CHAPTER 5: The OPFOR in the Offense

5-5 RECONNAISSANCE IN THE OFFENSE.

    The OPFOR considers reconnaissance the most important element of combat support. All commanders and staffs organize reconnaissance to acquire information about the BLUFOR's weapons of mass destruction; force disposition and intentions; and terrain and weather in the area of impending combat. This information is crucial to the planning process for command and control systems. Reconnaissance can decisively influence the outcome of a battle, operation, or campaign. See Section 1-11 for Reconnaissance Task organization.

    a. Army Group reconnaissance:

• Locate the most critical targets, to include:

• NBC and high-precision weapons.

• Intelligence gathering assets

• Higher headquarters and communications centers.

• General support artillery groups.

• Operational-strategic groupings and their movements.

    b. Army reconnaissance:

            Missions:

• Contents of airfields and army aviation forward operating bases.

• Major concentrations of reserves.

• Unit boundaries.

• Location and extent of defended areas.

• The BLUFOR’s combat capabilities and intentions.

    c. Division reconnaissance:

• Operate out to approximately 50 kilometers.

• Airborne qualified long-range reconnaissance company up to 100 kilometers deep without vehicles.

            Missions:

• Locating, identifying, and reporting BLUFOR NBC and high precision weapon delivery means, headquarters, communications centers, troop concentrations, and movements of BLUFOR units.

• Determining the strength and dispositions of the BLUFOR's defenses and locating his boundaries.

• Providing topographical information concerning routes to, or bypasses around, BLUFOR positions as well as concerning lateral routes.

• Identifying the extent and depth of minefields and the types of mine employed (assessing obstacles and possible crossing points).

• Establishing the extent of zones of contamination.

• Identifying potential communications facilities and other sites for use by their own forces.

    d. Special brigade reconnaissance troops carry out reconnaissance, operating from up to 25 to 30 kilometers forward of the OPFOR line of contact. They might operate out to a maximum distance of 50 kilometers.