FM 1-100: ARMY AVIATION OPERATIONS

Official US Army Field Manual in Acrobat PDF file format.Field Manual (FM) 1–100 is Army aviation’s capstone manual. It embodies the doctrinal tenets for the employment of aviation and establishes the basis for understanding aviation as an essential element of combat power. Doctrinally describing Army aviation, the manual serves as the foundation that captures the essence of Army aviation and those principles upon which it is employed. It prescribes doctrine above the level of tactics, techniques, and procedures.   This field manual provides general guidance concerning the employment of Army aviation on the modern battlefield. It forms the basis for understanding Army aviation’s unique contribution to maneuver, combat support, and combat service support missions. It establishes the principles of Army aviation employment for warfighting and other operations, and applies to all echelons of aviation operations. This manual is intended for use by Aviation commanders, staff officers, and all soldiers within aviation units and theater, corps, division, and brigade commanders and their staffs. It applies to all members of the combined arms team; joint, multinational, and interagency operations; and special operations, or contingency, forces that operate with Army aviation forces. This edition of FM 1–100 is written to carry Army aviation forward to the turn of the century. Our vision lies beyond the turn of the century, however. As this manual isbeing drafted and staffed, we are concurrently developing the new concepts that willevolve into the doctrinal foundation for the next century. This is a dynamic period ofinnovation and change. Our leap–ahead reconnaissance and attack aircraft—the RAH-66 Comanche and AH-64Longbow Apache—are realities. We know their current capabilities, and can envision thefuture potential they bring to the future battlefield. We are developing future doctrinebased on those capabilities. At the same time, the research and development communityand industry continue to create the enabling technologies-the digital communicationsand other linkages—we need to fight these systems to their fullest potential. The futurebattlespace will be fluid, high tempo, and nonlinear. The traditional battlefield frameworkof deep, close, and rear operations will become increasingly convoluted and ambiguous. To maintain continuity with other capstone Army doctrine, this edition of FM 1–100 willcontinue to refer to close, deep, and rear operations; however, in the near future, a moreviable framework may be simply close and extended operations. On the nonlinear/noncontiguous battlefield of the future, we must be prepared to conduct seamless, simultaneous operations in all directions. Army operations will be conducted in the context of an ever-changing world. No longercan we model the force and develop our doctrine against one known threat, or evencounter the capabilities of a number of known potential adversaries. Instead, we mustdevelop and retain the warfighting capability to win decisively across the spectrum ofoperations with minimum friendly casualties. This is domination–based warfare-massingnot only our forces, but total lethal and nonlethal effects, throughout the battlespaceto dominate any potential adversary. Army aviation is uniquely suited to these challenges. The Apache and Comanche fully exemplify the inextricable linkage between maneuverand fires. With unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to extend their range and coveragedigitally cued by the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS), Army airborne command and control system (A2C2S) UH–60 Black Hawks, and other ground–based command posts—these aircraft provide commanders with real–time intelligence and situational awareness. They maneuver throughout the depth of the battlespace to deliver precision fires with devastating lethality. Shaping Army aviation for future operations is more than merely delivering lethal fires...it is more than killing enemy tanks and artillery.. .it is, instead, creating a newsynergy—a total integration into what is termed a pattern of operations. (The subsets ofthe pattern are depicted in italics to indicate that they are emerging doctrinal terms.)Our future Aviation units will be modular and deployable. They will provide joint forcecommanders with a lethal and flexible force to rapidly deploy from the continental UnitedStates (CONUS), or abroad, to any theater. Deployment will be by strategic air or sea lift,self-deployment, with a maritime force aboard aircraft carriers, or by any combination ofthose means. No other force can match Army aviation’s ability to rapidly project the force and buildcombat power in an immature theater. Once on the ground, we become the principalmeans to protect the force as the other ground forces continue to deploy and flow into theinitial lodgement. This is best exemplified by the initial days and weeks of Desert Shieldas aviation units quickly deployed to Saudi Arabia and became the principal combatpower for the initial covering force. Throughout the future fight, Army aviation will be at the forefront of gaining informationdominance. The Comanche and Longbow Apache, coupled with UAVs and the A2C2SUH–60, form a team that becomes, in effect, the command, control, communications, andintelligence (C3I) key facilitator for the future battlefield. We can eliminate the enemy’sreconnaissance, attack his command and control (C2), and gather intelligence, whileproviding security for our own intelligence and C2 systems. Digitally cued by JSTARS and other airborne and ground sensors, our future aircraft will add a new dimension ofprecision economy of force. Concurrently, these missions also contribute to Armyaviation’s key role in shaping the battlespace. By conducting armed reconnaissance and security missions with real–time, sensor–toshooter linkages, Army aviation can rapidly confirm the enemy’s intentions, disrupt histempo, deny his freedom of action, and get into his decision cycle. The ultimate inshaping the battlespace is to preclude the necessity for conducting decisive operations.We can sustain the tempo of the fight, attacking with depth and simultaneity throughout the battlespace. At a time and place of our choosing, we will initiate decisive operationsin conjunction with maneuver ground forces to complete the destruction or defeat ofenemy forces. We will sustain the force and transition to future operations with combat support andcombat service support provided by our UH–60 Black Hawk and CH–47 Chinook aircraft, and by air assaulting forward-operating bases from which follow–on combat operations can be conducted. We will also continue to provide the reconnaissance, security, and attack helicopter support to sustain the fight and protect the force as we prepare for follow–on operations. Army aviation must adapt quickly to the inevitable changes that affect our mission. Ourdoctrine, tactics, techniques, and procedures must reflect those changes and be responsive to the needs of our units in the field. We encourage your comments and ideas as we develop our collective vision for shaping the future of Army aviation.File download size: 1.5 MB