Ref Your fantasy FF2020 is pretty much identical to mine, but I want three brigades of each type, for 1 in 3 rotation cycle. Just realized your modular multi-role battalion has 42 people less than the current Armoured Infantry battalion establishment who are these 42 peeps and what do they do? Perhaps theres an article to be written somewhere in there, UKLP, especially being an ex veg head? Each infantry brigade is equipped and capable of air assault operations. In the TA i carries both L85A1 and Browning 9mm. If we have multi role divisions, then does this not theoritically make a third of your div redundant for any given operation? Great conversation going here, I am squished onto public transit in 30 c temps in Ontario, so please excuse typos ! That might work for armoured Infantry or Boxer based mechanized infantry, where the infantry are close protection for armoured vehicles, or their closely supporting artillery firepower. With all these components, a battalion is the smallest military unit capable of "limited independent operations".[1]. Those in IFVs or MIVs will have an RWS with a Javelin attachment so that it can be fired under armour. Title. If push comes to shove, the gunner or commander can do both but it is such a struggle to guide the driver (who has very constricted situational awareness in Warrior), talk on the various nets, look out for anti-armour threats, identify, track and shoot targets and watch out for dismounts and all the other stuff going on from the cramped turret (which was not designed for blokes encumbered by todays mandated PPE). This is will mean better effect of weapons and better for load distribution. The UK is likely to do the same, but only a limited number of vehicles will get it presumably Anti-tank and Reconnaissance platoons. . I like your idea: dismounted mass needs to be maximised. But different battalions of the same regiment have seldom fought together. It seems to be a way of thinking that stems form our past two operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and not from a perspective of a peer/near peer confrontation imo. This is followed at the brigade level at which point the support scale starts to really kick in. [24] Normally a battalion is attached to a regiment of infantry, which is organized, as a general rule, of a number of battalions and the regimental centre battalion. As the job of the Supply Sergeant is to coordinate supply with higher echelons, their duty position is with the battalion trains although they may ride with the cargo truck in a company march. This is an interesting idea, but would impose an increased weight and logistical burden on rifle companies. Also not every infantry unit would then need an kind of sister tank unit (because of rotation, because of terrain and so on) and so the number of vehicles for the protected mobility units which could at the same time act as independent fighting units seperate from the infantry could be smaller as if every infantry unit would have its own protected vehicles. 27 Sep 44. Recon This creates a requirement for 1 officer + 44 other ranks. These units are characterized by their lack of integral motorization or mechanization for the entire brigade, and are thus less mobile, but as a result are highly deployable. You might be interested to know that my battalion reflects this by rarely having more than five dismounts as a matter of routine! on Bushmaster as their ride. Each can conduct major tactical operations and sustained battlefield operations. Light Aid Detachment The number . To differentiate them from field armies, groups are usually written with Arabic numerals (example - 12th Army Group) as opposed to having their number written out. Maybe reserve Infantry can protect reserve loggies delivering stores and ammo. You say this would enhance their professionalism. Weapons like the 12.7 mm HMG and 40 mm high velocity grenade machine gun are primarily vehicle-mounted systems. Vehicle tools, pegs for the troop shelter and bits like that that dont live in the side or back bins usually go under the left bench, the right has the hydraulic ram for the back door under it and a big tray for the rations. When studying World War 2, a common question that arises is what exactly each army group or unit name means? On each side behind the benches is a shelf for personal kit (actually designed as a rack for a couple of LAWs). The battalion must have a source of re-supply to enable it to sustain operations for more than a few days. I was throwing around the idea of top slicing the TA and just plugging companies into existing battalions with the intention that it would enhance their professionalism and that they could pull through the three regular companies as casualty replacements. CnC can be further rationalised across the whole unarmed force by having a single force structure around 1 HQ, 4 commands, each operating 2 divisions that hold all naval, land, cyber, air, space and command assets assigned to them and having a flatter structure. equipped with heavy Machine Guns and 81mm Mortars(See chart for The total then is simply calculated as 18338. Someone pointed out that US stryker brigades had been gamed against Russian motorized and were looking at I think 50% casualty rates in under a week. My Army 2020 would see 1XX and 3XX each have an armoured brigade, mechanised brigade and motorised bridges. The Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment is the parent administrative regiment and corps of regular and reserve infantry battalions in the New Zealand Army.It was originally