Military Review English Edition November-December 2015 | Page 62

T

he U.S. Army is modernizing and cultivating
specific echelons of air and missile defense
(AMD) in response to evolving air and missile
threats. According to Col. Robert Lyons, former
director of the Department of the Army Military
Operations Air Missile Defense, the projected threat
force will be a sophisticated adversary consisting of
multi-echeloned, asymmetric capabilities.1 Upgrades
and unit expansions in Army high-to-medium-altitude air defense (HIMAD) systems, such as Patriot
and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, defend
critical assets and help the United States and its allies
maintain a strategic advantage around the world;
these assets—for the purposes of this paper, called
static-engagement-AMD—enable AMD from stationary locations.2 However, the Army prioritizes
static-engagement-AMD assets at the expense of
aggressive maneuver tempo, resulting in an unbalanced execution of the Army’s AMD strategy. For
example, Army air defense artillery (ADA) includes
fifteen Patriot battalions, which provide static-engagement-AMD, but only four active Avenger batteries
and seven Army National Guard Avenger battalions,
as of August 2015. These eleven Avenger units are
the air defense’s only remaining nonstatic-engagement-AMD formations.3 This situation reflects a gap
in the force’s protective capabilities, through degraded
AMD support of maneuver.
The brigade combat team (BCT) is designed for
operations encompassing the entire range of military
operations; it is the primary close-combat force of the
U.S Army.4 However, no AMD engagement assets
are organic to the BCT, and this limits effectiveness
because it limits integration. Maj. Gen. John G. Rossi,
commanding general of the United States Army Fires
Center of Excellence and Fort Sill, Oklahoma, offered
a viable perspective during an Association of the U.S.
Army “Transform the AMD Force” panel in February
2015. According to Army reporter David Vergun, Rossi
explained that AMD elements should improve communication with other forces, including BCTs, because
“there are threats out there not just to combatant
commanders; it’s also BCTs saying we need you back in
the game.”5 The Army’s AMD strategy emphasizes the
development of static-engagement-AMD assets and
formations, but the solution to bridging the growing
gap between aerial threat exposure and air defense
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for maneuver forces is to modernize, grow, and integrate nonstatic-engagement-AMD assets, such as the
Avenger, into the BCT.

Air Defense and Aggressive
Maneuver Tempo
Short-range air defense protects units against
threats such as unmanned aircraft systems (UASs),
rotary-wing aircraft, fixed-wing aircraft, and cruise
missiles. Traditionally, forces have accomplished
short-range air defense through nonstatic-engagement-AMD. Some HIMAD assets also can defend
against these kinds of threats, but their capability to
support an aggressive maneuver tempo—through
expedited tactical mobility and shooting on the
move—is nonexistent. Army forces need AMD assets
that help them maneuver faster than their enemies.
According to Army Doctrine Reference Publication 3-0,
Unified Land Operations, “during operations dominated by combined arms maneuver, commanders
normally seek to maintain a higher tempo than the
enemy does; a rapid tempo can overwhelm an enemy’s ability to counter friendly actions. It is the key
to achieving a temporal advantage during combined
arms maneuver.”6 HIMAD weapon systems are
static-engagement-AMD assets with extensive time
requirements for emplacement. Maneuver commanders who depend on these assets need to assume risk
in protection or initiative when operating outside the
narrow protection zone they provide.
In addition, HIMAD weapon systems cannot
identify, track, or engage targets without radar radiating into the operational area. In comparison, Avengers
are enhanced by radar rather than reliant on it. Their
operators can manually engage targets through visual
acquisition (line of sight) or remotely through automated radar targeting. The Avenger’s line-of-sight
capability complements its ability to shoot on the move
and enables the system to function throughout the
maneuver area of operations.
Developed in the 1990s, the Avenger is a lightweight, shoot-on-the-move, rocket-launcher system
that provides critical short-range nonstatic-engagement-AMD. Similarly, the Army developed the Bradley
Stinger Fighting Vehicle, or Linebacker, to accompany
its mechanized formations. According to Bradley manufacturer Raytheon, the “Stinger maintains a greater
November-December 2015  MILITARY REVIEW