The definition of a Kill Box is the following:
A three-dimensional permissive fire support coordination measure with an associated airspace coordination measure used to facilitate the integration of joint fires.
In very simple terms, the Kill Box is not a mission but a means to coordinate operations in an area and the relative airspace above it, where air assets can engage targets without the rigid coordination usually required for Close Air Support missions. Those missions can still be operated inside the kill box.
In a kill box, both air-to-surface and surface-to-surface indirect fire can be applied, but in such a case, appropriate restrictions must be adopted. The restrictions deconflict the aircraft participating from the friendly surface fires (e.g., the aircraft flies above the friendly fires).
When established, the first objective of the kill box is to enable lethal attacks against targets on the ground without requiring additional coordination with the establishing commander and without a terminal attack controller.
The kill box can integrate air-to-surface and surface-to-surface indirect fire. In this case, the device will have appropriate restrictions.
The purpose is, in primis, to prevent fratricide, whilst increasing the flexibility and cutting down the amount of coordination required to fulfil the support requirements
The discussion about the Kill Boxes touches several concepts, such as Coordination Measures, ACM (Airspace Coordinating Measure), and FSCM (Fire Support Coordination Measure) in particular. This Chapter provides a brief look and minimum background at a topic much wider than the Kill Boxes: the structures and complexities of coordinating air-to-ground operations. For further information, refer to JP 3-52: Joint Airspace Control. It is a very informative source for virtual planners and controllers.
Parenthesis I: Coordination Measures (ACM and FSCM)
Purpose: Coordination measures are employed to facilitate planning and efficient execution of operations while simultaneously providing safeguards for friendly forces. Several categories and subcategories of Coordination Measures are used:
- ACM: Airspace Coordinating Measure;
- FSCM: Fire Support Coordination Measure;
- MCM: Manoeuvre Control Measures;
- ARM: Air Reference Measures;
- ADM: Air Defence Measures;
- MDM: Maritime Defense Measures;
- ATCM: Air Traffic Control Measures.
The discussion about the Kill Boxes touches the mentioned concepts of ACM and FSCM. This is how they are defined:
Airspace Coordinating Measure (ACM)
A measure employed to facilitate the efficient use of airspace to accomplish missions and simultaneously provide safeguards for friendly forces.
Transit of an ACM requires coordination with the owning airspace control element. The main types of Airspace Coordinating Measures are:
- Air Corridor. Examples: Air Corridor (AIRCOR), Minimum-Risk Route (MRR), Transit Corridor (TC), Transit Route (TR), Low-Level Transit Route (LLTR);
- Restricted Operations Zone. Examples: Restricted Operations Zone (ROZ), Air-to-Air Refuelling Area (AAR), Airborne Early Warning Area (AEW), Close Air Support (CAS), Combat Air Patrol (CAP), Drop Zone (DZ), Landing Zone (LZ), Reconnaissance Area (RECCE), Special Operations Force Area (SOF), Surface-to-Surface Munitions (SSM), Unmanned Aircraft Area (UA);
- Stand-Alone. Examples: Coordinating Altitude (CA), Coordination Level (CL), No Fly Area (NOFLY), Airspace Coordination Area (ACA), Coordinate Fire Line (CFL).
ROZ, CAS and CAP listed above are well-known concepts, but it is worth refreshing their definition:
RESTRICTED OPERATIONS ZONE – ROZ
Definition: Airspace reserved for specific activities in which the operations of one or more airspace users is restricted.
CLOSE AIR SUPPORT – CAS
Definition: Airspace designated for holding orbits and used by rotary and fixed-wing aircraft that are in close proximity to friendly forces.
Considerations: Requires detailed integration of each air mission with the fire and movement of supported ground forces.
COMBAT AIR PATROL – CAP
Definition: An aircraft patrol provided over an objective area, the force protected, the critical area of a combat zone, or in an air defense area, for the purpose of intercepting and destroying hostile aircraft before they reach their targets.
Considerations: Established as part of a fighter, missile, or joint engagement zone (fighter engagement zone/missile engagement zone/joint engagement zone) planning for defensive counterair operations.
Fire Support Coordination Measure
A coordination measure employed to facilitate the rapid engagement of targets and simultaneously provide safeguards for friendly forces. Fire Support Coordination Measure can be permissive or restrictive.
