Sill takes on fires targeting mission

By Ms. Marie Berberea (TRADOC)March 5, 2015

Fires Targeting Center
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Army targeting
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FORT SILL, Okla. -- The Fires Center of Excellence is taking aim at bringing the Army in line with joint force targeting standards.

The Joint and Combined Integrated Directorate (JACI) transformed into the Fires Targeting Center (FTC) March 2, with the mission of addressing Army targeting doctrine, policy, and program oversight within the joint community.

Col. Thomas Williams, FTC director, said JACI "served its primary purpose of identifying essential wartime requirements to integrate joint fires into joint combined arms operations and ensuring Soldiers and leaders were prepared to meet those requirements."

He said the FTC will serve a similar purpose as the joint force continues to evolve its targeting requirements, doctrine, and capabilities.

Targeting is the process of selecting and prioritizing targets and matching the appropriate response to them, considering operational requirements and capabilities.

"It's where we need to go," said Chief Warrant Officer 4 Houston Burke of the FTC.

Burke said the goal is to streamline the Army's targeting activity with joint efforts on the battlefield that supports the Chief of Staff of the Army's vision.

Targeting needs

Training and Doctrine Command tasked the FCoE to conduct an Operational Targeting Study last May to identify gaps in Army targeting.

They compared the Army's abilities against the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center and the Air Force Targeting Center, focusing on areas such as target intelligence; target validation; developing no-strike entities, and conducting collateral damage estimation.

The three recommendations from the study were to establish a targeting center, assign proponency over targeting matters to the Fires Center of Excellence, and conduct leadership education focused on targeting.

"The goal is to go Army-wide because targeting is bigger than the fires warfighting function. It actually encompasses intelligence, cyberspace, military information support operations, mission command and others," said Chief Warrant Officer 5 Robert Tisdale, FTC.

" What (Maj. Gen. John Rossi) has done is stand up the Fires Targeting Center while we seek Army approval for an Army Targeting Center" Tisdale said.

Targeting is already one of the tasks of the fires warfighting function that Soldiers learn and focus on here at Fort Sill, but Tisdale said there is currently no targeting proponent identified to represent the Army at joint targeting forums and policy discussions.

"The Air Force has a targeting center; the Navy has a targeting center. We don't have an Army targeting center so our efforts do not match up with the rest of the joint force. Additionally, there is no single voice representing the entire Army." said Tisdale.

The push for focused targeting doctrine may change training here at Fort Sill, but Tisdale said they are not at that juncture yet. Right now the FTC is working to align Army doctrine with joint force doctrine.

Tisdale has been the lead for this effort for the last several years and said his experience downrange showed him the shortcomings of not meeting the required joint targeting standards when working with the Air Force and National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

Tisdale explained that "Joint forces have no problem accepting Army targeting data in a dynamic situation but they are less willing to accept our targeting data in a deliberate or pre-planned situation. In the past when we asked for a specific effect on a planned target, they would balk at the work we had done because we were not certified to joint targeting standards."

Tisdale said that while Fort Sill trains Soldiers on some of the certifications necessary to get support for engaging targets, like Collateral Damage Estimation and Target Mensuration Only, the Army needs an accredited program to achieve the certifications necessary to populate the Modernized Integrated Database, which serves as the Department of Defense's target list.

"Targeting information gets fed into the database and everything that's attacked is pulled out of the database. But we can't populate the database because we're not certified. We need the Targeting Center to help the Army employ joint fires to effect the ground force nominated targets in support of our troops on the ground."

Tisdale said the FTC has been years in the making to include the efforts of the last four Field Artillery commandants; the last three FCoE commanding generals; four JACI directors and numerous targeting warrant officers.

Rossi has briefed the Training and Doctrine Command who approved moving the Army Targeting Center initiative forward for consideration and approval by the Department of the Army.