The Fires complex

Organizing to win in largescale combat operations

- Col. Chris Compton and Lewis Lance Boothe

As the Army refocuses on what it takes to win in largescale combat operations (LSCO), determining the right organizational structure is a key component of the solution. Army Fires will play a critical role in LSCO and must be organized in a way that maximizes the timely, accurate employment of cross-domain Fires throughout the depth of an increasingly lethal, expanded battlespace.

Post-Cold War divestiture of Fires capability and force structure has left the Army at a disadvantage against peer and near-peer threats who have continued to invest in longrange Fires and air defense capability. While the newly formed Cross-Functional Teams for long-range precision Fires and air missile defense are addressing certain capability gaps to increase range and lethality in Fires platforms and munitions, the Concepts Development Division at Fort Sill is proposing force structure concepts that merge future material solutions with robust mission command for employing cross-domain Fires at echelon.

Creating a Fires force with the capacity, range and lethality to provide a credible deterrence and achieve overmatch in multi-domain operations (MDO) requires a revolutionary shift in current Fires force organization, capability and employment. Peer adversaries already employ a recon-strike Fires complex with long-range Fires, integrated sensor networks along with counter-rocket, artillery, mortar and air defense systems designed to offset the maneuver and technological advantages of U.S. forces. To face the increasingly lethal threats of today and tomorrow, the Army requires a more formidable Fires complex capable of delivering precise, responsive, effective and multifunctional Fires against targets in all domains (land, air, maritime, space and cyberspace) and at all echelons (tactical, operational and strategic). This requires both reinvesting in ground-based Fires capabilities and reorganizing Fires forces.