Air Fronts: Air Defense FM 44-8; Antiaircraft Operations Room and Antiaircraft Artillery Intelligence Service - Chapter 5. AAOR and AAAIS for Combined Defense

Section I. GENERAL

91. GENERAL. For the purposes of this chapter, a defense is assumed consisting of guns, automatic weapons, search-lights, fighter aviation, barrage balloons, and smoke.

Section II. ANTIAIRCRAFT OPERATIONS ROOM

92. GENERAL. In a combined defense as constituted in paragraph 91, an AAOR which meets the requirements of the AAA elements of the defense wilI also meet the requirements of the fighter-searchlight team. A typical AAOR for a combined defense is shown in figure 19.

93. PERSONNEL. The duties of personnel used to operate an AAOR parallel those described in the preceding chapters with the following additions:

a. AA operations officer. The AAOO, as the representative of the commander of alI the AA units operating in the defense, supervises all AA operations in the AA operations room. He keeps the AA liaison officer at appropriate air force operations room informed of the status of all AAA in the area. He maintains liaison with the AAOO's of the adjacent areas. He has intelligence on enemy targets initially

PERSONNEL

1. Intercept officer.                7. Searchlight plot observers.

2. AA operations officer.               8. Raid orderlies.

3. Gun operations officer.      9. Gun plot observers.

4. Communications officer.      10. Air force AAAIS tellers.

5. Searchlight operations officer.      11. D/F plotter.

6. Balloon barrage liaison officer.     12. Situation board plotters.

Figure 19. AAOR for a combined defense.

picked up by the AAAIS transmitted to the air force filter officer. He restricts or releases fire as necessary based on in-formation from the AAAIS, higher headquarters, or appropriate air force operations rooms. His station is on the balcony over-looking the AA operations board. He has direct communication with the AA liaison officers at appropriate air force operations rooms, the appropriate air force filter officer, the appropriate air force controller, and the AA operations officers in adjacent areas.

b. Gun operations officer. The GOO represents the commanders of the gun and automatic weapons units. He transmits the grid coordinates of approaching targets to the gun and automatic weapons batteries. (He may detail this duty to the gun plot observer.) He transmits orders governing restriction and release of fire when ordered by the AAOO. He receives tactical reports from the gun and automatic weapons units. He keeps the AAOO advised of the operating condition of the guns and automatic weapons. His station is either on the stand or on the floor overlooking the board.

c. Searchlight operations officer. The SLOO is the representative of the commander of the searchlight units. He has direct communications with the searchlight platoon command posts and transmits warning information to them. He may delegate this to the searchlight plot observer. He transmits orders to the searchlights governing restriction and release to illuminate when ordered by the AAOO. He insures that the status board reflects the current operating condition of searchlight materiel. His station is either on the stand or on the floor overlooking the board.

d. Communications officer. See paragraph 23.

e. Barrage balloon liaison officer. The barrage balloon liaison officer transmits to the barrage balloon control room orders of the AAOO concerning the balloon barrage. When practicable, the barrage balloon control room should be combined with the AAOR. He keeps the AAOO informed of the status of the balloon barrage. He transmits instructions to the commander of the smoke defense, when ordered by the AAOO. He keeps the AAOO informed of the status of smoke units.

f. Gun plot observers. The gun plot observers are assistants to the gun operations officer and are stationed on the floor near the plotting board. Normally the gun and automatic weapons command and intelligence nets wilI each have a gun plot observer. Their duty is to transmit grid co-ordinates of raids to the appropriate gun and automatic weapons batteries. The telephones are so connected that the GOO can monitor or break in on the "hot lines" of the plot observers. They place raid stands near the corresponding plots. They relieve the GOO of as many as possible of the routine duties required to insure execution of his orders. They record in the AAOR operations journal alI actions, changes in status of alert, and orders received or issued by the GOO.

g. Searchlight plot observer. The searchlight plot observer is the assistant to the SLOO. He transmits intelligence on incoming targets direct to the interested platoon command posts. He supervises the operations of alI searchlight plotters. When more than one radar is tracking the same target, he selects one to continue to furnish data and orders the other plotters to transmit "Cease giving data" over their data lines.

He receives display stands from the raid orderly and places them near the corresponding plots. He records in the AAOR operations journal all actions, changes in state of readiness, and orders received or issued by the SLOO. In large defenses it may be necessary to have more than one searchlight plot observer.

h. Situation board plotters. Situation board plotters are stationed at the AA situation board.

(1) A situation board plotter has communication with the AAAIS teller of each adjacent air force operations room. His duty is to plot on the AA situation board information of aerial activity furnished from adjacent areas.

(2) In those cases where the AAOR is not combined with an air force operations room, additional situation board plotters may be required.

