Direct Fire

U.S. Joint Publication 1-02 defines direct fire as “fire delivered on a target using the target itself as a point of aim for either the weapon or the director” (Department of Defense, 2010, p. 97). Put another way, direct fire is the use of any weapon to attack a target that is in the line of sight of the person/crew of the firing weapon or system using the weapon’s sights to aim at the target. Projectiles fired from direct fire weapons usually have relatively flat trajectories. This entry examines techniques, advantages, and disadvantages of direct fire.

Some weapons can utilize either direct or indirect fire to attack a target, such as artillery, mortars, or machine guns. In such cases, the key factor in differentiating between direct and indirect fire is whether or not the weapon is sighted directly at the target. If so, then this constitutes direct fire.

There are several advantages of employing direct fire. Direct fire is generally more accurate, particularly in terms of first-round effects, because the shooter can easily align the weapon with the target. The shooter can observe the effect of the rounds on the target and quickly make any necessary adjustments. The employment of direct fire is not without some potential disadvantages. The most important disadvantage is that the shooter may be exposed to direct fires employed by the target. In addition, the shooter’s weapon may have a signature that betrays the shooter’s location to the target.

Before the First World War, nearly all of the fires on the battlefield consisted of direct fire. This changed as the massive firepower of World War I armies caused each of the combatants to attempt to protect their artillery. Artillery pieces were moved to the reverse slopes of hills so that enemy artillery could not easily observe and attack them. Artillery placed in defilade (protection provided by an obstacle, such as a hill, etc.) was safer but required observers to communicate where rounds were landing and to send corrections back to the firing battery. It was through this process that artillery became primarily an indirect fire weapon. World War I also saw the proliferation of other indirect fire means such as mortars. Even machine guns were occasionally used in an indirect fire role.

In modern conflicts such as Iraq or Afghanistan, where wars are conducted among the people, direct fire has taken on a renewed importance. The indiscriminate use of massive firepower can be extremely effective during conventional fighting, but it can also be counterproductive while fighting insurgents taking cover amid civilians. Direct fire is often more precise and more easily controlled than indirect fire. In addition, direct fires generally produce less collateral damage than relatively imprecise area fire weapons such as artillery and mortars. As a result, in counterinsurgency operations where protection of the population is an important goal, direct fire can make a significant contribution to mission success.

Proper direct fire planning is essential in both the offense and the defense. In the offense, units must be aware of the sectors for which they are responsible, even while on the move. This allows a unit to maintain security and to be prepared for enemy attacks at all times. For units on the march, there are a number of methods of assigning sectors of fire, such as the clock method or quadrants.

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