Joint Fires and Effects Integration Center: Fort Sill initiatives for the joint force.

Within the Department of Defense (DoD), there's a lot of discussion about joint operations and the need to achieve joint interdependence. This interdependence is a purposeful reliance on other service capabilities to maximize complementary and reinforcing effects for the joint force and minimize relative vulnerabilities to accomplish the joint force commander's (JFC's) mission. Simply put, combat operations require all services work together to achieve the desired effects.

Currently, joint fires training is available in three places: the Joint Firepower Course at the Air-Ground Operations School (AGOS), Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada; the Joint Air Tasking Order Processes Course (JATOPC) and Joint Senior Aerospace Staff Officers' Course (JSSC) at the Army Joint Support Team, Hurlburt Field, Florida; and the Joint Targeting Staff Course/Joint Targeting Application Course at Joint Forces Command (JFCOM). Dam Neck, Virginia. Army personnel going to battlefield coordination detachments (BCDs), G3/S3 or G3/S3 air shops, and fires and effects coordination cells (FECCs) or deep operations coordination cells (DOCCs), or who will serve as airspace managers, etc., can attend JATOPC.

The Army's, War College at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, has developed a Combined Forces Land Component Command (CFLCC) Course, and the Combined Arms Command (CAC) at Fort Leavenworth. Kansas, is working on a Joint Fires Course. But fire supporters need a course to teach them how to integrate joint fires and effects.

So, what is the FA School doing to prepare fire supporters to accomplish these tasks? Fort Sill is working to become the Army's Joint Fires and Effects Integration Center. It will provide training in the integration of all joint lethal and nonlethal effects, to include FA, close air support (CAS), naval gunfire, information operation (IO), electronic warfare (EW), etc. This will include not only joint training for battle commanders and staffs, but also in the capabilities of the various joint platforms and tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) to integrate them into air-ground operations.

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Fire Supporters always have integrated and synchronized fires at the tactical level. Now Fort Sill will train them in the skills they need to integrate and synchronize effects in a joint environment.

This article outlines several joint projects that the Joint Fires and Effects Integration Center is working.

The Joint and Combined Integration Directorate (JACI). This new directorate in the FA School oversees and coordinates joint activities, working joint doctrine, TTP and training to integrate joint fires and effects. The organization (see the figure) consists of key individuals from all the services and branches to develop joint training, review joint doctrine and provide the instructor base for the joint training on Fort Sill. A new Strategic Communications Office is being established under JACI that will ensure vital information is shared throughout the joint community.

Air Force Detachment at Fort Sill. JACI is working with the Air Force to assign an Air Warfare Center (AWFC) Detachment at Fort Sill, beginning this summer, to coordinate for live CAS and provide CAS training.

Live CAS at Fort Sill. This past spring, Fort Sill reinstated live CAS as training for the FA Officer's Basic Course (OBC) and FA Captain's Career Course (CCC). Live CAS training now is routine for OBC and CCC and will expand into all aspects of institutional training.

Recently, the 212th FA Brigade conducted a major joint CAS (JCAS) exercise at Fort Sill in conjunction with the XVIII Airborne Corps where they employed cannons, rockets and CAS simultaneously, the latter including Navy, Marine and Air Force aircraft. The centrally located geography of Fort Sill and its ranges provide an excellent, convenient location for multi-service aircraft to conduct live CAS training.

Falcon Joint Precision Engagement Range on Fort Sill. JACI is working to integrate Army and Air Force training at the Air Force's 13,000-acre Falcon Joint Precision Engagement Range on Fort Sill (part of Quanah Range). The Air Force developed the range for its aircraft to drop live ordnance. Integrated Army and Air Force training on the range would allow for a full-spectrum of target types and engagement options.

IO and EW. Working with the IO proponent at CAC, JACI is developing an additional skill identifier (ASI)-producing course for tactical-level IO. The purpose is to train individuals going to IO positions at brigade or below without having to re-designate their functional areas to IO Functional Area 30. The Fort Sill IO pilot course is projected to begin in January 2005.

Additionally, IO will be part, of other courses at Fort Sill.

EW is a core IO element. Its three components are electronic warfare support (ES), electronic attack (EA) and electronic protect (EP). CAC is the overall proponent for EW and is considering courses of action (COAs) to realign the EW components. Under a proposed COA, Fort Sill would be the specified proponent for electronic attack (EA) and would incorporate it into instruction at the FA School.

These IO and EW duties tie in with Fort Sill's becoming the Army's Joint Fires and Effects Integration Center.