94. AIR FORCE PERSONNEL. Where fighters are concerned in the defense certain air force personnel may operate in conjunction with the AAOR.

a. Intercept officer. (1) The intercept officer is stationed on the balcony overlooking the AA operations board. When controlling fighters using AAA data, he takes station on the floor overlooking the AA operations board. His principal duty is to control the movements of fighter airplanes from the principal control points to the proper subcontrol points by means of VHF (very high frequency radio used for air-ground communication) and to dispatch the fighters from the subcontrol point to an interception after the searchlights have reported an intersection. During heavy raids more than one intercept officer may be necessary. The intercept officer has a telephone line direct to his controller. He also has a hand-microphone and receiver for communications with fighter pilots by means of VHF.

(2) In the daytime, with the AAAIS operating, targets may be picked up by the AAAIS before interception has been accomplished. The intercept officer can obtain the altitude of these targets from the raid stand on the AA operations board and can adjust the altitudes of his fighters accordingly.

b. Air force AAAIS teller. An air force AAAIS teller may be stationed at the AA operations board. His duties are to transmit grid coordinates of raids to the appropriate air force agencies. For this purpose he has direct connection to these air force agencies.

c. D/F plotter. The D/F (direction finding) plotter is stationed on the floor near the AA operations board. His duty is to plot, when necessary, the position of friendly aircraft on the AA operations board. For this purpose he has direct communication with the D/F plotting room.

Section III. AAAIS

95. AAAIS. The AAAIS in this type defense is based on the integration of the AAAIS of the component parts. Each unit of the defense is responsible for its assigned functions. The target courses are plotted on the operations board for the information of the AAOO and the intercept officer.

Section IV. COMMUNICATIONS

96. GENERAL. a. The communication system for this type defense combines the nets of the gun, automatic weapons, and searchlight units of the defense. (See fig. 20.) These nets are described in chapters 2, 3, and 4. In addition, direct lines are run to the barrage balloon control room and the command post of the smoke units.

b. For coordination with the air force units, when needed, communications are established between the following:

Section V. OPERATIONS

97. OPERATIONS. a. As soon as an enemy raid appears on the AA operations board, the gun plot observers alert the gun and automatic weapons batteries which seem likely to be affected by the raid. They give target plots to all units in grid coordinates. The gun operations officer supervises this action and may give specific orders to the gun plot observers concerning which gun and automatic weapons batteries should receive this information.

b. Meanwhile, the searchlight plot observer contacts the searchlight platoon command posts in line with the apparent direction of the raid giving the coordinates and other pertinent information.

c. At the same time, the air force AAAIS teller transmits to the appropriate air force agency the coordinates of raids not previously picked up and reported by the AWS.

d. The raid orderly checks the coordinates of the new raid against the coordinates of the raids appearing on the situation board, or the air force operations board if one is located in the same room. It is usually found that raids appear on either of these boards, having already been reported by early warning agencies. The raid orderly assigns the same number which was assigned to that raid by the air force operation rooms. Otherwise, he assigns the raid a number. He puts the proper raid number on the display stand, and hands the stand to the plot observer, who places it on the AA operations board at a position near the raid plot. When information is received from the radar and announced by the plotter concerning the number of planes and the altitude, the appropriate placards displaying these data are selected by the raid orderly and handed to the plot observer for display on the raid stand.

e. As the plot of the enemy raid progresses inward on the AA operations board, plot observers continue to transmit the grid coordinates to the gun and automatic weapons batteries and searchlight platoons unless otherwise ordered by their respective operations officer. In transmitting the coordinates they specify the raid number obtained from the placard in the display stand.

f. The intercept officer, observing the plots on the AA operations board, determines the subcontrol point nearest in line with the direction of the enemy raid. Using radio, he dispatches the necessary fighters from the principal control point to the appropriate subcontrol point. The pilot or pilots report back to the intercept officer after arriving at the designated subcontrol point. The searchlight plot observer, as soon as he is able, informs the affected searchlight platoons of the exact course of the enemy raid.

g. Meanwhile, the AA situation board plotters in adjacent areas have received the grid coordinates of the raid at the same time they were received at the air force filter room. The raid is plotted on these AA situation boards.

h. The gun operations officer, during this period, transmits to the gun batteries any necessary orders concerning their action.

i. The AAOO gives to the barrage balloon liaison officer any orders concerning a change in status of the balloon barrage or smoke units which might he dictated by the raid. The barrage balloon liaison officer, in turn, transmits these orders to the barrage control room or smoke units.

j. When the target has reached the searchlight area and an intersection of two or more searchlight beams is formed on the target, this fact is reported to the plotter at the AA operations board, who immediately indicates the intersection on the board. The intercept officer, upon seeing this information, immediately dispatches the necessary fighters from the sub-control point to make the interception.