Do we even know what a “Medium Brigade” is?
It is not so easy to determine what
a “medium brigade”, or “medium weight force” is. Depending on the factors that
we wish to consider, the medium brigade can be wheeled but can also be tracked.
The Russian airborne forces are extensively mechanized and enjoy enormous
mounted firepower, which could well qualify them for the title of “medium”
force, for example. If you judged Sherman-equipped tank regiments of the second
world war by weight they would rank as “medium” compared to heavier german
formations using the Panther or, even more so, the Tiger.
In theory, considering up-armoured
Abrams and Challenger 2 coming at over 70 tons against the new Russian Armata
T-14, which supposedly weights between 49 and 55 tons, you could argue with
some legitimacy that the Armata family constitutes a medium force.
Even the US Army Future Combat
System envisaged a medium weight force riding on tracks.
There is, however, a growing
consensus on the “medium brigade” being a wheeled formation, combining a
strategic mobility greater than heavy (tracked) units with a level of protected
mobility not available to light forces.
The definition is still a bit vague.
There can be several variations to the theme, and the range of weights goes, in
general, from a minimum in the region of the 20 tons to a maximum of above 30.
Depending on their level of
protection and firepower, these “medium forces” are more or less suited to
“high-end” as well as “low-end” combat operations.
The increasing diffusion of 8x8
wheeled armoured vehicles in the NATO area has generated a belief that the 8x8,
in the 30 tons (more or less) range, is the quintessential Medium AFV. However,
there are significant exceptions, with the most evident being the French Army.
The French, which have a distinguished story of wheeled AFV employment, are
building their medium brigades mainly on 6x6 vehicles. The two Medium Brigades
in the Au Contact force structure will field only one infantry battalion
mounted in 8x8 VBCIs, with the rest of the brigade mounted in 6x6 Jaguar
armoured scout cars and 6x6 VBMR Griffon. A smaller number of 4x4 VBMR will
also be employed.
Germany does not field a pure
“medium brigade” either, despite being an 8x8 user: its 8x8 Boxer-mounted
battalions are part of heavy mechanized formations that include Leopard 2 tanks
and tracked Puma IFVs.
Spain is reorganizing its army in
Brigadas Organicas Polivalentes (multi-role brigades), four of which tracked
and another four wheeled. The tracked brigades include Leopard 2 tanks, Pizarro
tracked IFVs and M113 or 6x6 wheeled vehicles. The wheeled brigades have the
itanian-made Centauro in place of MBTs and 6x6 wheeled APCs supplemented by
RG-31 Nyala, MRAP vehicles purchased for operations abroad. The M113, the
existing 6x6 and the MRAPs are due to be replaced in the coming years by
variants of the new Vehiculo de Combate sobre Ruedas (VCR). The vehicle
selected to be the base of the VCR in all its derivations is the Piranha V.
Spain expects to purchase the CVR in three successive tranches (of 348, 365 and
285 vehicles) beginning in 2018. Several variants are already planned: IFV with
30mm gun turret; Cavalry variant for reconnaissance; Recovery; Engineer;
Command post; Joint Fires Direction. Mortar carrier, ambulance and other
sub-variants should follow beginning with the second tranche.
Italy has one Medium Brigade and is
slowly equipping a second one. Purchases of the Freccia 8x8 are slowed down by
the limited budget available.
The US Army fields the Stryker
brigades, which were established as interim solution to the “medium weight
force” requirement that should have eventually been fulfilled by FCS. The FCS
programme ended up cancelled.
Poland fields the 12th
and 17th mechanized brigades equipped with Rosomak 8x8.
Russia is a long-time user of 8x8
AFVs, but the Motor Rifle Brigades equipped with BTRs on wheels also include
their own MBT element on tracks. The Russian army is working on a new 8x8
combat vehicle, the Bumerang, which once in full production will represent a marked
improvement on the current BTRs.
The presence of MBTs within the
brigade signals that these formations remain mechanized infantry first of all,
with a clear “high intensity” role. They can exploit the mobility afforded by
air-transportability and wheels to cover great distances in short timeframes.
Their MBT element does not offer the same degree of deployability but the
Russians, with their usual pragmatism, are forming powerful, permanent logistic
units equipped with
the multitude of Heavy Equipment Transporters needed to rapidly road-move heavy
armour over great distances.
Smaller nations are investing in
wheeled armor because it is cheaper than tracked formations. Belgium uses the
8x8 Piranha III and the 6x6 Pandur. Interestingly, they have announced earlier
this year that they will replace their existing 8x8 with the new French
Griffon, a 6x6. The Jaguar 6x6 armoured car will replace the Pandur.
Denmark has not abandoned all of its
MBTs, but intends to replace its M113 APCs with wheeled, 8x8 AFVs and, like
Spain, has selected the Piranha V for the role.
The Netherlands removed their MBTs
from service only to regret it soon afterwards, and now operate a company of
Leopard 2 tanks within a german battalion integrated in one of their mechanized
brigades, itself part of a german division. The Netherlands maintain a fleet of
tracked IFVs, of the CV90 type, and under a contract signed early this year for
their upgrade will become the first NATO nation to field an Active Protection
System. The Netherlands purchased the Boxer 8x8, but only in support variants,
as a replacement for M113 variants: 36 Command posts, 52 Ambulance, 80
Engineering, 12 Repair, 12 cargo and 8 Driver training vehicles.
So, what constitutes a medium weight
brigade?
This key question remains without a
definitive answer, but the overarching concept normally associated to this
somewhat mythological creature seems to retrace the idea at the base of the
failed US Future Combat System:
The FCS will comprise a key modular capability, with the strategic
agility of light forces and the lethality, tactical mobility, and survivability
of our heavy forces. FCS brigade combat teams will be the component of the
modular Future Force most capable of implementing all aspects of [the U.S.
