(RP0102) 2. Battalion HQ will usually be comprised of 6 officers + 10 other ranks. confronting an adversary such as the Russians in eastern Europe would require heavy and medium armour with the ability to mount a mobile defence via mobility and counter mobility along with long range fires etc what would the light brigade bring to this party? Generally, the RTO sticks with the Platoon Leader to keep them in constant communication with their squads and company headquarters. There are ways and means around problems though, if I recall correctly when they introduced warrior with its seven seats, they split a section into a four man squad and a three man squad and the warrior became a fire support squad, but therell have to be some very creative thinking with twenty four seats unless you shrink your platoon or fund a fifth and sixth vehicle. The Anti-tank Platoon typically has 6-8 Javelin ATGM launchers, with each one operated by two soldiers. 3-battalion and can be augmented by 1 for every battalion in excess of 3. Yn a|FKtpW"[I'nJpbR].VB`8~q}RBTw'#g( 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. Are you implying that there is a problem with their professionalism and, therefore, competency? In the TA i carries both L85A1 and Browning 9mm. The different types of light infantry organizations were all consolidated into the one "Infantry" organization in 2007. The current infantry rifle platoon organization is identical to the infantry, air assault, and airborne rifle platoon organizations listed in the Change 1 of FM 7-8 published in 2001. Regimental pride is at stake. @MikeW is the close combat element of the Infantry Battalion, with this article specifically covering the Rifle Company as it exists in the Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT). consists of command and support personnel for the company. A battalion may also contain a combat support company. How would they operate together from a logistical view point? Either way, this creates a requirement for 1 officer + 23 other ranks. Theyre commanded by a general and are considered self-sufficient for indefinite periods. I am not going into the argument about a Battalions manning however the REME manning is open to question. Anti-Tank platoons do that but thats because in the anti-tank variant the left bench is replaced by racks for Javelin LTAs so there really is NO space for personal kit. 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. This would give the UK forces also more (and smaller and therefore faster, more agile, better deployable etc) units overall and would therefore increase their flexibility enormous. 1) What is the total manpower bill of the new proposed battalions compared with the current manpower liability in all infantry battalions? - It normally consists of a headquarters and three or more companies. Perhaps I am just projecting after all as I am one of those who quietly enjoys drill. Losing this space (currently in the Pl HQ wagon) is a big problem. However unlikely it is, I think it is desirable though: replacing CVRT, Warrior and Bulldog with a common base platform would be hugely beneficial. 2019-2023 Battle Order. w!2]ca-wA w+J_i6lG!FUo;d!1OB/nz4JRqsLj$qi0|AHUT*x)soH0rr&G99WPvY:u8h. Of course it is doable but cramming seven blokes in the back is a right palava not only for the troops but for all their kit! This will lead to higher costs per bataillon and therefore to higher overall costs. An infantry battalion is numbered ordinarily within its regiment (e.g., 1st Battalion, The Rifles, usually referred to as 1Rifles). 27 Sep 44. And sometimes Recruiting Team. The Quartermasters Platoon will be comprised of support staff whose job it is to manage and distribute material and other resources to each of the rifle companies. Perhaps, but only if we reduced the commitment. They would free up the Battalions and companies now assigned to this role to shore up the numbers in real Battalions . In Northern Ireland, infantry platoons were often divided into multiples of 12 soldiers. . Thisproposal is in-line with what rifle companies already have. If it isnt possible to reintroduce 51 mm, then a lightweight 60 mm mortar could be an option. It was formerly used in the Royal Engineers (before they switched to regiments), and was also used in the now defunct Royal Army Ordnance Corps and Royal Pioneer Corps. Our unit was Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division or C/1/22/4th Inf. The discussion has been first -rate too. The Units As we addressed in an earlier article, any unit is a sum of its parts. UK Infantry battalions have a Fire Support Company with five elements. 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. 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). At some point in the future it would be wise to introduce a a new light weight section belt fed ( see knights armament LAMG for example) perhaps in one of the many new calibres emerging ( e.g. Note(s) 6-10. Marine infantry regiments use battalion and company designations as described above under World War II, with company letters D, H, and M not normally used but rather held in reserve for use in augmenting a fourth rifle company into each battalion as needed. Each of the infantry regiments had, besides its twelve rifle and heavy weapons companies, a 13th (infantry howitzer) and 14th (antitank) company. The division had also an antitank and . 