Does C2 go both ways when radioing in mortars?

[gumby7]

Hey. I'm unclear on exactly how radios work when calling in mortars. When using a radio, does the link always have to be moving up the chain from the spotter (ex: FO>Platoon HQ) or can it go in any direction (ex: Company HQ>FO)? And also, does the radio unit near the mortars have to be in the same unit, or could for example, Company A's FO call for fire from Company B's mortars? And to combine the 2 questions, could Company A's FO call fire through Company B's section HQ radio?

Does that make sense?

Thx,

gumby

[Michael Emrys]

Hey. I'm unclear on exactly how radios work when calling in mortars.

I'm not real clear on all of this myself, but I'll take a stab or two just to get the discussion going.

When using a radio, does the link always have to be moving up the chain from the spotter (ex: FO>Platoon HQ) or can it go in any direction (ex: Company HQ>FO)?

If the FO is attached to the highest ranking level of command present, I think he had direct access to all mortars also directly subordinate to that HQ. The problem is that the smaller mortars usually belong to platoons, which means that the request has to go up the chain of command and then back down.

And also, does the radio unit near the mortars have to be in the same unit, or could for example, Company A's FO call for fire from Company B's mortars? And to combine the 2 questions, could Company A's FO call fire through Company B's section HQ radio?

One thing to note: FOs are not part of a company normally (although it might be possible to attach one directly to a company; but that would just make it less flexible). Normally, FOs are attached to the formation HQ and subordinate to it.

But to try to answer the question I think you meant to ask, any HQ down to platoon level can request support. If the HQ is requesting support from another company's (or platoon's within the same company) it has to go up to whatever level has jurisdiction over both the requesting unit and the supporting unit. Each level that the request has to travel, both up and down, takes time.

Michael

[Michael Emrys]

Also, it was not normal for units of one company to request support from the mortars of another company. If a company's organic mortars were not sufficient or unavailable, it would request support from the mortars of the battalion's heavy weapons company. In the game, you can only do this if you have a medium mortar module available as on-call artillery.

Michael

[gumby7]

But to try to answer the question I think you meant to ask, any HQ down to platoon level can request support. If the HQ is requesting support from another company's (or platoon's within the same company) it has to go up to whatever level has jurisdiction over both the requesting unit and the supporting unit. Each level that the request has to travel, both up and down, takes time.

Michael

I think I get it. So to get back to how radio works, if a platoon HQ of Company A wanted to use Company B's mortars with radio, the formation HQ would have to be within 50m of the mortars. Or if a platoon of company A wanted to use their own mortars the relaying radio would have to belong to the company HQ or higher. Is that correct?

[akd]

C2 links on the spotter's end do not affect access to on- or off-map artillery, but bad C2 will influence their effectiveness.

C2 links up from on-map artillery assets can cause cause them to show as "out of contact". There are three primary ways to guarantee that on-map assets stay "in- contact" with spotters:

1. The on-map firing unit has good links up its own chain of command to an HQ equipped with a radio. In most cases this is their own immediate superior, but in some cases you must have good C2 up through more than one level. For example, some mortars must have good links to their section HQ (no radio), and their section HQ must have good links to its platoon HQ (which has a radio). All units that can spot will be "in contact".

2. The on- map firing is positioned next to a stationary vehicle equipped with a radio. All units that can spot will be "in contact."

3. Your desired spotter is within voice range of the desired on-map firing unit. Unless either of the above also apply, only the nearby spotter will be "in contact".

If an asset shows as " denied", this means the selected spotter is not qualified to access the asset. C2 has no effect on this status.