Army’s future] operationalconcept, particularly intratheater operational maneuver. The FCS further
encompasses a set of echnologies and capabilities that will spiral into the
entire Army as they mature. Networked C4ISR [command, control, communications,
computers, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance], precision
munitions, and advanced fire control will also be key enablers.
When a healthy element of realism is
added in to acknowledge that a 30 ton vehicle just can’t be as survivable as a
60 tons one; and some buzzwords are removed from the paragraph, I think the
concept can be re-worded as follows:
The Medium Weight brigade is a formation light enough to be more
strategically agile than heavy formations while possessing protection and
firepower sufficient to overmatch adversaries at the low end of the capability
spectrum and to effectively contrast near-peer and peer forces, including heavy
elements, at least long enough to allow the follow-on deployment of heavier
formations.
In general, the “strategic agility”
requirement is now seen as dictating the use of wheels, as they enable long
intra-theatre transfers without requiring trucks and semi-trailers.
It should also be noted that armies
with a less “expeditionary” nature tend to select the 8x8 not so much because
of dreams about global medium weight deployments, but because of the geography
they have to deal with close to home, or other practical considerations.
In France's case, the 8x8 is not meant to be a "medium" solution but the heavy one. The VBCI replaced tracked IFVs, and works mainly in the heavy brigades. Many other 8x8 users have products in the 20 tons range and purchased them as a "conventional" mechanized infantry solution, rather than pursuing any particular "expeditionary concept".
Again, the Italian
1st generation medium brigades were born as a modern
day follow-on to the armed trains that defended the long Adriatic coast in the
first world war: they were meant as a counter-amphibious landing response
force.
The 8x8 is no revolution in the ways of warfare. It is just a useful tool.
What does a Medium Brigade need?
Once we have accepted wheels as the
basic requirement due to the mobility advantage they grant, we have to
determine what kind of operation we want the medium weight force to tackle.
If the brigade is to be tasked with
low-complexity operations, vehicles of less than 30 tons can suffice, and we
might end up following the French on the VBMR Griffon’s path.
If we want the brigade to have
greater usefulness, even against more dangerous foes, we’ll tent to go towards
30 tons or more in order to accommodate the protection required. Even this,
though, is no law: Boxer, Freccia, Piranha V and VBCI are in the 30 or more
tons range, but Stryker, Rosomak and others are closer to 20 despite being intended
for high intensity fighting. As always, it is a matter of requirements first,
and then of compromises.
We have talked about strategic
agility, but what about tactical agility? What kind of off-road mobility is
needed? If the requirement is demanding, a certain kind of vehicle becomes
necessary, but if we are content to move on roads and tracks, vehicles such as
the Mastiff are sufficient. The principal shortfall of the Mastiff is its awful
off-road mobility, while any 8x8 chosen to become the Mechanized Infantry
Vehicle is expected to have performances close to those of tracked platforms.
Does the vehicle need to be
amphibious? This would enable a degree of littoral manoeuvre capability as well
as ease the crossing of rivers during a fast-paced operation. The UK army no
longer possess anything like the very impressive Alvis Stalwart truck, which
could swim, so the capture of a bridge or a major bridging effort will always
be needed to enable the prosecution of the operation, but it could be very beneficial
to be able to bring the infantry on the other side before the engineers get to
work. This is a concept familiar to Russia and China, while in the west it has
never gained too much of a following. It would be nice to see a genuine “Land
Strike” study taking another look at this kind of capability, especially
considering that the Army itself has repeatedly determined in multiple Agile
Warrior exercises that the future is littoral, as well as urbanized. As too
often happens in modern times, the british armed forces reach a conclusion in
their studies and then promptly ignore it when actually purchasing equipment.
Next, firepower. Direct and
Indirect. What weapons does the vehicle need; what capabilities should the
brigade have? Wheeled formations are meant to deploy rapidly and arrive on the
battlefield quickly, but if they cannot overmatch their enemy once there, they
won’t achieve much. The amount of firepower requested increases along with the
capability that we expect the enemy to posses.
120mm mortars and 155mm howitzers
seem to be the answer that everybody go for (with the exception of the British
Army, ça va sans dire…), while direct fire does not always get the necessary
attention. A system that deserves greater exploitation, in my opinion, is the
SPIKE NLOS (Exactor, in british service) which can serve as highly deployable
precision artillery as well as a formidable anti-tank instrument.
Logistics, engineer, Surveillance
& Target Acquisition, Air Defence are all aspects which need to be defined
according to the level of enemy capability that we want to contrast and defeat.
In turn, the logistic train will shape mobility considerations; and firepower
will determine logistic needs.
So, the dreaded question: what is
the Strike Brigade for?
