A fire support base (FSB, firebase or FB) is a military encampment designed to provide indirect fire artillery support to infantry operating in areas beyond the normal range of direct fire support from their own base camps. FSBs were originally used by South Korean troops during the Vietnam War (중대전술기지: Company Tactical Base), and U.S. adopted it after South Korean troops proved its usefulness through many battles such as Battle of Tra Binh Dong.
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An FSB was normally a permanent encampment, though many were dismantled when the units that they supported moved. Their main components varied by size: small bases usually had a battery of six 105 millimeter or 155mm howitzers, a platoon of engineers permanently on station, a Landing Zone (LZ), a Tactical Operations Center (TOC), an aid station staffed with medics, a communications bunker, and a company of infantry. Large FSBs might also have two artillery batteries, and an infantry battalion.
See also: Firebase Bastogne
Firebases have been set up in Afghanistan since the action by U.S.-led Coalition forces began in 2001. These bases provide fire support to Coalition forces in the search for al Qaeda and Taliban fighters along the Pakistan border.[1]
   | The 2001 version of Vietnam LZs, FBs, FSBs and Camps - Firebases (FB) and Landing Zones (LZ) in Vietnam |
| | Fire Support Base Development by Major Robert V Nicoli, 9-69 - Hometown Has Been Shutdown - People Connection Blog: AIM Community Network |
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