formed in 1947 with a singular Regular regiment and multiple reserve regiments. Additionally, not everybody will volunteer. How would they operate together from a logistical view point? This will lead to higher costs per bataillon and therefore to higher overall costs. A regiment consists of a regimental headquarters, a headquarters company (or battery), and two to five organic battalions (Marine infantry regiments three battalions of infantry; Marine artillery regiments three to five battalions of artillery; Marine combat logistics regiments one to three combat logistics battalions). However, two of the infantry regiments were reduced to two battalions each and their supporting artillery battalions had only two firing batteries. Because of the protected mobility this general purpose infantry would become to slow, to few and to dependent on specific logistical assets. Company HQ will be extremely lean with just one officer and five other ranks. It can also go by different names, depending on the function: Company-sized artillery units are called batteries, while in armor and air cavalry units, they are called troops. The size of a battalion could range from 500 to 1,500 troops. There is a case for a light mortar to be carried by each Platoon HQ. Use tab to navigate through the menu items. . within a Battalion was designated as a Heavy Weapons Company and it was One suggestion might be to convert the light-role battalions GPMG SF Pl into a MANPADS Pl? I think were missing a trick with not using the reserve transition from regular service. Does it belong to WW1 and before ? So that the tanks can seperate from the infantry completly and then act as an force for their own. Battalion Certainly turret-mounted 30 mm or 40 mm cannons are preferred. Getting rid of minimi/ LMG was a mistake based on the assumption that medium to long range contacts will dominate future conflicts. Each battalion usually consists of the following: In the Soviet Armed Forces, a motorised rifle battalion could be mounted in either BTR armoured personnel carriers or BMP infantry fighting vehicles, with the former being more numerous into the late 1980s. This would see infantry platoons switch from two calibres (5.56 mm and 7.62 mm) to a single one (6.8 mm) for rifles, machine guns and DMRs. Or what is not getting done in the modular battalion ? This can either be decided before hand by the squad, or when contact is made the team that makes contact first becomes the supporting element. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The division had also an antitank and . Italy. So Rifle Sections of 9 soldiers would work well. The other support company would have the assault pioneers and the 2-3 anti tank platoons. 57mm It just seems a bit of an own goal to me youve got a big powerful IFV that you cant exploit fully. Regimental Administration Office These new combined arms battalions are modular units, each consisting of a headquarters company, two mechanized infantry companies, two tank companies, and a forward support company attached from the battalion's parent brigade support battalion. In armoured or mechanised formations the vehicle crew would be drawn mostly from Fire Support Section. In my world it would be EAGLE 44 and 66 to have commonality in light and medium protected mobility. Total battalion headcount can be determined by considering how many soldiers are needed within each component unit type. Use tab to navigate through the menu items. Teams can serve as a base-of-fire or as a maneuver element. The basic building block of military capability is the infantry section. I appreciate, cause I found exactly what I was looking for. The Combat Medic is attached from the Combat Medic Section of the Battalion's Medic Platoon while the Forward Observer and their RTO are attached from the Field Artillery Battalion. A step in the right direction? Current divisions include airborne, armored, infantry and mountain divisions. This where I would fit the reserve infantry into the mix, sticking with 1 inf battalion providing 1 Coy on the 1 in 3 rotation to their twinned regular battalion for the regular motorized inf Battalions. I agree fully that each section should have its own vehicle for so many reasons. Troops in IFVs will additionally benefit from 40 mm CT40 cannons and 7.62 mm chain guns for support. BTGs are part of Russia's tiered combat readiness system. The discussion has been first -rate too. Outline Organisation Structure of a Standard Infantry Battalion The following image shows the organisation structure of a standard infantry battalion in the Indian Army. Our unit was Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division or C/1/22/4th Inf. This is vital. In January 2006, the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry was reactivated at Fort Riley under the U.S. Army's new "modularity" concept as an element of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division. A company consists of three or four platoons and is generally commanded by a captain. Anti-tank platoons usually have 6-8 dismounted Javelin ATGM launchers. My preferred direction is to to look at a common organisation for the Armoured and Mechanised infantry, and a different organisation for light infantry including air assault. We recommend you cite primary sources. INSIGNIA The Army currently has 13 Active Component and 20 National Guard IBCTs. They are also Emergency Care Sergeants and can maneuver with either the Company Commander or First Sergeant. Rounds and weapon will be heavier for dubious long range body-armour piercing