The Strike Brigade in CGS’s words
What kind of enemy is the Strike
Brigade meant to grapple with? It is absolutely indispensable to clarify this
point before we try to define what it needs to have. General Carter had this to
say to the Commons’ Defence Committee during their inquiry in the future of the
army after the SDSR 2015:
[…] we had learned between 2012 and
2015 that some things about Army 2020 needed refinement. First and foremost, we
learned that the defence planning assumptions, which assumed that the most
likely employment of the Army would be on an enduring operation overseas,
managed on the basis of six months’ deployment and 24 months at home, were
probably not the hardest or the most likely deployment of the Army in the
future. Therefore, what would be more challenging and probably more relevant in
today’s world was to invest in the Army’s ability to fight and then to
reorganise from the ability to fight to do other things like, for example, the
enduring operation that I described. That resonated with the realisation that
the state-on-state threat was greater than perhaps would have been the case in
2012. Therefore, there was absolute sense in the Army being able to field a
war-fighting division. One of the great outcomes from the SDSR, from my
perspective as the head of the Army, was the ambition to deliver a war-fighting
division, because, in a sense, the division is a bit like an aircraft
carrier—it is where the full orchestra comes together. It is where all the
capabilities that you need to compete in the state-on-state space happen. That
full orchestra is an aspiration that I think is absolutely right for us to have
at the moment, because it makes you a reference customer not only of your
enemies, but of your allies. It means that you can sit at the table alongside
the Americans and the French, who can field this capability, and you can use
that as the basis for restructuring. The second thing that we deduced was
that, given the state-on-state threat, the potential for our opponents to
conduct what is called anti-area access denial and make it extremely difficult
for our Air Force or Navy either to dominate the littoral or to dominate the
air space meant that if land were capable of getting combat power at reach
across land to those areas, that would provide policy makers with different
options. From that, we derived the strike capability, which was a feature of
the SDSR—and indeed, one of the headlines—but it does more than just provide
that ability to reach over land at distances of up to 2,000 km; what it also
does on what, I think, will be a larger battle space is provide us with the opportunity
to disperse and concentrate very rapidly and thus dominate ground and
population mass in a rather different way. That plays to one of the British
Army’s great strengths, which is the quality of its junior leadership, because
the vehicle that we are building this on—something called Ajax, which begins to
enter service next year and will be made in southern Wales—is genuinely
networked. It is genuinely mobile, and it has good firepower and good
protection, and it will provide us with the capacity as an Army to do what I
have just described. That is an exciting place to be.
Carter pushes the Strike Brigade as
a counter-Anti Access Area Denial (A2AD) tool. This is his “Joint Land Strike”
concept and closely resembles the US Army’s own nascent doctrine, which would see land forces
cracking the A2AD bubble in favor of air and sea power rather than having the
latter opening the way for land ops. Note that the US Army is not thinking of
cracking A2AD necessarily with Stryker, however. In fact, the Stryker is
probably the element of the force that gets mentioned less frequently when
talking about Multi Domain Battle.
There are certainly situations in
which this concept could be applicable and have value, but if A2AD is the worry
of the day then it can only mean that the Strike Brigade is meant to face
near-peer and peer enemies. It is very, very hard to imagine a low-tech enemy
being able to mount an A2AD bubble able to restrict air force and navy
operations, after all. Cracking an A2AD bubble means going against a very
capable OPFOR.
The strike idea is designed to meet two
outputs. The first output is what I described earlier: being able to project
land power in a self-deployable fashion over greater distances, up to, say,
2,000 km. The second thing that strike is designed to do is to be able to
dominate a battle space that is increasingly larger and perhaps has more
population on it, that is more complex and is also able to concentrate and
disperse rapidly within that battle space. The capability is being built on [the
Ajax vehicle]. […]It is being constructed in south Wales. They
start to roll off the production line, not in south Wales, but initially in
Europe, come next year. We are building the capability in a methodical and
deliberate fashion over time, as this equipment rolls off the production line.
Rather like we did in the 1930s, the idea is to test it to destruction and to
experiment with it, in the same way we did with the mechanisation of force in
the 1930s, so that we get the doctrine and the concept right at the forefront and
so that we understand what the structure should look like. We test it and we
veer and haul from it, so that, come 2021, we have an initial operating
capability. I know that may sound a long way away, but that is the rate at
which these vehicles are rolling off the production line.
[…] a regiment equipped with AJAX will have
around 50 to 60 AJAX vehicles within it. Each of these brigades will have two.
Unfortunately, what has emerged
since then about the structure and capabilities of the Strike Brigade make it
almost impossible to imagine such a formation grappling with a Russian-supplied
adversary. The Strike Brigade on 2 mechanized infantry battalions of
lightly-armed wheeled APCs and 2 Ajax-mounted regiments is simply not credible.
It lacks mass and firepower and there is every reason to believe that mixing
tracks and wheels will impose limits on each other’s advantages. Ajax will need
to be refueled more frequently, that’s definite. It will also never be as at
ease as a wheeled platform in long road moves. No amount of wishful thinking
will change the base truths.
There is also the great concern of
Air Defence. The Army knows it is weak in this area (exceptionally so, in fact,
compared to any other army) but there is no sign of any plan (even less any
funding) for acquiring a capability beyond CAMM / Land Ceptor. While much, much
capable than Rapier, Land Ceptor cannot possibly be considered a solution to
the problem. In an A2AD scenario, air attacks and artillery bombardment
including ballistic attacks will be the norm, not the exception. Dispersion and
constant movement will help, but will introduce challenges of their own, and
among those is the fact that a CAMM protective bubble is just too small.
Combined arms warfare has evolved significantly over the last three to
five years. There is some “Back to the Future”-type stuff— electronic warfare,
or air defence, for example—but the reality is that most Western armies used to
feel that they owned the airspace, and I do not think that we can confidently
say that we own the airspace. So our ability to operate in that much more
demanding environment is the bit that the Army needs significantly to invest in
and to train for. That is the bit that we are most vulnerable on at the moment.
Sir Nicholas Carter, speaking to the Defence Committee.
Russian forces and their “hybrid”
descendents (such as the “rebel” battlegroups in Ukraine) can deliver crushing
blows with their powerful artillery. This is another area of real concern:
During counter-insurgency we emphasised precision over the ability to
neutralise and I suspect the mass of fires is something we need to reflect on.
Air Defence is an area where we have an acknowledged weakness. I think if we
were lucky we might get air parity and the Falklands in 1982 was instructive,
where some one-third or our sentries and our machine guns were pointed upwards
rather than outwards.
