Fires brigade
Under the restructuring of the United States Army initiatives, when Brigade Combat Teams replaced divisions as the primary maneuver unit, those division artillery resources that did not decentralize to the BCTs were placed in fires brigades. The original intent had been to assign both kinetic (ie., physically destructive) artillery as well as non-kinetic resources such as electronic warfare to them, but the deployed form has only kinetic means as well as resources that support them in target acquisiton. Ten to twekve such brigades are planned, half active and half reserve.
Some of the functions previously under DIVARTY, such as 105mm howitzers in light units and 155mm howitzers in heavy units, decentralized to the BCT. In light units, 155mm support remains at the fires brigade, which is focused less on direct support and more planning and execution for joint fire support operations. Its capabilities to affect the enemy emphasized newer systems to carry out precision-strikes, counterstrikes and shaping, which utilized lethal and non-lethal means.
UIts headquarters will contain a Marine officer, Air Force personnel, and sections for space command, information operations, psychological operations, civil affairs and a fires and effects cell. Additional missile, gun, and other kinetic and nonkinetic fires units would be assigned as needed, as well additional Navy and Air Force fire support.
In general, these brigades are organized in heavy and light versions:
Some heavy brigades also include M109 howitzers. Target acquisition batteries are likely to be supplemented with additional counterbattery radars such as the AN/TPQ-37, and a geophysical MASINT sensor, the Unattended Transient Acoustic MASINT Sensor (UTAMS). |