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. Often these will be stored in vehicles until needed. (c) distributed as required when regiment is broken-up in detachments. The Assault Pioneer Platoon is usually comprised of 19 other ranks. Great conversation going here, I am squished onto public transit in 30 c temps in Ontario, so please excuse typos ! Battalions are tactical and administrative organizations with a limited capability to plan and conduct independent operations and are normally organic components of brigades, groups, or regiments. The battalion organization allows the commander to scale his force to accept like-type additional infantry or intelligence organizations. God Bless you man. Without the operational Army, the institutional side has no purpose. Eight is hard enough (the driver helpfully stows his away in the tunnel between him and the gunner although that is likely a death sentence if the wagon brews up or goes underwater). Im not sure that he can wave farewell to Warrior so easily. I know the 60 and LMG are going but if were doing something as radical as new infantry ORBAT then perhaps we can pretend it is done by enlightened headsheds. Battle Order is for informational purposes only. In deployment in current year, it would be common for a Light Rifle Company to be equipped with 4 MRAPs per platoon and 2 MRAPs per headquarters section. Weapons listed in this article are what has been effective as of 2020. Anti-drones? If so, what would this look like? Perhaps in Armd/Mech it could even be comverted into a 120mm Mortar Pl, complementing the 81mm which can struggle in the faster-moving and dispersed Armd battle? No, I am asking us to attack the sacred cows of ceremonial roles to put troops in combat formations ! This means wagons to have space for additional personnel and stores, are all properly crewed and that dismounted mass hits the desired 28 (plus crew 53=15 so 43 total). I cant upload pics but their SOIs are on AKX if you have access to it and are interested. , First Lieutenant (OF-1), armed with 1 M4A1 Carbine, , Staff Sergeant (OR-6), armed with 1 M4A1 Carbine, , Specialist (OR-4), armed with 1 M4A1 Carbine, , Specialist (OR-4), armed with 1M4A1 Carbine, Fire support personnelattached from Field Artillery Battalion, 3 RiflePlatoons(1Officer, 39 Enlisted, 3 Attached each), 1 Platoon Headquarters (1Officer and 3Enlisted + 3 Attached), , Specialist (OR-4), armed with 1 M9/M17 Pistol, , Sergeant (OR-5), armed with 1M4A1 Carbine, Forward observer and fire support RTO attached from Field Artillery Battalion. Medical Centre We already have two dedicated battalions for public duties and what youre really asking is could we make do with just one? A brigade consists of a few battalions and anywhere from 3,000 to 5,000 soldiers. 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). The Fire Support Company HQ structure is the same as a rifle company, except that it will have1 officer + 15 other ranks. This set up allows the squad to fire and maneuver at the same time, with one team able to act as a "support" element and the other as an "assault" element. The battalion is usually part of a regiment, group, or brigade depending on the branch of service. Maybe have the armoured corps supplying the vehicle crews in a similar way to the Mastiff group on Telic? Provost Staff 04 Battalion HQ and HQ Company structure 57mm Also in such an modular overall force you can also much more easily deploy and re-role then only tank units or only infantry units and this would the increase the strategical mobility and the overall flexibility of the UK forces imo very much. Infantry Headquarter Companys have the following elements: Genuine question because I do not think that Guardsmen do dislike public duties to the extent you suggest. I suppose they might have a home defence role or be trained as medics or something, but they would be on a specific contract and would not be deployable. Theyre usually responsible for planning and directing campaigns in particular geographic areas. In some countries, battalions are exclusively infantry, while in others battalions are unit-level organizations. New Zealands cavalry troops are structured in this way, having 46 soldiers in six NZLAVs (18 crew, 28 dismounts). Fireteam A fireteam is a small military unit of infantry. The basic platoon structure of the Universal Battalion assumes that individual riflemen within sections will be equipped with the 5.56 mm L85A3 assault rifle (SA80) including two soldiers with 40 mm UGLs. They are not man-portable, so will usually only accompany a platoon when mounted on MIV, MRVP, MWMIK (Jackal) or other vehicles. Both 12.7 mm BMGs and 40 mm GMGs are vehicle mounted systems. The Department of Defense provides the military forces needed to deter war and ensure our nation's security. Silly idea ? Anyway, having filled all the racks with ammo for the cannon and chain gun and having packed the rations away, stowed everybodys gonk bag, admin pouch, daysack and squeezed the six dismounts in, you give them a couple of NLAWs (12kg, 1m long each), an ASM (9kg, 1m long) and hand the 2IC a couple of spare crates of ball and a couple of link, half a dozen extra smoke, boxes of cyalumes, handful of shermulies etc etc and you see that quite quickly its become so crowded that six dismounts is the absolute maximum. Also the logistics and training burden of all the various disposable rocket systems could be removed with CG. A battalion usually contains two to five organic companies (batteries in the artillery), with a total of 500 to 1,200 Marines in the battalion. An armor or air cavalry unit of equivalent size is known as a squadron. Considering something like Mali or from our experience Afghan what would the heavy bring to the party? You are spot on that dismounted mass should dictate the ORBAT rather than vehicle capacity. 