As the Division is meant to fight a
near-peer or peer enemy, heavy armour continues to represent its core. In the
words of the Chief:
[…] by 2025 I want to be able to field two manoeuvre brigades—armoured
infantry brigades, as we call them—and, ideally, a strike brigade. I would like
to have some manoeuvre support—as you know far better than I, basic infantry to
be able to protect things and guard prisoners—and, of course, all the combat
service support necessary to represent the full orchestra. […]You would not be able to replace the full division. You would
probably be able to find a replacement divisional headquarters at readiness and
you would probably be able to have a brigade there on an enduring basis, but if
you had to go larger than that, it would be challenging.
The Army says that the Strike
Brigade will “enable manoeuvre at the Divisional level”, but it is hard to say
what this is supposed to mean in practice. Considering that forming the Strike
Brigade means leaving the armoured infantry brigades without reconnaissance
cavalry, the suspect is that, within the divisional construct, the Strike
Brigade would be a glorified recce and screening asset, exploiting its mobility
(assuming that the Ajax does not slow the whole formation down; and assuming
the enemy does not contrast it effectively) to lead the way and secure relevant
ground features.
Even this guess, however, opens up
all sorts of doubts, again centered primarily on the lack of firepower. The
Army says that the MIV will be an APC armed just with a RWS with weapons such
as a .50 HMG. Ajax is armed with the 40mm CTA gun, so IFV-levels of firepower.
ATGWs are not currently planned to be carried. The APC variant, the Ares,
should eventually come in an “Overwatch” sub-variant (34 vehicles) , but it
seems likely that this will only carry a Javelin dismount team. With some luck,
it might also have a Javelin under-armour capability with a single missile
added to the Protector RWS. It is a relatively inexpensive addition, after all.
If we are very, very lucky, the Army will somehow find a way to fund the
adoption of the Thales RapidRanger or a similar multi-missile turret. Very
little is known about the status of sub-variants and mission fits at this
stage. Thales did put forward its product as an option, but there is no way to
say if the Army is giving any thought to it. It did however test a Javelin RWS
launch from Spartan with Protector RWS.
Of the two Ajax regiments, one would
be tasked with reconnaissance, and would thus be similar to the current
Scimitar-mounted formations, while the other is described as a “Medium Armour”
capability. In practice, it will be the mounted combat specialist, the “tank”
within the Strike Brigade.
It might be that the army is
thinking about a “Type 58” regiment with Ajax instead of Challenger 2, in fact.
Such a structure would enable “square battlegroups” of 2 MIV-mounted infantry
companies and 2 demi-squadrons of “tanks”, as happens in the armoured infantry
brigades. In the heavy armour, the three 18-tanks squadrons of a Type 58
regiment can split into six demi-squadrons of 9 MBTs, which are attached to the
six infantry companies coming from the Warrior-mounted battalions to form 4
square battlegroups (2 infantry coys, 2 tank demi-squadrons, 1 support weapons
coy).
Of course, an Ajax and a MIV deliver
the firepower of a Warrior. There is nothing on hand to actually replicate the
punch delivered by Challenger 2.
Clearly, the whole thing is born out
of confusion and lack of money: the Army wants to pursue wheels mobility after
betting much of its budget on a tracked scout. It has the Ajax, and not enough
money for enough MIVs, so it has to get... creative.
The “Type 58” solution is one
possibility: the shape of the Ajax units is still being determined. The number
of vehicles is also a constraint: 245 Ajax are on order, and of these 23 are in
Joint Fires configuration, including (not yet detailed) extra equipment for the
direction of artillery fire and air attacks, while are another 24 are “Ground
Based Surveillance” sub-variants (carrying additional sensors, perhaps
mast-mounted? Still unknown). The two sub-variants would likely go to the Recce
regiments, while the 198 pure scouts in theory should also go to equip the
recce platoons of the tank and armoured infantry units (8 Ajax per 6 platoons =
48 vehicles at a minimum).
The recce regiments normally have
three squadrons of 12 scouts plus 4 apcs (today 12 Scimitar and 4 Spartan,
tomorrow in theory 12 Ajax and 4 Ares), plus Ground Based Surveillance element
and three Overwatch sections (which would get the Ares Overwatch vehicles).
The MIV-mounted infantry battalions
seem to be heading for an establishment of 740 or 750 personnel in total. The
MIV-mounted sections will count 8 dismounts, against 6 for the Warrior.
Historical examples of Land Strike
Depending on how you define “medium”
forces, the historical cases of their employment can include a variable number
of operations. A notable RAND study in the usefulness of
medium armour
includes the use of tracked vehicles, such as BMPs in Afghanistan with the
soviets, or Sheridan light tanks and M113s used by American troops in operation
Just Cause.
If we try to specifically look for
historical precedents supporting the vision of the Medium Weight force as
wheeled, highly mobile, maneuvering on a vast battlefield, the number of
suitable events to be considered is drastically reduced.
There are, essentially, two past examples
of wheeled task forces doing anything comparable to Carter’s description of
Land Strike: the South African operations in the Bush War in Angola; and the
French operations in Mali in early 2013. In many ways impressive, both
operations are however scarcely representative of the likely british situation.
In addition South Africa, despite impressive tactical triumphs in the field,
eventually failed to achieve its objectives in the Bush War.
South African wheeled armour in
Angola performed exactly the kind of long-range, dispersed, raiding manoeuvre
that Carter imagines. They covered thousands of kilometers
South African manoeuvre elements had
plenty of firepower at their disposal, a luxury that the Strike Brigade as
currently envisaged will not share. In particular, the South Africans were very
aggressive with their artillery: their excellent, long-range G5 howitzer was a
key weapon, and during the course of the war they added the self-propelled G6.
