A fireteam is a small military sub-subunit of infantry designed to optimize bounding overwatch and fire and movement tactical doctrine within a hostile urban environment. Depending on mission requirements, it generally consists of four or fewer soldiers and are usually grouped by two or three fireteams into a squad or section in coordinated operations, which is led by a squad leader.

Fireteams are the second smallest organized unit in the militaries that use it; the smallest being three or fewer soldier support or specialist teams (such as anti-tank teams, machine gun teams, mortar teams, sniper teams, EOD teams, or military working dog teams) that are designed to operate independently.

Fireteams are the primary unit upon which modern infantry organization is based in the British Army, Royal Air Force Regiment, Royal Marines, United States Army, United States Marine Corps, United States Air Force Security Forces, Canadian Forces, and Australian Army.

Concept

The concept of the fireteam is based on the need for tactical flexibility in infantry operations. A fireteam is capable of autonomous operations as part of a larger unit. Successful fireteam employment relies on quality small unit training for soldiers, experience of fireteam members operating together, sufficient communications infrastructure, and a quality non-commissioned officer corps to provide tactical leadership for the team.