FM 3-09 — Fire Support and Fire Effects

Overview

FM 3-09 establishes doctrinal principles and procedures for integrating fire support into all echelons of ground maneuver. It covers the targeting process, fire support planning, coordination with joint air assets, and the roles of the FSO, JTAC, and fire support teams.

The Targeting Process

Army targeting follows the D3A methodology:

• Decide: What targets does the commander want to engage? (Drives the High Payoff Target List — HPTL)
• Detect: How will those targets be found and confirmed? (Drives ISR tasking — NAIs, PIR)
• Deliver: What asset delivers the effect? (Indirect fires, CAS, EW, maneuver)
• Assess: Was the desired effect achieved? (BDA drives re-engagement decisions)

The targeting process runs continuously and is synchronized with the operations process.

Fire Support Coordination Measures

FM 3-09 establishes two categories of fire support coordination measures (FSCM):

Restrictive measures — limit fires to prevent fratricide:

• No-Fire Area (NFA): No fires or effects within this area without echelon approval
• Restrictive Fire Area (RFA): Fires require coordination with the controlling HQ
• Coordinated Fire Line (CFL): Forward limit of uncoordinated indirect fires; beyond CFL requires clearance

Permissive measures — authorize fires:

• Free Fire Area (FFA): Any target can be engaged without further coordination
• Final Protective Fire (FPF): Pre-planned indirect fire around a defensive position, called only in emergency

Fire Support Integration at Company Level

The company FSO is responsible for:

1. Building the fire support plan from the targeting board products
2. Registering TRPs on the terrain plan before execution
3. Integrating fires with the scheme of maneuver by phase
4. Maintaining communication with the battalion fire direction center (FDC)
5. Coordinating CAS windows with the JTAC

Call for Fire vs. CAS

Relevance to Dark Dot

Map fire support control measures on the terrain plan as line and polygon features. TRPs are point features. The fire support plan — target list, trigger points, and priority of fires by phase — can be structured using objectives: each planned target is an objective with its grid, attack guidance, and status.