When should a TACP seek recon or surveillance to reduce uncertainty before engaging a target?

• A. After engagement.
• B. Only after another unit agrees.
• C. Before engaging, seek recon or surveillance and delay if necessary.
• D. Never.

Answer: (C)

Before engaging a target, seek recon or surveillance to reduce uncertainty. This ensures you have positive target identification, accurate location, and up-to-date target activity, which lowers the risk of friendly fire and collateral damage. ISR or surveillance helps confirm that the target is legitimate, that there are no civilians or sensitive assets in the kill box, and that you have a safe fire solution and egress. If you can’t confirm these details, delaying the engagement to gain more information is the prudent choice, even if it slows the plan, because it reduces the chance of a mistake. Engaging without verification or waiting for another unit’s approval to substitute for your own verification would miss the essential step of confirming the target and environment, so the prudent, information-backed approach is to gather recon first and delay if necessary.