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The Scenario: Operation RIVER GATE

This is the tactical situation you will use for the entire course.

1. Situation

Situation map of the Kordan bridge sector, showing the coordinated fire line, the restricted fire area and the retain task at the bridge, and the suspected enemy locations. — The map depicts an estimate of the enemy situation. We know the units the enemy possesses, and we know the terrain. The ? icons represent our estimate of suspected enemy locations.

Feature	Definition
CFL — coordinated fire line	Beyond this line, fires may be delivered without further coordination with the units in contact. Short of it, every mission must be cleared first. The CFL will move south to the 27th northing at T=0, when friendly units take the bridge.
R — retain	The friendly tactical task at the bridge: hold it, and deny its use to the enemy.
Restricted fire area (RFA) around the bridge	The commander forbids cratering munitions inside it. Only the one-way attack UAS may strike here.

Suspected enemy	Status
Command post	Unlocated.
Logistics vehicles	Unlocated.
Infantry platoon	Unlocated. Assessed to be near grid 945 270.
Mortar platoon	Unlocated.
Field kitchen	Unlocated.
Anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) team	Located. Detected by a reconnaissance flight 12 hours ago, directly south of the bridge, grid 950 280.
Engineering team	Unlocated. Assessed to destroy or block the bridge.
Ammunition supply point	Unlocated.

2. Our Mission and the Commander's Guidance

You are a member of the Fire Support Coordination Cell of the 77th Combined Arms Brigade.

Mission: on order, the 77th Combined Arms Brigade seizes the Kordan River bridge in order to allow follow-on forces to reinforce the assault.

Brigade Commander's Targeting Guidance

“Fires must accomplish three things for me:

Protect the bridge — stop the enemy engineers before they can drop it or block it.
Disrupt enemy indirect fire — do not allow the enemy to use mortars on friendly units as we are forced to concentrate near the bridge.
Disrupt enemy command and control — there is a significant risk the enemy will request indirect artillery fire or reinforcements when he learns friendly forces are concentrated near the bridge. We must disrupt his command and communications network to mitigate this risk.

Restriction on fires near the bridge. “No cratering munitions on or near the bridge — nothing that could damage the span, the abutments, or the approach road. Artillery and mortars are forbidden inside 300 metres of the bridge.”

3. Intelligence Brief (S-2)

Intelligence Preparation of the Operating Environment (IPOE) is complete. The enemy is likely to defend, then delay, on the southern side of the river.

Enemy Most Likely Course of Action

The enemy will take every action to block our advance to the south.

The bridge sector. The engineer team is on the road south of the river.

Close view of the crossing. The ATGM team is dug in south-west of the bridge.

Friendly units concentrated at the crossing, with the enemy mortar platoon in depth to the west.

The enemy command post calling for fire support from a higher headquarters.

Destroy or block the bridge

The enemy is assessed to accomplish this by attempting to destroy or alter the bridge with their engineer team.

The engineer team is not on the bridge yet, and once it begins work about one hour is enough to make the bridge unusable.

Ambush the crossing

If unsuccessful, they will attempt to ambush friendly forces as we are vulnerable when crossing the bridge. We have already detected their anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) team, which is in position for this ambush.

It is not likely that the enemy engages friendly forces directly with the infantry, because our mechanized vehicles are too powerful. Instead, they will likely harass and delay friendly forces south of the bridge.

Fires on the choke-point

It is also highly likely that the enemy will engage us with their mortar platoon when we are at the known choke-point on or near the bridge.

His mortar platoon displaces immediately after every fire mission.

Ask for fires from a higher headquarters

Lastly, the enemy command post has the capability to request fire missions from their higher headquarters, which they may do as a last resort.

The enemy relocates his command post every 24 hours.

4. Friendly Fires Assets: The Sensors and Shooters we have Tasking Authority Over

The brigade has three ways to deliver fires and three ways to find targets.

Asset	Considerations	Time	Authorized within the RFA?
M109 155 mm self-propelled howitzer battalion	Longest range. Largest shell.	Once employed, the battery displaces and is unavailable for 20 minutes.	No
M101 105 mm howitzer battery	Medium range. Medium shell.	Once employed, the battery displaces and is unavailable for 30 minutes.	No
One-way attack UAS (OWA-UAS)	Smallest range. Smallest charge, but precision guided.	Can engage all targets in our area of responsibility. Can take up to 20 minutes to reach its furthest range.	Yes
Long-range ISR UAS	Real-time video displayed in the friendly command post.	Capable of 2 hours of flight time.	—
Scout team	Soldiers in a hidden position.		—
Small UAS (sUAS)	Short-range quadcopter drone. Deployed by the scout team.	Only capable of 20 minutes of flight time before returning to change batteries.	—

Note the difference between the two aircraft: the long-range ISR UAS looks deep and stays a long time; the sUAS looks close and stays a short time. The OWA-UAS does both — look and strike — but only once.

Task: Confirm you understand the mission

Scenario Check

NOT DONE

Question

Our mission is written at the top of this page. What does it require of us?

Destroy the enemy motorized infantry battalion defending the river.No. Destroying his battalion is a means, never the mission. We attack what threatens the crossing — and we do not carry the ammunition to do more than that. Seize the bridge intact and keep it usable, so that follow-on forces can cross.Correct. The bridge must be taken usable, and it must stay usable long enough for the force behind us to pass. Every fires decision in this course is measured against that one sentence. Attack every element on the high-value target list.No. The high-value target list is what matters to the enemy commander. Only some of those elements threaten our mission, and separating the two is the work of Phase 1. Deny the enemy the use of the bridge.This is the opposite of our mission — and it is exactly what the enemy engineer team is trying to achieve. A bridge dropped or blocked is a failure for us even if we did it ourselves.

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