Army Chemical Review

SUMMER 2015

Army Chemical Review presents professional information about Chemical Corps functions related to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, smoke, flame, and civil support operations.

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Army Chemical Review 8 Conducting Reconnaissance and Analysis A reconnaissance of the terrain and the local weather forecast at TA 401 before the combined arms breaching rehearsal indicated that stationary haze would not be pos- sible. The terrain, which is composed of multiple rolling hills with a lot of mounds and valleys, splits the wind, which was found to be multidirectional during the reconnaissance; and the weather was unfavorable. With changing winds, the team needed to be mobile to cover as much area as possible. Two of the three vehicles available to support the combined arms breaching rehearsal would provide primary smoke into the wind, and the third would be placed on standby in an alternate location—to be used when the winds changed di- rection. Smoke control points would be used to continually monitor wind changes, and vehicles would be called to shift as necessary. The leveraging of stakeholder capabilities across the Army through a combined arms breaching operation such as that demonstrated at TA 401 allows for the balanced tech- nical and tactical execution of a mission while minimizing operational vulnerabilities. The incorporation of obscuration in the breaching exercise provided the maneuver force with protection from an enemy attack by limiting the reconnais- sance and surveillance capabilities of the enemy. In addi- tion, obscurants covered enemy terrain, instilling a sense of uncertainty, confusion, and isolation in the enemy. This type of situation, which makes use of simultaneous offense, supports unifed land operations by exploiting the initiative to gain and maintain an advantage during sustained land operations. The combined arms breaching re- hearsal served as a CBRN capabili- ties refresher for CBRN offcers and NCOs. However, in summing up the operations, the commander of the 84th Chemical Battalion stated, "All units involved walked away with a better un- derstanding of combined arms opera- tions. My battalion was able to bring obscuration capabilities to the opera- tion that many maneuver commanders had not seen before or had forgotten the value of." Questions about the relevance of smoke and comments about how it can be replaced by munitions often arise. But those who don't see a future in ob- scuration need only take a look at cur- rent research to become aware of the revitalization of obscuration on small platforms such as drones; manpacks; and unmanned, radio- controlled vehicles. Just as the Edgewood Chemical Biologi- cal Center Improved Visual Obscuration Program aims to improve the state of the art in obscuration technology for the warfghter by advancing equipment such as the Light Vehicle Obscuration Smoke System for military police, the Chemical Corps should look toward a future without tradi- tional obscuration/smoke methods and outdated equipment. Research and development efforts are underway to build better capabilities. Endnote: 1 Obscuration haze is obscuration placed over friendly areas to restrict adversary observation with fre, but not dense enough to disrupt friendly operations within the screen. An obscura- tion haze is a concentration of visual obscuration that would allow the identifcation of a small, tactical vehicle from 50 to 150 meters away from the observer. (Army Techniques Publication 3-11.50, Battlefeld Obscuration, 15 May 2014.) "ECBC Engineers Lead Army in Improving Obscuration Capabilities for the Warfghter," Edgewood Chemical Bio- logical Center, 28 April 2014, , accessed on 1 April 2015. "ECBC Fields Light Vehicle Obscuration Smoke Sys- tem in Germany," Aberdeen Patch, 28 May 2013, , accessed on 1 April 2015. Captain is a CBRN offcer assigned as the chief of the Training 84th Battalion. He is currently working toward a Ph.D. in clinical psychology. An Abrams tank maneuvers through obscuration.

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