Joint Fires and Effects Course (JFEC). This course will train members of the joint fires team in the skills required for integrating, coordinating and synchronizing the full range of joint fires and effects (lethal and nonlethal). Each student will gain knowledge of joint and service sensors, capabilities, platforms, the battlespace, the joint targeting process and how the joint fires and effects system works.

JFEC will prepare multi-service students for effects-based operations. JFEC's culminating exercise in an immersive simulation environment will validate the students can apply and integrate joint lethal and nonlethal effects.

The course will be open to selected officers (captains through colonels) and selected senior NCOs (grade-level equivalent of sergeant first class and above) who work at the brigade through echelons-above-corps levels and integrate joint fires and effects. This includes personnel working in (Army) fire support elements (FSEs), fires and effects coordination cells (FECCs), deep operations coordination cells (DOCCs) and battlefield coordination detachments (BCDs); (Air Force) air operations centers (AOCs) and air support operations centers (ASOCs); (Marine) fire support coordination centers (FSCCs); and other joint fires elements. Fort Sill will conduct a pilot course in September that will be open to all services.

Joint Fires and Effects Trainer System (JFETS). Fort Sill is in the process of developing and testing JFETS as the immersive simulation environment for joint training. JFETS will provide state-of-the-art, virtual joint fires and effects integration training in a specialized facility in I-See-O Hall and a new Fires and Effects Training and Simulation Center in FY 07-08.

This effort will be a multi-year, multi-phased project piloted by advanced technologies developed by the Institute of Creative Technologies at the University of Southern California in conjunction with the Directorate of Training and Doctrine (DOTD) at the FA School.

The trainer will provide scenarios for full-spectrum joint operations with changing environments and conditions. The environments will replicate the visual and aural conditions of employing joint systems and combinations of systems (to include lethal effects) against a variety of target arrays in different physical environments (terrain, weather, enemy capabilities, etc.).

The effects of employing the best joint system (or combination of systems) or the consequences of not employing the best systems will be part of the trainer's realistic feedback. The latter includes potential responsiveness implications, noncombatant casualties, fratricide and unintended collateral damage. For example, the trainer will reward forward observers for using every means available to identify, locate and attack the enemy by employing the most appropriate sensors, delivery systems and munitions. The scenarios will have utility for current forces, including the Stryker brigades and new units of action (UAs), and future forces.

The trainer will be able to interface with simulations, such as fires simulation (FireSim) XXI, one semi-automated force (OneSAF), Janus, joint conflict and tactical simulation (JCATS), full-spectrum command and real world equipment--the lightweight laser designator rangefinder (LLDR), mini-eye-safe laser infrared observation system (MELIOS), advanced FA tactical data system (AFATDS), etc.--to facilitate training experimentation and combat developments.

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JFETS' Phase 1 demonstrated the two components of technologies at I-See-O Hall. The components were the call-for-fire trainer (CFFT), using the open and urban terrain modules, and staff training, using the fires and effects cell module (FECM). Phase 2 is the transition to a system to train individual and collective tasks.

Using the CFFT, forward observers will be able to operate in all types of terrain, including open and rolling, complex and urban. In open and rolling terrain, from positions of tactical advantage, a commander can employ accurate, destructive fires at standoff distances against high-payoff targets (HPTs) to eliminate enemy combat capabilities.

Employing fires and effects in urban terrain is the most challenging for the entire system of systems. JFETS will simulate the requirement to limit collateral damage and noncombatant casualties, placing demands on the observer to demonstrate the highest level of technical skills, expertise and judgment.

Adversaries will employ military capabilities in the presence of civilian populations or in close proximity to potentially sensitive sites. These tactics may be countered by delivering fires and effects more precisely against both point and area targets in close support of formations in urban terrain.

The FECM trains staffs at the tactical and operational echelons to help the commanders integrate battlefield systems and capabilities. Staff components may or may not be collocated on the battlefield, but they always must be capable of collaboration on-demand to adapt to changing situations. The goal is to train commanders and staffs to be highly opportunistic with lightning exploitation of enemy failures.

The JFETS' FECM will train fires and effects integration tasks in a complex distributed environment. The FECM will exploit networked sensors, delivery systems and effects to provide the commander the broadest possible range of options and capabilities. This module will replicate the dynamic nature of applying fires and effects in the operational environment reflected in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) or future warfare in the contemporary operational environment (COE).

Call-for-Fire Trainer. The CFFT will facilitate every Soldier's becoming an observer and maintaining proficiency in calls-for-fire (mortars, FA and naval gunfire). Currently, it is a collective training system that provides a simulated battlefield for training in the institution and units. It is a modular architecture that allows for interoperability with other simulation systems, tactical equipment and future combat training systems. The CFFT will replace the training set fire observation (TSFO) trainer and guard unit armory device, full-crew interactive simulation trainers (GUARDFISTs) II and IIA. It will operate in a stand-alone or integrated mode.