The following are a few FSCM examples: Fire Support Coordination Line (FSCL), Free Fire Area (FFA), Kill Box (KILLBX), No Fire Area (NFA), Restrictive Fire Line (RFL), Restrictive Fire Area (RFA), Zone of Fire (ZF).
Besides the Kill Box, the Fire Support Coordination Line (FSCL) is of particular interest. This FSCM demarcates the area after which all fires must be coordinated prior to the engagement.
This Coordination Measure will be mentioned again in this Chapter.
Other Coordination Measures
Of less interest for the purpose of DCS and flight simulators, the other Coordination Measures cover other aspects such as movement and manoeuvres or point, area or volume definition.
Examples of these measures are:
- Maneuver Control Measure (MCM): Boundary (BNDRY), Forward Line of Own Troop (FLOT), Joint Operations Area (JOA), Phase Line (PL);
- Air Reference Measure (ARM): Buffer Zone (BZ), Bullseye (BULL), Contact Point (CP);
- Air Defense Measure (ADM): Base Defence Zone (BDZ), Control Zone (CONTZN), Fighter Engagement Zone (FEZ), Traverse Level (TL);
- Maritime Defense Measure (MDM): Carrier Control Zone (CCZONE), Ship Control Zone (SCZ);
- Air Traffic Control Measure (ATCM): Class A//G Airspace (CLSA//G), Military Operations Area (MOA).
Parenthesis II: Kill Boxes From Desert Storm To Modern Times
After weeks of deep strike and similar missions, on 20 February Marine units switched to Battlefield Air Interdiction (BAI) as their primary role in preparation for the ground assault.
Central to this mission was the use of ‘Kill Boxes’, which were grids set up via latitude and longitude where FACs, familiar with their assigned territory, would call in aircraft to strike Iraqi army units as they were located. The procedure became deadly effective and would help lead to the mass capitulation of enemy forces as they realised there was no escape from Allied air power.
The concept of a Kill Box and its actual usage in combat changed over time. Kill boxes, in fact, have been used multiple times since the days of Operation Desert Storm, and the modern understanding of the concept has somewhat changed and has been refined:
Why bomb the enemy close to our guys when we could bomb them from the comfort of 20 miles in front of any friendlies? And so the term “battlefield area interdiction” was introduced. The plan was simple: Radio contact would be established with whoever happened to be controlling a sector; it might be a Marine airborne controller, or a command post in some distant bunker where the “big picture” was undoubtedly laid out in great detail on a vast table. We would receive vectors to a convoy, or general coordinates to artillery or tank emplacements, and then it would be our job to find and destroy them with whatever our load of ordnance for the evening happened to be.
[..] Each kill box was not a perfect square, but varied in shape to conform to the concentrations of enemy and friendly positions. The sides of each box ranged from 10 to 25 nautical miles, encompassing several hundred square miles of terrain.
The following passage provides a great insight on the evolution of the Kill Box concept and its application. The article was suggested by RIFLE, and it is available at this address (alsa.mil).
During Desert Storm the air component employed kill boxes as a way to conduct air interdiction against enemy ground forces and mobile targets beyond the fire support coordination line (FSCL). Kill boxes were defined as 30 degree by 30 degree grids on the map, which translated to 30 NM in length and something slightly less in width depending on how far north or south of the equator the kill box was located. Kill boxes primarily served as airspace coordinating measures (ACMs) to deconflict and control aircraft conducting air interdiction. US Air Force killer scouts provided target information and deconflicted aircraft assigned to specific kill boxes.
[…] Kill boxes remained 30 by 30 grids during operations in Kosovo and during the initial operations in Afghanistan.
[…] In 2002, […] for the first time, these kill boxes could be further subdivided into nine 10 NM by 10 NM keypads.
[…] air interdiction was conducted in an “open” kill box. When a kill box was “open” the land component would not allow surface-to-surface indirect fires into the area above a previously coordinated altitude. If a kill box was not open, it could be used for any type of activity. Since all 30 by 30 grids were called kill boxes, a kill box became a de facto area reference system.
The complete article continues highlighting further changes, as the Kill Box moved more and more from an ACM tool to an FSCM device.
Considering this article was written in 2008, we can only make assumptions about how the Kill box concept will be used in the late 2020s and later.
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