performance. Unfortunately, it is only attached if a battalion deploys and may not train often enough with the battalion to which it is allocated to achieve the desired level of integration. If you look only at the bataillon here one should realize that a bataillon because of its small size is very insufficient for any real infantry combat in terrain which is suited for infantry. A HIMARS trucker mounted single pod MLRS rocket launcher has only a crew of 3. Thoughts on the Armys Integrated Review Refresh, A Review of The British Armys Regimental System. Organization of the formations and units of the German Army after the start of the Russian campaign until 1945. I further agree that 28 is a good number: four six-strong sections and a four-strong Pl HQ has sufficient flexibility, lethality and survivability (it can absorb casualties, something current AI platoons struggle to do). Culling BHQs may be good for the budget, but by nowhere near enough to justify trading such depth. Commando Battalion (joint para/RM group) - The size of this sub-unit must be sufficient to support the tracked vehicles of Armoured Infantry battalions, so a Detachment structure of 1 officer + 37 other ranks is proposed. A Carl Gustav 84mm in the Coy. Now that the GPMG has been returned to rifle sections, a separate, fourth fire support platoon is no longer needed. With caveats. Its important that they are volunteers as far as possible. It is important to include drivers and vehicle gunners in section ORBATs, because so often they are not specifically catered for in organisational structures. The first use of the word in English was in the 1580s. Given the requirement, identify organizational structure and chain of command within the Marine Corps, per the references. Interesting article on a subject I personally know little about. Are your Pl Comd and Pl Sgt vehicle commanders or are they additional? I agree on the close relationship between regs and reserves, having been in a specialist reserve unit, I have seen it work really well. Important figures in a battalion headquarters include: Battalions of other corps are given separate cardinal numbers within their corps (e.g., 101Battalion REME). Almost as potent as 12.7 mm HMGs, .338 MMGs are man-portable, so could help to increase overall platoon lethality, especially when operating dismounted. Another question I have concerns the mention in one of UK Land Powers tweets (I do not use Twitter) that the BAE Rheinmetall Joint Venture could lead to the AS90 155mm self-propelled howitzer being upgraded to Braveheart standard. C FT with SC and three riflemen, D FT with 2IC, UGL, SS, LMG (ASM/NLAWs if appropriate). First Army serves as a mobilization, readiness and training command; Third Army, or U.S. Army Central, commands all Army forces for U.S. Central Command; Fifth Army, or U.S. Army North, commands all Army forces for U.S. Northern Command; Sixth Army, or U.S. Army South, commands all Army forces for U.S. Southern Command; Seventh Army, or U.S. Army Europe, commands all Army forces for U.S. European Command; Eighth Army commands all U.S. Army forces in South Korea; and Ninth Army, or U.S. Army Africa, commands all Army forces for U.S. Africa Command. This would prevent your rifle sections from becoming overburdened and also allow greater autonomy at company level, perhaps creating miniature battlegroups akin to French SGTIAs. The Warrior has two benches how many can you squeeze on? After 1882, cavalry battalions were renamed squadrons and cavalry companies were renamed troops. This structure was used during Operation Banner in Northern Ireland for many years and proved to be extremely effective. They are not man-portable. Boxer and Bushmaster. I have been asked many times about our Army infantry structure in Vietnam. The Universal Infantry Battalion by Nicholas Drummond August 29, 2019 With a smaller army limited to just 82,000 soldiers, the organisational structure of its component units and the number of personnel within individual sub-units starts to become very important. I have proposed just what you suggest in your comment. a crew of three (driver, gunner and commander) plus six dismounts. @MikeW Finally, a REME Detachment will provide repair and recovery services for all Battalion Armoured Vehicles. of the two vehicles seem to vary somewhat according to which source you use. Bye. MP - Warrior can only carry four dismounts comfortably with full scales and definitely not more than six so manpower is neutral in armour (you could even have a two man surplus (9+9+9+7=34) who could crew the Coy HQ wagons. - light cannon, assigned to AT unit consists of 9 enlisted personnel. This essentially gives us a diamond structure with a centralised support function for each unit and is creates a fully contained self supporting unit at battalion level that has everything it needs, crucially this structure allows for every battalion in the force to have 1 company at high readiness, 1 training up, 1 coming off and 1 at rest and this can revolve in 3 or 6 month cycles. 