They also routinely had a rocket artillery battery in the group, plus mortars.
Indirect fire was their most powerful weapon.
They also had good direct-fire
options, however: Ratel 6x6 and Eland 4x4 come with a 90mm gun on top, which
can make short work of fortified positions and which allowed some degree of
success against enemy tanks. Their troop carriers came with rapid-fire 20mm
guns and they had vehicles in support equipped with turreted, breech-loading
60mm mortars for intimate indirect fire support.
Their wheeled vehicles were much
lighter than Ajax and MIV and were frequently airlifted into airports from
which they could carry out their manoeuvres before being extracted to another
location.
Despite brilliant successes in
repeated operations deep within Angola, South African troops could not crush
the enemy, which was supported and equipped by Cuba and by the Soviet Union. It
also proved impossible, despite superiority in C4ISR, to avoid disadvantageous
engagements against enemy heavy armour that had a clear edge over the light
wheeled vehicles employed. Eventually, South Africa had to deploy its Olifant
MBTs (a Centurion derivative), but even that was too little, too late.
French operations in Mali were far more modest in scale and
in complexity. The enemy that the French faced was much weaker and infinitely
less sophisticated. It had no MBTs, no air power, no advanced soviet weaponry
and SAMs. France enjoyed complete control of the air and never encountered
heavy mechanized forces.
Operation SERVAL encountered little
to no IED threat, and in general the jihadi movements on the ground failed in
negating the use of the very few roads (and even fewer bridges) to the French
forces. The French, on their part, had the great merit of being aggressive and
moving very quickly, keeping the enemy under pressure and using special forces
and parachute or helicopter manoeuvre to seize bridges and airstrips ahead of
the mechanized forces.
The speed of the French
intervention, however, is not going to be easy for the British Army to ever
replicate. The French were advantaged by having a very significant permanent
presence in Africa which the British Army cannot (and probably should not)
replicate. Much of the first wave of French troops was already in Africa when
operation SERVAL was launched. We are not talking about training teams in
Nigeria and small anti-poaching squads as the British Army currently has in Africa,
but very significant bases and deployed forces, including combat vehicles,
jets, cargos, helicopters.
At N’Djamena, in Chad, the French have
permanent air force facilities, aircraft and the Joint Force Air Combat Comd (JFACC). Special Operations forces with Gazelle
helicopters were in Burkina Faso, and they were the very first to intervene in
Mali, to block the movement of insurgents towards the capital (January 11, mere
hours after the French help was publically requested, on January 10). The package
relied on 4 Gazelle helicopters with HOT missiles and 20mm guns. The surprise
action was successful, but not without cost: one Gazelle was hit, and the
French suffered their first fatality on board of it.
At N’Djamena the French had
initially 3 Mirage Ds, rapidly increased to 6, 6 transports (C-130, C-160) and
2 KC-135 tankers, immediately reinforced by 4 Rafale and another 2 tankers
which arrived from Saint Dizier, striking targets in Mali along the way before
joining the forward base. More aircraft followed going ahead. N’Djamena is not
exactly close to Mali, as 2500 km separate it from Bamako, but it was a key
enabler nonetheless, already operational and resourced.
France maintains a 1900-strong
presence in Djibouti; had some 900 in Gabon; 360 in Senegal, had operation
EPERVIER in Chad, LICORNE in Ivory Coast and troops in the Republique Centre
Africaine. From all these African-based forces came much of the first wave,
enabling a quick response.
 |
| The first waves of combat troops came from within Africa thanks to the extensive presence of french troops in various countries |
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| Air assets for the Mali operation were also, in part, already in Africa. |
 |
| AMX-10RC |
The first significant mechanized
force deployed by France, Battlegroup 1 (Groupement Tactiques Interarmes, GTIA
in French), consisted of an infantry company on VAB vehicles, plus HQ element,
from 21st Regiment Infanterie de Marine (21 Rima) and two platoons
of ERC 90 armoured cars with 90mm gun, from the Foreign Legion Cavalry Regiment
that was forward located in Chad. This first force was airlifted into Mali and
once there reinforced with a second infantry company airlifted directly from
France and another ERC90-heavy company group that self-deployed over 1000 km
from Abidjan in the Ivory Coast (two Troops of ERC90, one scout platoon and
platoon from 3 RPIMa which was in Gabon and from there was airflifted to
Abidjan).
Notably, despite being wheeled, the
ERC 90 were carried on trailers up to the Mali border. The universal truth
remains that armoured vehicles will eventually break down, so the less road
they have to make on their own, the better.
A second GTIA was deployed from
France, packed into the amphibious ship Dixmunde. It was composed of 2 infantry
companies on 8x8 VBCI from the 92nd Infantry Regiment, a squadron of
6x6 AMX 10RC from the 1 RiMa and one battery of 4 155mm CAESAR autocannons and
4 mortars 120mm from the 68 Regiment d’Artillerie d’Afrique. It left Toulon on
January 21 and disembarked in the port of Dakar on the 28th, then moved
on road into Mali, reaching Bamako on February 12.
 |
| Operation SERVAL was enabled by french units and bases in Africa; by the High Readiness pool of units in France and by the contributions of allies, particularly in the area of Strategic Air Transport. Most personnel and most of the supplies in the first five weeks of combat moved by air. Vehicles either drove into Mali from the various french bases in Africa or traveled by ship and by air. |
 |
| The Dixmunde, packed with vehicles bound for Mali. They were disembarked in Dakar and driven into Mali |
The High Readiness pool of units
back in France (GUEPARD NG) sent airborne troops to Abidjan: the 2nd Foreign
Legion Parachute Regiment left its base in Corsica on January 23. Eventually,
these troops formed GTIA 4. Some 250 parachute troops from this formation
executed a night parachute insertion on January 27 / 28 ahead of the advancing
mechanized forces to block the exit routes around Timbuktu. They reported no
contact with enemies, however. The town fell in French hands and the parachute
engineers got to work on January 29 to open the local airport for use.
