How To Call for a Close Combat Attack
Although aviation operations are generally obsolete when it comes to civilian blog posts, this blog will explain how a given soldier in the US Armed Forces can successfully call a Close Combat Attack or CCA.
A Close Combat Attack consists of “Army Aviation attack and reconnaissance units attacking enemy forces in close contact with friendly ground maneuver forces to destroy, defeat, disrupt, divert, or delay enemy forces to enable the combined arms team to seize, retain, or exploit the initiative.” (FM 3–04 1–4) In essence, this definition entails the use of air support by means of aviation for friendly ground units in close combat. The CCA defers from the 9-line CAS (Close Air Support) in that the CAS is most often called by a certified JTAC (Joint Traffic Air Controller) and the CCA can be called by any “ground maneuver force”, aka a common soldier.
The call for CCA is initiated over the radio. The purpose of this blog is to share the steps in successfully conveying the necessary information of enemy activity and description to the aviation pilot in support of the ground unit. The CCA consists of 5 lines, and they are as follows:
1) Observer’s Warning Order and Call Sign
The Observer in this case would be the soldier initiating the call for CCA. For the sake of the example, the Observer will be designated as “Observer 1”. The Observer will initiate his radio transmission by calling out the call sign of the particular aircraft he wishes to utilize. For the sake of the example, let “Venom 6” be an AH-64E Apache with close air support capabilities. After specifying the audience, the Observer will give the aviation pilot a warning order of what needs to be done in the ground unit’s current situation. Line 1 will generally look like this:
“Venom 6, this is Observer 1. Fire Mission, over.”
The aviation pilot will confirm the call through verbatim repetition to which the Observer would reply with:
2) Friendly Location / Method of Marking
The Observer will share his current location (or the location of the ground unit in contact with the enemy) and the method by which the aviation pilot can confirm said location. Generally, the Observer relays this information by way of a grid coordinate, but other methods, such as distance from a known point, may be utilized. The Method of marking the ground unit’s location may be obvious, but it is still important to relay a specific signal in order for the aviation pilot to completely recognize the friendly force. Methods such as colored smoke, Infrared Lasers, marking panels, and even fire can fulfill this step. Line 2 will look something like this:
“My position, 12345678. Marked by IR Strobe.
3) Target Location
The next step in the CCA is to relay the position of the enemy personnel in close contact with the ground unit. This can also be done a few different ways, but consistency would dictate the Observer to relay this information in the same format as Step 2) so as to not unnecessarily confuse the aviation pilot. However, this is most often accomplished by sharing the enemy’ bearing (magnetic azimuth from current position) in degrees and range in meters. Line 3 will look like this:
“Bearing 180 degrees, range 200 meters.”
4) Target Description and Mark
The second to last step in the CCA involves the general enemy description and method by which the enemy will be marked for the aviation pilot’s recognition. A general description will include the enemy’s size and surroundings. The methods of marking should differ from the methods of marking for friendly forces. Line 4 will look like this:
“2 Enemy trucks, out in the open marked by IR pointer, over.”
5) Remarks
The last line in the CCA consists of any potential remarks that the Observer may have. These remarks may include a recommended type of munitions, a designation of “Danger Close”, or restrictions in the zone of the aviator’s sector of fire. For the sake of the example, an AH-64E Apache has 30mm munitions capabilities. “Danger Close” for this type of fire power is 70 meters. Therefore, should he request the use of 30mm rounds, the Observer does not need to remark “Danger Close” to the aviation pilot. Line 5 should look like this:
“Request 30mm, fire when ready.”
The aviation pilot would be responding continuously after each line, confirming the information conveyed by the ground unit. Once the last line is sent, and control of the munitions has been given to the aviation pilot, the firing of the close air support munitions will be initiated by the aviation pilot.
The CCA may be utilized more than once for more than one type of aircraft. In fact, the airspace above a battle can become so convoluted that a great deal of factors begin to increase the risk of accident of mistake exponentially. That is why the US Armed Forces has designated air space specialists (JTACs and TACPs) to keep command and control over the airspace above the ground force units in contact.