3) What about the Royal Marines and the RAF Regiment, which tend to work at company group size? Four section vehicles each having six dismounts with three crew is 36. We recommend you cite primary sources. A battalion comprises two or more primary mission companies which are often of a common type (e.g., infantry, tank, or maintenance), although there are exceptions such as combined arms battalions in the U.S. Army. While it cant do indirect fire into dead ground the CG is very acccurate and very lethal which I think more than makes up for the reduced number of rounds plts will be able to carry for them. I dont understand why the commando (no bipod) version of the 60mm mortar would be less accurate or more difficult to get rounds on target than a 51mm ? Each can conduct major tactical operations and sustained battlefield operations. Each Rifle Company had a Heavy Weapons Platoon that was divided into a 1. AUTHORISED PERSONNEL: AUTHORISED EQUIPMENT - BATTALION LEVEL: Prev Next One concern about the existing structure is that the third rifle platoon in each infantry company is furnished by the Army Reserve. This would increase the overall costs extreme and such an all-mech-inf force with the ability of the mech-inf to also fight as light inf if the need arises would create a high logistical footprint, high equipment costs and much higher training costs etc. Ill break my reply into a couple of comments. (Please click on the image for a larger version) 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. We recommend you cite primary sources. Whereas In a peer conflict youre going to lose and need a lot of people very quickly and youre probably going to find the army reserve faster than youre going to find the regular reserve. Each Guards Regt have an incremental coy (so 500 troops). 03 Fire Support Company structure Did your article mention or show pictures of the benches being kept or are they being replaced by seats? While Light Role battalions will primarily operate on foot, they will still need all-terrain vehicles that support them in the field. The US Marine Corps already adopts a similar approach to the one described here. And modeling and simulation. A lieutenant general is in command. With IFVs, MIVs and MRVPs, the British Army will have a range of vehicles that can each carry a full section or 9 soldiers. Instead of an ISTR platoon it there would be a mort company with 3 platoons with 120mm mortars, plus a patrol platoon combining the sniper and recon platoons, and finally a UAV company. This option maximises dismounted mass. Mollo, Tranquillo and Joseph Georg Mansfield The Austrian Army in 1798: the Uniform Plates of Tranquillo Mollo and Joseph George Mansfield Contemporary prints of the Austrian Army in 1798. Print Cite. And as i wrote here in this blog in an earlier article especially the UK forces should be as multi-purpose and as flexible and mobile as possible, especially on the stratetigic and operational level. 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. Indeed, I can see Warrior being used for the next ten, fifteen, even twenty years. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Small rationalisations made across other Support units help reduction. Unless, of course, you want to really shake up what the AR is for and how it works. This means instead of giving every infantry unit organic protected mobility, i would even take the units that have such now this vehicles and would create own fighting units out of them which are then part of the tank troops. @Captain Nemo Short answer: Ajax IFV has six seats (link at bottom). As I said in a previous comment, IFVs do require all THREE crew to be properly effective. (d) 3 from auxiliary service. Of course, there will always be exceptions, be you Regular or Reserve, but to dismiss them as second-rate soldiers is unfounded and outdated. Guardsmen and women who get very basic training, plus drill. 2 Officers and 18 Othr ranks and the RLC Catering Platoon again a similar number commanded by a WO2 and then the SASC Sergeant and the RAPTC 2 to 3 SNCO/WO all those also add to a Battalions strenth as attached arms. Significantly, you would reduce the Reserve Infantry from 16 battalions to just 33 rifle coys and so lost not just 15 rifle coys but lost all the support weapons specialists and G1/4/6 troops. An official website of the United States Government, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Hosted by Defense Media Activity - WEB.mil. This will also be sufficient to sustain Mechanised Infantry Battalions and Light Role Protected Mobility Battalions. The centerpiece of the Army's operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the infantry brigade combat team, is in danger of becoming obsolete in the face of near-peer opponents. In this context, a BTG can be defined as a task-organised, combined arms, tactical formation created by a brigade or regiment commander to complete a specific, discrete mission. Arty - Artillery that serves 2 M224 60mm light mortars for indirect fire support. 