U.S. Army Field Manual 7-93 Long-Range Surveillance Unit Operations. United States Army

to the commander when planning operations.

1–7. LONG-RANGE SURVEILLANCE DETACHMENT

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      The LRSD is organized as a detachment organic to the military intelligence battalion at division level (Figure 1–2). The LRSDs are organized into a headquarters section, communications section (two base radio stations), and six surveillance teams. (Light division LRS detachments only have four surveillance teams.) The leaders are airborne and ranger qualified. All other personnel in the detachment are airborne qualified.

      a. Headquarters Section. This section contains the personnel necessary for command and control of the detachment.

      b. Communications Section. These personnel ensure expeditious processing of all message traffic. The two base stations maintain communication with deployed teams. The LRSD may be augmented with a base station from the corps LRSC if dictated by operational requirements, equipment shortages, or maintenance problems.

      c. Surveillance Teams. Each team consists of a team leader, an assistant team leader, three observers, and a RATELO. The teams obtain and report information about enemy forces within their assigned areas. They can operate independently with little or no external support in all environments. They are lightly armed with limited self-defense capabilities. To be easily transportable, they are equipped with lightweight, man-portable equipment. The teams are limited by the amount of weight that they can carry or cache. Because all team members are airborne qualified, all means of insertion are available to the commander when planning operations.

1–8. CAPABILITIES

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      The organization, strength, and equipment of teams are based on the mission and the environment of the operational area. Long-range surveillance units have the capability--

       To be committed in specific locations within enemy-held territory by stay-behind methods or delivery by land, water, or air, to include parachute. Units exfiltrate by land, water, or air.

       To operate in enemy-held territory for up to seven days with minimal external direction and support.

       To conduct surveillance, reconnaissance, target acquisition, and damage assessment missions in all types of terrain and environments.

       To establish communication using HF, VHF, UHF, or SATCOM between the base stations or the controlling headquarters and surveillance teams directly or through airborne relay.

       To conduct operations in bad weather and over difficult terrain.

       To be recovered by air, land, or water; to linkup with advancing forces; or to return using evasion techniques.

       To operate using planned, automatic resupply drops or special equipment cache sites set up by the LRSU or other friendly forces. They also use captured supplies and equipment.

1–9. LIMITATIONS

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      Long-range surveillance units are limited by the following considerations.

      a. Mobility is restricted to foot movement in the area of operations.

      b. Teams cannot maintain continuous communication with the controlling headquarters because of equipment limitations and the enemy's use of radio and electronic surveillance devices. Teams only establish communication at scheduled times or to report critical combat information.

      c. Organic medical capability is limited to individual first aid.

      d. Teams are lightly armed and have limited self-defense capabilities. They fight only to break contact.

      e. LRSUs require support from higher headquarters in--

       Maintenance, supply, mess, medical, administration, finance, personnel, and chaplain services.

       Area communication integration and access to a common-user telephone system.

       Frequency management for HF and SATCOM access.

       Packing, rigging, and loading supplies and equipment for aerial resupply operations and parachute insertion operations.

       Army or Air Force air transportation to move the LRSU to the area of operations and ground transportation (provided by the division support command or corps support command) to move personnel and organic equipment in the area of operations.

       Intelligence (IPB) products from division or corps headquarters.

1–10. WEAPONS AND EQUIPMENT

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      LRS teams operate with little or no support once in the area of operations. Operations in the enemy rear area requires the teams to have modern, lightweight weapons and equipment to complete the mission.

      a. Weapons. The LRSC and LRSD are lightly armed but have a variety of organic small-arms weapons. Based on specific mission requirements, the unit is task-organized to meet the needs of the teams. The teams try to avoid contact.

      b. Equipment. The special equipment they need is as follows.

      (1) Communication. Each LRS team has an HF radio with burst device for two-way communication with the base stations. Each team has emergency-distress radios (AN/PRC-90 or AN/PRC-112) if evasion becomes the means of exfiltration.(2) Observation. LRS teams maintain observation of the objective at all times, in all kinds of weather. The LRS team has high-power day optics to aid in identifying enemy vehicles out to 5,000 meters. During limited visibility, the team identifies enemy vehicles out to 5,000 meters with both low-light amplification and infrared equipment.(3) Personal clothing and equipment. LRS teams can operate in any environment when equipped with mission-specific items of clothing and equipment (for example, skis, winter clothing, and snow shoes for arctic areas.)