The French columns moved swiftly,
and generally encountered little resistance. During January, the afflux of
allied African troops (mainly from Chad and Niger) surpassed the number of
French soldiers employed in the campaign. France airlifted significant numbers
of African troops, but on January 28 allied contingents drove into Mali on
their own.
Operation SERVAL was successful,
but, unsurprisingly, not decisive. Long term stabilization had to follow, and
when the combat phase was declared over, on
July 15, 2014, operation BARKHANE began. It continues to this day.
 |
| The french army under the Au Contact structure. Two divisions, each comprising one Heavy, one Mechanized and one Light / Specialized brigade. In red, the units mounted on VBCI. Note the heavy brigades on three VBCI infantry regiments and two Type 51 tank regiments. 9 Bde is the amphibious unit of the french armed forces. One of its infantry regiments uses the High Mobility Vehicle, aka the Viking in french service. The Viking is also used by the Mountain brigade. |
The relevance of Operation SERVAL to
the future of the British Army is dubious. There are lessons to be learned
about aggressiveness, rapid deployment, logistics and in other areas, but the
operations in Mali do not seem to be a good reason to pursue the “Strike
Brigade”. Carter occasionally mentioned the French ops in Mali as exemplary,
and has cautioned that the army needs to be used, and that there is a danger in
being too reluctant in putting boots on the ground. In general, the warning is
absolutely valid, but I’m under the impression that the Strike concept is in no
small measure an attempt by the army to be seen as more useable, in the literal
hope of being involved in low-intensity conflicts. What the army said since the
SDSR 2015 (not much, in truth) makes me suspect that they are literally
dreaming of their own SERVAL moment.
But even for a SERVAL-like
operation, the Strike Brigade as currently envisioned is questionable at best.
The tools
South African forces in Angola and
French forces in Mali had significant firepower at their disposal. Good
artillery (excellent, in the South African case) as well as very significant
direct fire capability.
The British Army Strike Brigade,
conversely, faces a dubious future in its artillery component: regiments with
just two small batteries of L118 Light Guns at first and an ambition, who knows
how financially realistic, to obtain a wheeled 155mm option later on.
The British Army is making a U-turn
on earlier decisions to give a precision fires battery to each heavy close
support artillery regiment. As a result, all GMLRS will be concentrated in
three batteries of 26 RA, along with Exactor. This is a questionable decision
at best.
GMLRS is a tracked vehicle, but
arguably this is dead last on the list of problems to be solved. At least it is
much lighter than Ajax and MIV. Tracks are already going to be a large part of
the Strike Brigade, so the attachment of GMLRS doesn’t really introduce any new
problem.
What the British Army needs is long
range reach. The latest edition of the Equipment Programme mentions the Long
Range Rocket System, which should be, in practice, the ATACMS or, since it is taking
shape in the US, its successor, the Long
Range Precision Fire missile. The presence of the programme name in the
list is encouraging, but the Royal Artillery has had it in its list for a
decade (as the Large Long Range Rocket) or more and it is not clear if it is
any closer to obtaining it now than it was in 2010.
Land Precision Strike Capability
should deliver long-range guided 155mm shells as well as course-correction
fuzes to improve the CEP of normal 155mm shells. Again, this programme has been
on life support for a decade. It is (was?) expected to begin delivering in
2018.
Another requirement can be easily
identified, but it doesn’t even appear in the list yet: wide-area destruction.
The removal from service of submunitions has turned the MLRS, once known as “grid-square
removal system”, into the “70 Km sniper”, delivering a unitary warhead on a
point target with high accuracy. The US Army is putting into service a new
wide-area attack munition, the Alternative
Warhead, that replaces submunitions with fletchettes presenting zero risk
of residual unexploded ordnance. Procuring it should be a priority.
Exactor, finally, should be more
widely used. It is a highly deployable system: the british army uses it from a
small trailer that can be carried by helicopter, towed by vehicles, and
operated remotely from a safe position. The missile system can however also be
packed inside small, agile 4x4 armored vehicles such as the SandCat. With its
25 km reach, it can serve as a cheap precision fires alternative to air
attacks. It is also, potentially, an anti-tank screen. The Royal Artillery
brought into core as a solution to the need to effectively engaging moving
armor, in fact, due to the cancellation of the submunitions-carrying SMART
155mm shell, which would have preserved the AS90’s usefulness against advancing
armoured formations.
Exactor should be a brigade asset:
PARAs and Commandos should use the trailer version, while the vehicular
installation would be a great asset for mechanized brigades, both tracked and
wheeled.
Finally, 120mm mortars should be the
baseline for mechanized formations, even light ones: the market today offers
several highly-mobile mortar solutions on 4x4 vehicles.
 |
| The Plasan SandCat with SPIKE NLOS has been purchased by South Korea for use in coastal defence against north korean intruders. It is an impressive system, combining mobility and firepower. Below, in a photo by ArmyRecognition, the SandCat with the SPEAR 120mm mortar. Solutions are already available to increase the firepower of not just medium but also light forces. |
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| The EXACTOR on trailer, remotely operated, could truly enhance the ability of light forces to fight in a contested and congested battlefield. |
Direct fire plans are in an even
more worrying situation. The MIV seems to be heading on the APC path, with very
little mounted direct fire capability. Ajax will be the main combat platform,
and in its current shape it only comes with the 40mm CTA gun. The CTA is an
impressive system, but against fortified positions, buildings and combat vehicles
will never match the 90 and 105 mm guns that had such a part to play in Africa.