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. It offers a range of new ammunition natures from anti-tank rounds to bunker-busting HE. This is vital. This page describes the organizational structure of a typical US Infantry Division. 1945-1950. A common structure with an identical headcore for each bataillon and protected mobility for each of it would therefore create an force which in the case of the UK forces would be to small to fight in closed terrain and would not achieve the necessery critical mass there and to the opposite would not have enough fighting power to achieve victory in open terrain against an more tank heavy but despite of its higher fighting power smaller and therefore more faster and agile enemy force. If youre looking to increase platoon strength without greatly increasing overall numbers Id eliminate the support company and draw its manpower and vehicles down from battalion, possibly adding two dedicated support sections to a platoon. In the brochure it is seven. Italy. & Organizations of the Italian Campaign for brief history Fantastic comments. 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. It offered HE, WP, smoke and illuminating bomb types. An infantry fire team might include two riflemen, one of whom is the team leader; a grenadier and an automatic rifleman, who is used when small reconnaissance or special missions are required.. My idea would be here to adept and develope the russian/soviet idea of the Bronegruppa to the extreme. PHILANTHROPY. This is an excellent weapon. I advocate that dressing up and waving the Colours to the sound of the drums enhances and instils pride and camaraderie tremendously. INSIGNIA The four companies include three line companies and one H&S; the four battalions include three lines and one H&S. There are always variations to what is the standard breakdown of Marine Corps unit structure. Returning to three standard rifle platoons with organic GPMGs, avoiding the need for a fourth fire support platoon, streamlines the overall battalion structure and reduces the administrative burden of bringing soldiers from Army Reserve units. The order of battle shows 101 German infantry divisions and 139 Soviet rifle divisions. In actuality, I agree that Ajax IFV replacing Warrior is highly unlikely. I have been asked many times about our Army infantry structure in Vietnam. On a related subject, getting more Infantry into standard modular structured Battalions; how would you feel about an idea I think that was first floated over on Think Defence many years ago moving the ceremonial role over to a specific, non-regular setup ? At present, infantry battalions have a fourth platoon that provides fire support via GPMGs. There are four companies to a battalion and four battalions to a regiment. With successive rounds of cutbacks after the war, many infantry regiments were reduced to a single battalion (others were amalgamated to form large regiments that maintained multiple battalions, e.g., the Royal Anglian Regiment). A step in the right direction? $1.50. The problem the Army has is when it wants people to do two jobs at once in two different places at the same time . German Organization for Combat, 1944. Given the requirement, identify the elements and generic employment missions of a . In armoured or mechanised formations the vehicle crew would be drawn mostly from Fire Support Section. The 100th Infantry Battalion, initially made up almost entirely of Japanese Americans from Hawai'i already in the army prior to World War II, represented the first group of Japanese Americans to see combat during World War II. @Captain Nemo Company HQ will be extremely lean with just one officer and five other ranks. This means units/sub-units pinged would spend a colossal amount of time rehearsing at cost of other training and tasks. The heavy battalions on Boxer and Warrior would be different. 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. It was the only infantry organization from the reserve components to participate in the war. Maybe if you feel they have to, actual Infantry roled Guards Battalions could have more establised posts for SNCOs and junior Officers, who could do rotations with these ceremonial Battalions. Ensuring that infantry units can be accommodated by their vehicles can also be a challenge. In the back of the Warrior 510 are two benches, not individual seats. It may indeed prove a good idea if explored and developed further but I dont understand what problem you seek to solve nor what the advantages are: it will do nothing for quality of training, Reserve professionalism and competency, morale and retention or, crucially, deployability. So it is a very flexible number. Light Role battalions had 8-soldier sections. It is important to include drivers and vehicle gunners in section ORBATs, because so often they are not specifically catered for in organisational structures. To take, and then hold ground is the usual answer. The commander's staff coordinates and plans operations. Title. So i think to create such an kind of modulare force, a design in which absolut necessary abilities (here protected mobility) are not an organic part of the units, but modular abilities of the overall-forces would truly create a more potent and much more flexible force as every such mech fighting unit which can offer protected mobility for an infantry unit can also offer this to any other infantry