ineup for take-off, air routes, occupying BPs at the objective area, and egress. Critical questions needing
answered are—
• Who is responsible for initiating the secure communications check?
• Who will call for indirect fires?
• Who will be assigned BP security?
• How will SPOTREPs be collected and sent?
• How will the fires be initiated?
• Who is responsible for coordinating and communicating with United States Air Force JAAT?
• Who will coordinate and communicate with the ground force commander?
• What radio calls are required during conduct of the operation?
• What are the actions on contact?
• What are the contingency plans?
• What is the success criterion and what will determine if that criterion has been met?
3-353. Rehearsing the plan is an ideal opportunity for identification of possible conflicts and resolving
them prior to execution. However, the primary purpose of the rehearsal is ensuring all crews know and
understand the commander’s intent and how it will be executed.
Step 8—Execute the Plan
3-354. After the decision has been made to initiate mission execution, units fly their assigned routes to
their BPs, ABFs, or SBFs. En route crews will engage or bypass unanticipated threats in accordance with
predetermined criteria. Possible engagement priorities may include—
• Threat to self.
• Threat to unit.
• Threat to friendly forces.
• Target priorities.
3-355. Once established in BPs, crews prepare for engagement. They must expect the enemy to employ
active and passive AD measures unless reliable intelligence predicts otherwise.
3-356. When targets have been located and positively identified, a contact (SPOTREP) is sent to the
commander. Ideally, the commander will be able to issue a fire command with “at my command” as the
control element. At this point, individual crews will—
• Observe and select the targets based on the preplanned fire pattern(s).
• Acquire and range the first target.
• Hold for the commander’s order to “fire”.
3-357. Simultaneously, while crews fix their targets, the commander coordinates for indirect fires to
engage enemy forces within the EA.
3-358. Execution begins at receipt of the fire command or a predetermined trigger point. As the fight
progresses, aircrews adjust fires and switch targets according to the fire command or SOP. As an example,
the target priorities may be—
• Most dangerous targets (ADA Systems).
• Tanks and/or ATGMs.
• C2 assets.
• Specialty vehicles.
• Artillery.
• Least dangerous targets.
3-359. The amount of time a helicopter can safely remain unmasked will depend on the enemy. Should
enemy AD or tanks be in overwatch, or if the target is stationary, the aircrew should not make more than