FM 34-81 WEATHER SUPPORT FOR ARMY TACTICAL OPERATIONS

US Army Field Manual on CD in Adobe Acrobat (.PDF) format.

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What's inside:

The Air-Land battle is an extended, integrated battle involving all air and land foeces. Conventional, nuclear, chemical, and electronic weapons are integrated to attack enemy forces throughout the depth of their formations. Basic to the Air-Land battle is the fact that modern battles will be fought by air and land forces together. Interaction and cooperation must extend into almost every function of combat.

The potential Air-Land battlefield exists wherever United States forces face relatively modern, well-equiped forces using Soviet tactics and operational concepts. These forces are typified by the Warsaw Pact in Central Europeand the mechanized forces in the Middle East and Korea. The Army and Air Force must be prepared to fight and win by using all available combat power throughout every dimension of the battlefield.

Combat power depends on more than troops and weapon systems. It requires the integration of communications, intelligence, and other types of combat support (CS) and combat service support (CSS). These factors may be decisive, since commanders can manipulate and control them to achieve a tactical advantage.

Weather is the single decisive factor over which commanders have little or no control. Weather may be the most signifigant factor considered in all combat operations.

Many battles were won or lost due to the impact of weather. Some examples are the Spanish Armada, Operation Overlord, Battle of Trenton, Battle of Staligrad, and the Battle of the Bulge, as well as Napoleon's and Hitler's attempts to take Moscow.

Although commanders have no control over weather, they can take advantage of it or minimize its effects through planning. To do so, they need support from meteorological elements operating from the tactical to the national and international levels.

This manual provides weather support doctrine for combat operations. FM 100-5 describes operations and FM 34-1 describes intelligence and electronic warfare operations. The target audience includes Army and Air Force commanders and staffs. It also includes those US Air Force (USAF) weather teams (WETMs) delpoyed in support of Army tactical commands and echelons above corps (EAC) which provide weather data to lower echelon WETMs. Publications in the references support this manual and should be consulted for more details.

Use of Special Operations Forces (SOF) in this manual refers to both Special Forces Groups (SFGs) and the Ranger regiment.

PAGES: 145

PUBLICATION DATE: AUGUST, 1989

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