1. Why is it that everyone thinks being a Medic is something easily relegated to a part time role? Born on the island of Kauai, he moved to Honolulu to go to high school but left before he graduated to take a job at the Halekulani Hotel where he was working when he was drafted in 1941. The company overall is led by a Captain infantry officer who travels with a Forward Signal Support NCO and two Radiotelephone Operators (RTOs) who operate and maintain the communications equipment in the company commander post. The size of a regiment could range from 1,000 to 5,000 troops. I know that the manning requirement is already verging on fantasy but maybe pushing it a bit further could give your battalion valuable additional potency? Moving from the micro to the macro, the organization of the army overall is a little wacky, given the number of infantry battalions youd expect to see simple structures equivalent to ten brigade combat teams, but you dont; Id say this is a worry not just operationally but because it lends itself to questions and to cuts, the fighting and the support units should explain and justify each others existence. However, guarding Buck House entails huge levels of scrutiny screw-ups will be recorded and shared online. To clarify, I dont think we should be finding a person in the turret, Im saying thats where theyd have to come from at four vehicles unless one lies on the floor. This would give the heavy infantry battalions more fire power when dealing with more formidable foes. The word battalion came into the English language in the 16th century from the French language (French: bataillon meaning "battle squadron"; Italian: battaglione meaning the same thing; derived from the Vulgar Latin word battalia meaning "battle" and from the Latin word bauttere meaning "to beat" or "to strike"). Why are we tethering ourselves to four? I need to add a section on weapons. This is because the Army Reserve Infantry works to a 1 in 3 model whereby a battalion-strength Reserve unit is expected to muster one third of its strength for a deployment. The figures given for the number of soldiers carried, number of dismounts etc. It cant. A nominal structure of 1 officer + 19 other ranks is proposed. I think that keeping divisions how they are is the better system and that each of the divisions should be organised into independent battlegroups (with some of their own logistics included) that can be used to bolt onto a heavier or lighter formation as and when required or massed together such as the armored div for a major confrontation. And to the opposite for open terrain which is tank friendly the said general-purpose all-mech infantry would be more expensive than simple tanks without infantry which would dominate the open terrain against such infantry as the more numerous enemy infantry would rule the closed terrain against the to few of the general-purpose bataillons because the number of infantry outside the vehicles would become much lower if you include all this vehicles in an infantry bataillon. "[3] The standard NATO symbol for a battalion consists of a pair of vertical lines placed above a framed unit icon. The Rifle Battalion of October 1940 was superseded beginning in April 1942 by a new Infantry Battalion organization. Public duties are despised and dont help Guards recruitment really? A battalion in the Indian Army consists of four rifle companies. It has been estimated that only 1/3 of a division actually served as combat infantrymen---the remainder were command, support, artillery, etc. However, forces in Eastern Europe began to standardize to a smaller formation with 135 personnel and 31 tanks total, with each tank company consisting of 10 tanks total. 02 Infantry Platoons built around 36 soldiers For light role battalions the ISTR company with the recon platoon, assault pioneers, sniper platoon, and hopefully a uav plankton. The infantry organizational structure existing in 1969 was well suited to the strategy and tactics of flexible . The nine regular force infantry battalions each contain three or four rifle companies and one or two support companies. Infantry Battalion. A platoon of 1 + 35 divides neatly into four sections of 9 soldiers, allowing 7 dismounts per section or your magic number of 28 dismounts total per section. A Logistics Platoon (formerly the Motor Transport Platoon) will be responsible for operating resupply and replenishment trucks. Company, a support unit of a Regiment This page describes the organizational structure of a typical US Infantry Division. Mortar platoons with 8 or 9 x 81 mm tubes has been proven on many occasions to be sufficient. The Combat Medic and Platoon Sergeant are generally paired as the Platoon Sergeant is responsible for coordinating CASEVAC. Battalion sizes vary between branches. Other ranks will include the RSM, Drill Sergeant, Chief Clerk, plus 7 additional clerks / drivers. So it looks as if the developments for the vehicle are at a pretty advanced stage, making a cancellation of the vehicle and its replacement by the Ajax IFV variant unlikely. The corps is the highest level of command that can provide operational direction for actual combat. The captain is responsible for the direction, training, and welfare of those below him. What I have a problem with is your suggestion to pull one guy out of the turret. Achieving A Common Size and Structure for UK Infantry Battalions, Learning from how our Allies armies are organized, Matching Brainpower with Firepower - The British Armys new Ranger Regiment, A modern Royal Navy ASW corvette based on the WW2 Flower-Class, The 10 Most Significant US Aircraft of World War 2, Armoured Infantry battalions -732 personnel, Mechanised Infantry battalions -709 personnel, Light Infantry battalions 560 personnel, Air Assault Infantry battalions 662 personnel, Specialised Infantry Battalions 267 personnel, Public Duties Infantry Battalions 560 personnel, Armoured Infantry Battalions IFV (Warrior) 6 battalions, Mechanised Infantry Battalions MIV (Boxer) 6 battalions, Light Protected Mobility Battalions LPPV / MRVP (Foxhound / JLTV / Bushmaster) 6 battalions.