A fire support coordination element (FSCE) is a term used in the

US Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

to identify an element of

military formation Military organization or military organisation is the structuring of the armed forces of a state so as to offer such military capability as a national defense policy may require. In some countries paramilitary forces are included in a nation ...

or unit organisation in which functions are directly related to positioning weapons and delivering their fire onto targets. The term is most often associated with

artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...

, but is sometimes used for mortar fire. During the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

, the element, which included about five officers and nine enlisted personnel, collected and assessed information provided by the forward observers, field unit liaison officers, AN/TPS-25

surveillance radar Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as c ...

section, division artillery air section,

visual airborne target locator The visual system comprises the sensory organ (the eye) and parts of the central nervous system (the retina containing photoreceptor cells, the optic nerve, the optic tract and the visual cortex) which gives organisms the sense of sight (the a ...

section, and the AN/MPQ-4 countermortar radar section (one in each direct support battalion).Nuclear Target Intelligence: whose responsibility, Lieutenant Colonel Samuel W. Murphey, Headquarters, 2d Armored Division Artiller

/ref> The duties of fire support coordinator for the Division (military), division are normally performed by the division artillery commander, who works closely with the G-2

Intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can b ...

section of the division to identify enemy targets.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fire Support Coordination Element Artillery operation Artillery units and formations of the United States Army