T or F - With regards to techniques for sharing targeting data between Co/Bn/Bde FSEs, quick fire planning differs from deliberate fire planning in that during deliberate fire planning a majority of required targeting data is passed "top down" while during quick fire planning this targeting data is usually accomplished by "bottom up" techniques?

• A. True
• B. False
• C. Not Applicable
• D. Sometimes

Answer: (B)

Understanding how targeting data flows between Fire Support Elements helps you see planning tempo clearly. In deliberate fire planning, you don’t wait for a fully formed picture from above to execute; you gather targeting inputs from across units, sensors, and observers, feed those inputs upward to build a cohesive target picture, and then that plan is distributed downward to the units that will carry it out. So the emphasis isn’t simply data being handed down from higher headquarters; it’s about collecting field information and refining the plan with bottom-up inputs before pushing the resulting targeting data back down.

Quick-fire planning exists precisely so fires can happen fast when the situation on the ground changes. It relies on pre-approved target sets and rapid, on-the-spot updates, rather than waiting for a large amount of data to be passed downward from the top. While updates can flow in from lower echelons, the primary driver is speed and pre-coordination, not a majority of data being propagated bottom-up in the same way as in deliberate planning.

So the statement isn’t accurate because deliberate planning is not dominated by top-down data flow; it heavily incorporates bottom-up inputs to form the plan, and quick-fire planning leverages rapid execution with pre-coordinated data rather than a straightforward bottom-up majority.