unit as the need arises and could also fight for its own seperate from the infantry. The United States Navy has construction battalions and navy cargo handling battalions. Those regiments consisting of more than one battalion are: Tactically, the Canadian battalion forms the core of the infantry battle group, which also includes various supporting elements such as armour, artillery, combat engineers and combat service support. Our Army Structure in Vietnam. If its not can we at least work round it by concentrating on fire and manoeuvre? During the American Civil War, an infantry or cavalry battalion was an ad hoc grouping of companies from the parent regiment (which had ten companies, A through K, minus J as described below), except for certain regular infantry regiments, which were formally organized into three battalions of six companies each (numbered 16 per battalion vice sequential letter designations). Cramming ten blokes kit in is a nightmare. Organization of the formations and units of the German Army after the start of the Russian campaign until 1945. With common ORBATs, marine battalions can quickly be prepared for the allocated mission. Medics require a lot of expensive training and continuous clinical exposure to remain competent, in date, and able to operate in the complex world of modern combat medicine. The weapons platoon would have the mortar platoon, the anti tank platoon, and an assault gun platoon with some sort of wheeled TD or support gun. 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. In the U.S. Marine Corps, an infantry or "rifle" battalion typically consists of a headquarters and service company, three rifle, or "line", companies (designated alphabetically A through M depending upon which battalion of the parent regiment to which they are attached) and a weapons company. Phase 1 and 2 training for a Combat Medic is around 40 weeks, compared to 28 for an infantry soldier, and even then they are not allowed to practice unsupervised until theyve completed their class one training (usually a year into their first posting). The wagons overall capability is diminished because youre tasking a soldier to do two soldiers jobs in an incredibly stressful situation the middle of a firefight! Also such an all-mech-inf force would hinder the UK forces very much in the primary target to achieve critical mass of infantry in any combat. Increased range and lethality for less weight will kill off 7.62mm guns in the fire support/ mg section / mg plt role. Indeed, it is my opinion that four dismounts is all Warrior can really operate with for the dismounts to have any degree of comfort. 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"). The nomenclature varies by nationality and by branch of arms, for instance, some armies organize their infantry into battalions, but call battalion-sized cavalry, reconnaissance, or . There was no JCompany: the letter J was traditionally not used because in 18th- and 19th-century old-style type, the capital letters I and J looked alike, and were therefore easily confused with one another. Individual sections may carry between one and four NLAW disposable ATGMs. Weapons companies do not receive a letter designation. Infantry mass do we have to give up on this concept ? There is a case for a light mortar to be carried by each Platoon HQ. There are apparently 11 demonstration versions of the Warrior being put through their paces in Dorset. its principal allies and enemies. Tank battalions and mechanized infantry battalions no longer exist. However I dont think any future peer to peer (or near peer) conflict will allow us to stand up reserve units as reinforcements, we will go with what we have, they will fight. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Nominally, an extra GPMG and DMR are proposed, but a light mortar or multi-role 40 mm AGL could be carried instead. Option B creates three sections of 10 soldiers plus a smaller Platoon HQ of 6 soldiers. An infantry battalion, logistical battalion, combat battalion, and the Netherlands Marine Corps all have a battalion structure. I see that you failed to include the Adjutant Generals Regimental Administration Office Platoon with around 20 personel. The UK has a problem with air defence. NATO defines a battalion as "larger than a company, but smaller than a regiment" while "consisting of two or more company-, battery-, or troop-sized units and a headquarters. For what its worth, I think it would be good to have a rotating other-arms presence. The armoured brigade would have Ajax Recce, Chally, Ajax IFV (bye bye Warrior! The battalion-level system we have used since WW2, with mortars organised in a separate platoon, still seems to work well. Operating in pairs, the No.2 will have a L129A1 DMR. The Company Headquarters is also allocated one senior company Combat Medic who provides second-line, company-level tactical casualty care. The number in blue is the number of men within that level of command. Thisproposal is in-line with what rifle companies already have. I must ask though They will win, or loose. I have done a similar analysis and share your view that a companys optimal size is 36, after that we deviate for the following reasons: I have a company size of 180 that includes 4 combat combat platoons and a single combat support group (platoon), This replicates at the Battalion level so a battalion 4 combat companies and a single Combat Support Company.