Eventually, the CFFT will train the more advanced and technical aspects of the universal observer (UO) to integrate the fires of CAS and Army attack aviation. It will be spiraled into the open and urban terrain modules of JFETS to train the integration of joint fires and effects in ground operations, ultimately, to train calling for and controlling JCAS.

The CFFT was approved by the Army Review Council (AROC) and has been forwarded to the Joint Review Council (JROC) for approval.

Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC) Memorandum of Agreement (MOA). All services are working the JTAC MOA that standardizes the certification and qualification process for JTACs. The definition of a JTAC was established in Joint Publication 3-09.3 Joint TTP for CAS as "a qualified [certified] service member who, from a forward position, directs the action of combat aircraft engaged in CAS and other offensive air operations." A qualified and current JTAC will be recognized across DoD as authorized to perform terminal attack control of joint aircraft executing CAS.

For some operations in both OIF and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), there have been insufficient numbers of JTACS to execute JCAS in support of ground maneuver. The Army has a requirement for JTACs down to the maneuver company level. The shortfall of JTACs is expected to become more acute for transformed Army forces--based on future force and Army Special Forces operations.

Based on the JTAC standards in the MOA, Army personnel may be trained as qualified JTAC instructors, as one possible solution. These instructors would supplement Air Force instructors to greatly increase the numbers of qualified JTACs. Six 13F Fire Support Specialists from the 3d Infantry Division have just graduated from training at AGOS as the first phase of their qualification as JTACs.

Universal Observers. There have been many discussions about and several definitions of "universal observers." The Army G3 defines the UO as "a qualified service member who requests, adjusts and controls surface-to-surface fires to include field artillery, mortar and naval gunfire. A UO will be authorized to provide targeting information and terminal guidance in support of Types 2 and 3 CAS." Type 2 CAS, the most common type, is when visual control of the attacking aircraft at weapons release is not possible or required (in adverse weather, at night or when using standoff weapons). Type 3 CAS imposes a low risk of fratricide and allows for blanket clearance to employ air support on targets in a pre-determined area of the battlefield.

Future Army requirements have identified the need for a controller of full-spectrum joint effects at the company level--a combination of the UO and JTAC--who could be called a "joint effects controller" (JEC). The JEC would be a qualified service member who is trained, equipped and qualified to employ all joint air, sea and surface lethal and nonlethal effects, including JCAS without a JTAC or forward air controller (airborne), or FAC(A), present.

The JCAS Action Plan has been the subject of an Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) test and evaluation process since 1998. Forces Command (FORSCOM) in coordination with the Training and the Doctrine Command (TRADOC) Futures Center will refine and publish the Army's required operational capability (ROC) for terminal attack controllers.

As the Army and Air Force seek feasible COAs to resource terminal attack controllers down to the company level, the UO concept expands the presence of skilled observers on the battlefield, broadens and enhances sensor-to-shooter links for the JTAC when employing Types 2 and 3 CAS, and provides commanders with Soldiers who understand the Air Force's theater air control system (TACS) and the Army's air-ground system (AGS). The UO would be part of an interim solution to meet ground commanders' requirements to access joint effects while both the Army and Air Force explore more comprehensive solutions. The JECs would be the desired end state, although there are advantages to retaining the current JTACs and forward observers to facilitate the simultaneous application of joint fires without overburdening the JECs.

These are just a few of the many initiatives Fort Sill has begun in its quest to become the Army's Joint Fires and Effects Integration Center. The JACI invites feedback; contact the director at [e-mail].

JACI and all of Fort Sill will continue to work joint issues as the Joint Fires and Effects Integration Center--vital doctrine, TTP, equipment and training for air-ground operations in the COE.

Colonel John L. Haithcock, Jr., until recently, was the Director of the new Joint and Combined Integration Directorate (JACI) in the Field Artillery School, Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He also was the Assistant Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) for FA Tactical Data Systems (TSM FATDS) at Fort Sill. He is now a student at the Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. He also served as the Plans Officer for the 3d Battlefield Coordination Detachment (BCD) in the Joint and Combined Forces, Korea. He commanded 3d Battalion 30th Field Artillery (3-30 FA), also at Fort Sill, and A Battery, 6-41 FA in the 3d Infantry Division (Mechanized) in Germany. Among other assignments, he was the Deputy Fire Support Trainer and S3 Combat Trainer at the National Training Center (NTC), Fort Irwin, California; and Battalion Executive Officer and S3 plus Brigade Fire Support Officer for 1-9 FA, also in the 3d Division at Fort Stewart, Georgia.