LRPF CFTLong Range Precision Fires

WHO WE ARE

Located at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, the Long Range Precision Fires Cross-Functional Team leads a comprehensive modernization effort to deliver cutting-edge surface-to-surface fires systems that will significantly increase range and effects over currently fielded US and adversary systems. The CFT, working closely with Army and industry partners, is driving solutions for the next generation of field artillery systems across all echelons: strategic, operational and tactical.

At the Strategic Level, the CFT is working on systems that provide the joint force with ranges exceeding that of our potential adversary systems, allowing the joint force to penetrate and dis-integrate adversary defensive capabilities. At the Operational Level, the CFT is leading efforts for the next generation of Army missiles, which will greatly increase the range, lethality and provide cross-domain capabilities to the joint force. At the tactical level, the CFT is integrating a new howitzer which will almost double the range of the howitzers currently fielded and provide range and lethality overmatch to the Brigade Combat Team.

OUR LEADERSHIP

Brigadier General
John L. Rafferty

Director Long Range Precision Fires Cross-Functional Team

Brig. John Rafferty, from Great Falls, Virginia, enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1987 and served as an indirect fire infantryman with the 8th Infantry Division in Mainz, Germany for two years. He then attended Longwood University in Farmville, Viginia where he was commissioned into the regular Army as a field artillery officer. John’s first assignment was in the 18th Field Artillery Brigade at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, as a fire direction officer and platoon leader in B Battery, 5th Battalion Air Assault, 8th FA. After two years, John joined the 3d Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment at Fort Benning, Georgia, where he served as the B Company fire support officer before moving to Marine Corps Base Quantico to attend the U.S. Marine Corps Amphibious Warfare School. He then moved to Baumholder, Germany, with the 1st Armored Division and served as a Division Assistant Fire Support Coordinator and Division Artillery director of logistics before assuming command of B Battery 1st Battalion, 94th FA Multiple Launch Rocket System, and then Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion 1st Armored Division Artillery. In 2002, he returned to the 75th Ranger Regiment to serve as the fire support officer for 1st Ranger Battalion and deployed several times in support of both Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom. John was then selected for the UK Joint Services Command and Staff College in Shrivenham, England.

John’s education includes a Bachelor of Arts degree from Longwood University, a Master of Arts degree from King’s College, London, and a Master of Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College.