What methods can be used to integrate and deconflict aircraft and surface fires?

Lateral separation is crucial for effectively integrating and deconflicting aircraft and surface fires. This method involves maintaining physical distance between different fire assets to prevent any potential overlap in their target areas, thereby reducing the risk of friendly fire incidents. By ensuring that aircraft and artillery or ground-based fires operate in separate lateral zones, commanders can effectively manage the risk posed by each type of fire support, ensuring that they can engage targets without interference from one another.

While elevation and speed, communication and briefing, and weapon type and range are all important aspects of fire support coordination, they do not specifically address the spatial separation necessary to prevent conflict between fire systems on the battlefield. Communication and briefing facilitate coordination and understanding of each unit's intentions, but lateral separation concretely addresses the physical aspect of deconflicting fires in the operational environment. Therefore, it is this method that best serves the purpose of integrating and deconflicting aircraft and surface fires effectively.