Surveillance and target acquisition (STA) is a military role assigned to units and/or their equipment. It involves watching an area to see what changes (surveillance) and then the acquisition of targets based on that information.
Artillery STA
The role of STA artillery is to locate, track, assess and where appropriate cue the attack of hostile artillery, mortars, units and formation.
It provides commanders with surveillance and targeting information across the battle space and is always linked by a robust command-and-control (C2) system to offensive support (OS) systems.
Special Observer Badge, worn by Soldiers of the HAC or 4/73 Battery RA who have passed STA Patrol Training and successfully completed a probationary period
^ARMY FM 3-09.12 (FM 6-121) MCRP 3-16.1A Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures for FIELD ARTILLERY TARGET ACQUISITION (PDF). US Army. 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 December 2014. Retrieved 1 July 2014.