Direct fire is currently on a
declining path even in France, curiously. The EBRC Jaguar, which will replace
the AMX 10RC and the ERC90 with their large caliber guns, is going to be armed
with the 40mm CTA. It will however also have a couple of MMP anti-tank missiles
for launch under armour, unlike Ajax.
Nexter worked on a 120mm with low
recoil force as a weapon for a novel wheeled combat vehicle, but so far the
French army hasn’t committed to a platform equipped with it. Budget
considerations once again flying in the face of operational experience.
The VBMR Griffon is heading for very
light armament as well: for now the only weaponry expected is a RWS with a .50,
but it is likely that other weapons will eventually emerge. In Mali, France
employed the 20mm guns mounted on VABs and even brought further 20mm pieces out
of storage to put them at the side door of Puma helicopters and on the back of
trucks used to escort logistic convoys. One of the lessons of engagements
against insurgents often equipped with 23mm ZSU guns and 14.5 heavy machine
guns is that the .50 HMG is at a distinct disadvantage. French special forces
have directed Nexter to the creation of a 25mm gun turret with “low profile”
which they intend to embark on vehicles as small and light as their Sherpa
trucks. It is hard to imagine the requirement for greater firepower not
expanding to the VBMR.
 |
| France and Belgium are betting on the Jaguar (top) and Griffon (bottom pic) |
Firepower was the first concern
flagged by the US Army when the Stryker brigade was measured against the kind
of threats, hybrid or otherwise, that could come from Eastern Europe. The
Stryker is much lighter than VBCI and than the likely MIV platform (the british
army is looking at 30+ tons solutions) because it was originally developed for
air transport within C-130s, a requirement which imposed very stringent
limitations. Operational experience has demonstrated that C-130
transportability is something of a pipe dream, while the need for greater
protection is not. The IED threat drove the adoption of the Double-V Hull
retrofit, which removes the C-130 transportability for good.
The possibility of being sent
against the kind of firepower fielded by Russian or Russian-supplied land
forces has driven the currently ongoing firepower update which sees half of the
Strykers of the Europe-based 2nd Brigade Combat Team re-equipped
with a remotely-operated turret with 30 gun. The other half of the Stryker APCs
are getting an upgraded RWS integrating a Javelin launcher.
The Brigade also includes a fire
support / anti-tank company equipped with the Mobile Gun System variant of the
Stryker, with a 105mm cannon, and the TOW launcher variant.
The Italian medium brigade,
employing Freccia and Centauro 8x8, are well armed with 25mm guns, 105mm
cannons and SPIKE anti-tank missiles. They are the best armed medium weight
formations in NATO, and the new Centauro 2, soon to enter low-rate initial
production, will give them Abrams-like firepower with the 120/45 smoothbore
cannon (the ballistic qualities match those of the 120/44 commonly used on MBTs
including the Abrams and the Italian Ariete. The additional caliber compensates
for the pepperpot muzzle brake). The Centauro 2 brings great anti-tank firepower but also, perhaps more importantly, highly flexible fire support for infantry manoeuvre. There was a time when the 120mm smoothbore wasn't the best system for this kind of role, but new multi-purpose ammunition such as the DM-11, introducing air-burst, wall-breaching and other selectable effects, have changed the scenario.
The build-up of the medium brigades
is progressing slowly as the funding is insufficient to purchase Freccia at the
rate that would be necessary. There are also manpower problems that currently
mean the number of dismounts is often 6 rather than 8, so the situation is not
perfect, but at conceptual level, the medium regiment is a powerful force.
All Freccia IFVs have a 2-man turret
with 25mm guns. Each rifle platoon comes with 4 Freccia, one of which carries a
“manoeuvre support squad” with a 60mm mortar and a couple of MG42s for fire
support. The other three should carry 8-men sections but as earlier said they
tend to only have 6 these days.
Each infantry company has 3 platoons
plus a manoeuvre support platoon with a sniper pair and an additional Freccia carrying
2 teams of dismounted ATGW launchers using the Spike Medium Range. Up to three
81mm mortars are attached.
This should be a temporary
arrangement while plans are refined. The Manoeuvre Support element currently is
understrenght compared to earlier theory which included a Surveillance and
Target Acquisition element and another Freccia carrying ATGWs.
The manoeuvre support company has 4
Freccia carrying 120mm mortars and 4 Freccia AT. The latter adds two armoured
box-launchers to the sides of the 25mm gun turret, containing SPIKE Long Range
missiles.
 |
| Centauro 2: MBT-like firepower; advanced comms; IED jamming and V hull |
The Italian medium brigade has 3
infantry regiments on Freccia and a cavalry formation for reconnaissance and
fire support, currently employing the Centauro with 105mm rifled gun. Each
regiment has a squadron of sole Centauros and a couple of reconnaissance
squadrons containing a platoon of Centauro plus lighter scout vehicles such as
the Lince (Panther in british service).
The Centauro 2, 150 of which should
eventually be procured, will replace its predecessor. Given the number and the
fact that the Italian army wants a cavalry unit in every brigade, not just the
medium ones, each regiment will probably only get one squadron, 12 plus 1 for the commander.
For the reconnaissance mission
“proper”, the army intends to acquire two Freccia sub-variants: the FAR will
carry mast-mounted and dismountable radar and EO/IR sensors plus Horus
tube-launched UAVs contained in boxes at the sides of the turrent. The CLOSE
will carry SPIKE missiles in the boxes and an unmanned ground vehicle in the
back. Each regiment is expected to get 8 vehicles of either type.
