text: Operations During Armed Conflict
  in the extended deep area influences future operations, and it may become part of an assigned area when
  offensive operations progress, forward boundaries advance, and units move around the battlefield.
  Commanders integrate the effects and activities of special operations forces and partner irregular forces in
  extended deep areas. Army forces request joint effects in the deep area, and they may be tasked by the JFC
  to employ long-range fires against targets in the extended deep area. Disrupting enemy decision making or
  destroying enemy long-range fires capabilities limits the enemy’s ability to mount a coordinated defense and
  can destroy enemy forces reconstituting or preparing for counterattacks.
  DEEP OPERATIONS DURING OFFENSIVE OPERATIONS
  6-235. Deep operations focus on parts of an assigned area that are not in direct fire contact with the main
  body of the formation but may be in the future. At division and corps, which have assigned and attached
  long-range fires capabilities, the deep area extends beyond the forward line of troops to a distance that
  corresponds with the ability of Army and joint capabilities to reach. Divisions and corps integrate special
  operations forces, depending on C2 relationships, with deep operations to degrade the enemy’s will to fight,
  destroy high-payoff targets, and disrupt enemy defensive infrastructure and sustainment. Special operations
  forces operating in deep areas require control measures to synchronize actions and mitigate risk.
  6-236. Commanders use graphic control measures in the deep area to delineate responsibility for targets,
  employment of fires, axes of advance, and future ground objectives. Forward boundaries, coordinated fire
  lines, fire support coordination lines, kill boxes, and restricted fire areas are all coordination measures that
  commanders use to integrate deep operations among echelons.
  6-237. Commanders synchronize joint and organic lethal and nonlethal effects in the deep area to disrupt
  enemy echelons, neutralize reserves, and destroy key capabilities including counterbattery radars and fires
  systems that can impact close operations. For example, a commander may combine massed fires against the
  enemy reserve with military information support operations, attacking that unit’s resupply operations to
  psychologically isolate it from the main body and erode its will to fight.
  6-238. Corps and divisions may use their indirect fires capabilities to support close operations and to
  conduct deep operations. Commanders employ reconnaissance and security forces, both air and ground, to
  make initial contact, detect targets, and facilitate fires in support of deep operations. They may shift priority
  of fires from deep to close operations in support of the main effort.
  6-239. Commanders may also employ reconnaissance and security forces to conduct deep operations.
  Commanders may task-organize dedicated security forces to make contact with the smallest possible ground
  formations and to develop the situation before the main body can be decisively engaged. Normally an
  attacking unit does not need extensive forward security forces; most attacks are launched from positions
  already in contact with the enemy, which reduces the usefulness of a separate forward security force. An
  exception occurs when the attacking unit is transitioning from the defense to an attack, and it had previously
  established a forward security area as part of the defense.
  CLOSE OPERATIONS
  6-240. Close operations occur where forces at divisions and lower echelons maneuver and where forces at
  the BCT and lower echelons conduct most direct fire engagements. BCTs and lower echelon formations
  destroy or render enemy forces combat ineffective through movement and fires during close operations. Close
  combat at the BCT-level and below relies heavily on the warfighting skill and determination of leaders and
  small-unit teams. Battle drills and creating effects from massed indirect fire play a critical role in success
  during close combat, since immediate action or reaction can determine success and failure.
  6-241. When commanders achieve their initial objectives in the close area, they transition to the next phase
  of the operation, or they execute a branch or sequel should the situation require a change to the original plan.
  A branch may require friendly forces to defeat a counterattacking enemy force on the division’s flank with
  joint capabilities or reserves. When commanders defeat most enemy defensive forces, they may transition
  some of their focus to consolidating gains. For example, when lead friendly echelons fix and bypass enemy
  forces to maintain momentum, follow-on friendly forces must defeat the bypassed enemy forces to prevent
  them from disrupting friendly lines of communications, negatively influencing local populations, or breaking