Previous: Section IX: Other Movement Situations
5-145. Air movement operations include both airdrops and air landings. Planning for air movements is similar to other missions. In addition to the normal planning process, however, air movement planning must cover specific requirements for air infiltration and exfiltration:
- Coordinate with the supporting aviation units.
- Plan and rehearse with the supporting aviation unit before the mission if possible. If armed escort accompanies the operation, the platoon leader and company commander, as well as the assault or general support aviation unit, should ensure aircrews are included in the planning and rehearsals.
- Gather as much information as possible, such as the enemy situation, in preparation of the mission.
- Plan and coordinate joint suppression of enemy air defense.
5-146. The unit also should plan different ingress and egress routes, covering the
following:
- Planned insertion and extraction points.
- Emergency extraction rally points.
- Lost communications extraction points.
5-147. Planned extraction points and emergency extraction rally points require
communications to verify the preplanned pickup time or coordinate an emergency pickup time window. Planning must include details for extraction when communications between higher headquarters and unit are lost. The lost communications extraction point involves infiltration teams moving to the emergency extraction point after two consecutive missed communications windows and waiting up to 24 hours for pickup. (Refer to FM 3-04.113 for more information.)
Next: 5-148: Movement by Water
Go Back To: U.S. Army FM 3-21.8: The Infantry Rifle Platoon and Squad