Chapter 4: Defense

While the OPFOR sees the offense as the decisive form of military action, it recognizes defense as the stronger form of military action, particularly when faced with a superior foe. Defensive operations can lead to strategic victory if they force a stronger invading enemy to abandon his mission. It may be sufficient for the OPFOR simply not to lose. Even when an operational-level command as a whole is conducting an offensive operation, it is likely that one or more tactical-level subordinate units may be executing defensive missions to preserve offensive combat power in other areas, to protect an important formation or resource, or to deny access to key facilities or geographic areas. The same is true of subordinate units within a tactical-level command.

OPFOR defenses can be characterized as a “shield of blows.” Each force and zone of the defense plays an important role in the attack of the enemy’s combat system. A tactical-level defense is structured around the concept that disaggregating and destroying the synergy of the enemy’s combat system will make enemy forces vulnerable to attack and destruction. Commanders and staffs do not approach the defense with preconceived templates. The tactical situation may cause the commander to vary his defensive methods and techniques. Nevertheless, there are basic characteristics of defensive battles (purposes and types of action) that have applications in all situations.

Defensive battles are designed to achieve the goals of the battle or operation plan through active measures while preserving combat power. A tactical command ensures that its subordinate commands thoroughly understand both the overall goals of the battle plan and the specific purpose of a particular battle they are about to fight. In this way, subordinate commands can continue to fight the battle without direct control by a higher headquarters. The purpose of any given defensive battle depends on the situation, resources, and mission—as determined through the decisionmaking process. The OPFOR recognizes four general purposes of tactical defensive missions:

Protect personnel and equipment.
Restrict freedom of movement.
Control key terrain.
Gain time.

These general purposes serve as a guide to understanding the design of a defensive mission and not as a limit placed on a commander as to how he makes his intent and aim clear. These are not the only possible purposes of tactical missions but are the most common.

Protect Personnel and Equipment

A defense to protect key personnel and equipment creates one or more locations on the battlefield where forces critical to the OPFOR effort are protected from enemy reconnaissance acquisition and destructive action. This can be because these elements are important to the OPFOR effort at an operational or even strategic scale or because the OPFOR needs time to reconstitute these elements for future offensive operations.

Such a defense typically, but not always relies heavily on camouflage, concealment, cover, and deception (C3D) and information warfare (INFOWAR) measures. However, enemy rules of engagement, limited access areas such as nonbelligerent countries, adverse weather conditions, and other such factors may be employed to provide protection to OPFOR forces.

Restrict Freedom of Movement

A defense to restrict freedom of movement prevents the enemy from maneuvering as he chooses. Such defenses can deny key terrain, ambush moving forces, dominate airspace, or fix an enemy formation. Tactical tasks often associated with restricting freedom of movement are ambush, block, canalize, contain, fix, interdict, and isolate.

Control Key Terrain

A defense to control key terrain prevents enemy seizure of geographic features or facilities. Terrain to be protected and controlled can include not only key terrain that dominates a battlefield, but also facilities such as economic targets, ports, or airfields.

Gain Time

A defense to gain time prevents the enemy from successfully concluding his scheme of maneuver before a certain point in time or prior to a given event taking place. A defense to gain time is not oriented on either a protected force or a geographic location—it is oriented on the enemy’s perceived scheme of maneuver. Disruption, delays, ambushes, and spoiling attacks are often parts of a defense to gain time.

Planning the Defense

For the OPFOR, the key elements of planning defensive missions are⎯

Determining the objective of the defensive action
Determining the level of planning possible (planned versus situational defense).
Organizing the battlefield.
Organizing forces and elements by function.
Organizing INFOWAR activities in support of the defense (see chapter 7).

Defensive actions are not limited solely to attrition-based tactics. Some actions against a superior and/or equal force will typically include the increased use of⎯

Infiltration to conduct spoiling attacks and ambushes.
Mitigation of enemy capabilities using INFOWAR, especially perception management and computer attack (see chapter 7), in support of defensive operations.
Use of affiliated forces for reconnaissance, counterreconnaissance, security, and attacks against key enemy systems and forces.

Planned Defense

A planned defense is a defensive mission or action undertaken when there is sufficient time and knowledge of the situation to prepare and rehearse forces for specific tasks. Typically, the enemy is in a staging or assembly area and in a known location and status. Key considerations in defensive planning are⎯

Determining which enemy forces will attack, when, and how.
Determining enemy weakness and how to create and/or exploit them.
Determining key elements of the enemy’s combat system and interdict them, thereby mitigating overall enemy capability.
Determining defensive characteristics of the terrain. Selecting key positions in complex terrain from which to dominate surrounding avenues of approach.
Determining the method that will deny the enemy his tactical objectives.
Developing a plan for reconnaissance, intelligence, surveillance, and target acquisition (RISTA) that locates and tracks major enemy formations, and determines enemy patterns of operations, intentions, timeframes, and probable objectives.
Creating or taking advantage of a window of opportunity that frees friendly forces from any enemy advantages in precision standoff and situational awareness.
Planning all aspects of an integrated counterattack making use of all means available, including INFOWAR, unmanned aerial vehicles, special-purpose forces (SPF), and/or affiliated irregular forces.

Situational Defense

The OPFOR may also conduct a situational defense. It recognizes that the modern battlefield is chaotic. Circumstances will often change so that the OPFOR is not afforded the opportunity to conduct offensive action, as originally planned, thus forcing it to adopt a defensive posture. If the OPFOR determines that a fleeting, situational window of opportunity is closing, it may assume a situational defense. Although detailed planning and preparation greatly mitigate risk, they are often not achievable if enemy action has taken away the initiative.

The following are examples of conditions that might lead to a situational defense:

The enemy is unexpectedly striking an exposed key OPFOR unit, system, or capability.
The enemy is conducting a spoiling attack to disrupt OPFOR offensive preparations.
An OPFOR unit makes contact on unfavorable terms for subsequent offensive action.
The enemy gains or regains air superiority sooner than anticipated.
An enemy counterattack was not effectively fixed

In a situational defense, the commander develops his assessment of the conditions rapidly and without a great deal of staff involvement. He provides a basic course of action (COA) to the staff, which then quickly turns that COA into an executable combat order. Even more than other types of OPFOR defensive action, the situational defense relies on implementation of battle drills by subordinate tactical units.

Note. Any division or brigade receiving additional assets from a higher command becomes a division tactical group (DTG) or brigade tactical group (BTG). Therefore, references to a tactical group, DTG, or BTG throughout this chapter may also apply to division or brigade, unless specifically stated otherwise.