations and at Fort Sill By Capt. Daniel Cummings application of joint Fires, both lethal and nonlethal; A success story in a THAAD, Patriot, and fosters joint Fires interdependency among the armed resource-constrained 56 services; and promotes the understanding of and in- environment Avenger/Sentinel teroperability between the branches, all of which con- By Lt. Col. Nick Sargent interoperability tribute to the good of the Army, joint and combined forces and our nation. 28 From Chai to within Guardian Fires is pleased to grant permission to reprint; compatible Battalion please credit Fires, the author(s) and photographers. Security cooperation in By Capt. Adam Patterson, 2nd On the cover: A Soldier with 35th Air Defense Ar- Middle East Lt. Matthew Becker and Warrant tillery Brigade, loads a Stinger onto an Avenger Air By Lt. Col. Seamus Doyle Officer 1 Adam McGee Defense System during the Rim of the Pacific Exer- The synthetic cise (RIMPAC) 2018 at Pacific Missile Range Facility 32 59 If Henry Knox were Barking Sands, Hawaii, July 24. The world’s largest training alive today international maritime exercise, RIMPAC provides a environment A discussion on future unique training opportunity while fostering and sus- Bringing reality to fire artillery warfighting taining cooperative relationships among participants support training By Maj. Jeremy Blascak critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and securi- By Maj. John Morris and Victor ty of the world’s oceans. (Capt. Rachael Jeffcoat/U.S. Bond 64 Next issue of Fires Army) 2 • Fires, November - December 2018, Dynamic Fires Commandant’s Foreword Countering the unmanned aerial systems threat In the last 20 years, no other branch in the tactics, identify/develop new capabilities to Army has seen the enemy undertake such a meet these threats and increase the rigor of dramatic expansion of capability inside its air defense training in our combat training threat portfolio as the air defense artillery. centers (CTCs). Competing nations continue to evolve and Countering the UAS threat has received adapt for future battlefields. To close the gap significant interest across the Army, and Col. Brian Gibson with the U.S., adversarial militaries and non- within the combatant commands the air U.S. Army Air Defense Artillery state actors engage in a continual cycle of defense artillery supports. The prolifera- School commandant improving strategy and technology. Current tion of smaller and more capable UAS (see operations in the Middle East, Europe and photo below) has dramatically altered how the Indo-Pacific region all show an enemy local, regional and global competitors will making an expanded array of unmanned ae- fight the U.S., now and in the future. Ene- rial systems (UASs) that survey, target and mies have focused on low, slow and small attack ground forces in ways not previously platforms that are nearly undetectable, often seen. To combat these evolving challenges using commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) tech- it is paramount that we clearly define the nology. These systems operate in ways that UAS threat, analyze counter UAS (C-UAS) we are unable to consistently detect, let alone An unmanned aerial drone used the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. (Courtesy photo) http://sill-www.army.mil/firesbulletin • 3 defeat. Our adversaries will continue to de- C-UAS equipment, doctrine, training and velop more capable systems in the future, organization based on current and future including weaponizing systems for a direct threats. Every center of excellence in the attack against the U.S. and allied forces. Army, to include our joint partners, is par- Airborne threats were previously relegat- ticipating in a growing community of inter- ed to the near-exclusive focus of air defense est focused on bringing critical capabilities, artillery forces on the battlefield. The wide capacities and needs to the discussion. Ev- proliferation of UAS platforms now requires ery member of the modern battlefield plays a a holistic approach from the Army and joint role in C-UAS, and no solution to this grow- force that combines both kinetic and non-ki- ing problem is possible without integrating netic defeat mechanisms. The Fires Cen- the capabilities of each warfighting function ter of Excellence, as the Army’s proponent into a coordinated and complementary sys- for C-UAS, is leading a detailed analysis of tem. Each contribution strengthens a robust Spc. Matthew Williams, a cavalry scout as- signed to 2nd Cavalry Regiment, fires a Stinger missile using Man-Portable Air De- fense Systems during Artemis Strike, a live- fire exercise at the NATO Missile Firing In- stallation off the coast of Crete, Greece Nov. 6, 2017. (Sgt. 1st Class Jason Epperson/U.S. Army) 4 • Fires, November - December 2018, Dynamic Fires C-UAS system that provides detect, identify, lio. Recent experimentation with electronic mission command and defeat capabilities. warfare capacities on a company-level fire The air defense artillery and the greater support platform demonstrated both capa- Fires community are fielding capabilities bility and capacity for the future force. Sen- and experimenting with new technologies sors also play a significant role in advanc- now to address this threat. Upcoming ad- ing this capability. The Fires community is ditions to the capabilities of the Land-Based developing multi-mission radars designed Phalanx Weapons System will field kinetic to detect, identify and provide engagement defeat mechanisms to our C-UAS portfolio. data for the full array of airborne threats. With the reintroduction of MANPAD train- Nothing happens in this demanding ing to maneuver forces, the ongoing up- portfolio without training and enabling grades to the Stinger missile system will be leaders at all levels to combat this growing another huge addition to our C-UAS portfo- threat. Each of the combat training centers http://sill-www.army.mil/firesbulletin • 5 has expanded the threats and effects that ro- (M-SHORAD) capability for the Army. This tational training units will face during their capability will provide maneuver command- exercises. Expanded use of fixed and rotary ers with air and missile defense capabilities wing assets, as part of the opposing forc- absent from their formations for more than es, will utilize the same COTS systems our a decade. Providing a detect and identify ground forces will see during operations. capability will enhance the maneuver for- This added emphasis by the CTCs provides mation’s ability to engage these small UAS’s unit leaders a greater understanding and with a broad array of kinetic and non-ki- appreciation of all aspects of air defense and C-UAS tactics and techniques.