A Lince with JANUS mast-mounted sight and RWR is also a candidate system
for cowering the lower end of the recce spectrum.
 |
| The Freccia CLOSE with UGV in deployment. The picture on top also shows the dismounted LYRA radar and a long range HORUS HD thermal imagery sensor. |
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| The FAR showing the HORUS UAV coming out of the box-launcher. |
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| The VTLM Lince 2 in command post variant. The flat antenna on top is the SOTM-X Satcom On The Move system. A Reconnaissance variant of the VTLM 2 is also on the cards. Both can be armed with a RWS. |
The brigade’s artillery regiment,
for the near future, will be equipped with the FH70 towed 155mm howitzer.
Army and Navy hope to secure funding
in the coming years to purchase the lighter, amphibious Iveco SuperAV 8x8 for
the amphibious regiments, “Lagunari” and “San Marco”, currently mounted on
AAV-7. That would make the amphibious force the de-facto third medium brigade. The
SuperAV, pushed by BAE Systems, is also competing for the lucrative US Marines
requirement for a wheeled vehicle as (partial) replacement for the AAV-7.
 |
| The SuperAV during amphibious trials and, on the bottom, the SuperAV fitted with remotely-operated 30mm gun turret |
Initially, the SuperAV is being
evaluated in APC configuration, but it can be equipped with a remotely-operated
turret with 30mm gun and still swim.
The French brigade will have CAESAR
autocannons and 120mm mortars; two cavalry regiments on Jaguar, all armed with
missiles in addition to the 40mm CTA; one heavy infantry regiment on VBCI with
25mm and two more infantry regiment on VBMR. Not only it will have more
infantry regiments, it will count on much larger regiments. While the british
army MIV battalions seem to be heading for 745 personnel, the French favor
large formations on 5 combat companies plus fire support coy. A combat company
in Au Contact includes 174 men, of which 19 in the HQ element, 40 in each of
three platoons and 35 in a support platoon. The three sections within a platoon
are all composed of 10 men: driver and turret operator stay in the vehicle
(VBCI or VBMR), while the squad commander, a marksman and 6 soldiers dismount.
The support section in each Platoon is equipped with anti-tank weapons
including AT4CS and Eryx launchers.
The 35-strong support platoon at
company level will have a couple of the new MMP anti-tank missile launchers and
two 81mm mortars.
The manoeuvre support company will
have 102 personnel including sniper pairs (with 12.7mm rifles), anti-tank
platoon and one quasi-SOF element tasked with reconnaissance but also complex
interventions such as hostage liberation. That adds up to 972 combat personnel,
without considering the HQ and logistic elements of the regiment.
Poland has a lot of firepower in its
Rosomak formations. They are supported by Dana wheeled self-propelled howitzers
and they include batteries of 8 Rak vehicles, armed with turret-mounted, breech
loading 120mm mortars. Most Rosomak are in IFV configuration, armed with 30mm
guns. Some were purchased as APCs, but were later up-gunned with an unmanned
turret with 30mm and SPIKE Long Range missiles.
A 105mm direct fire Rosomak
development, the Wilk, has been developed but, as of this year, it is not funded
for acquisition. The polish army is giving priority to full size MBTs at the moment, due to the Russian
threat. A 120mm in Cockerill turret is also an option, should the Wilk return
to the fore in the future.
Japan is also working on 8x8 combat
vehicles. Faced with the menace of amphibious assaults on islands or along its
coastline, it came to the same conclusion that led the Italians to develop the
Centauro decades ago: a wheeled tank destroyer can race on road, slow down the
enemy, and act as a screen for the heavy forces as they advance towards the
battle.
Italy’s medium brigades are
effectively born out of a need, recognized in the 70s, for a highly mobile type
of brigade which could race along the eastern coast of Italy to react to an
amphibious assault launched by the SOVMEDRON (Soviet Mediterranean Squadron).
The Centauro was the solution, supported initially by the modest Puma 4x4 APC
(mainly meant to carry specialized teams such as ATGW and air defence) and then
by the slightly larger Puma 6x6.
Japan is developing the Type 16
Maneuver Combat Vehicle, a 105mm tank destroyer on wheels.
The british Strike Brigade compares
badly to all of the above medium weight formations. They will have less of
everything. They will be much heavier than Stryker brigades and than the medium
formations employed by France, yet will have less firepower. They will also be
half-tracked, and this is highly likely to at least partially negate that
strategic agility and self-deploying capability that is the whole point of the
medium force.
Using vehicles with such a great
mass will also make it more complicated to move even small packages of armour
by air. The US Army itself has pretty much abandoned the grandiose plans for
air insertion of entire brigades of Strykers, but it can project a high
readiness mechanized infantry company, including 3 MGS and 2 mortar carriers
with the 120mm, with 15 C-17 loads. The Strike Brigade might require more sorties
than that, and with the RAF’s limited number of cargo aircraft, this could
rapidly kill off any real strategic agility for the formation.
France operations in Mali were also
heavily dependent on air transport: in the first 5 weeks, the need to act rapidly
meant that 61% of the loads moved by air. According to the French, 360 large
aircraft, including everything from chartered Antonov 124s to US, Canadian and
British C-17s; 50 passenger flights and 4 ships were used to carry 4500 men,
their equipment, 5 Role 2 hospital posts and 19.000 tons of stores. The French
also airlifted into Mali significant numbers of allied African troops. The
ships, on the other hand, carried more than 600 vehicles, beginning with the
heavy VBCIs.
Depending on the period considered,
75 to 90% of the strategic airlift came from Allies or chartered 124s (the
latter sucked away dozens upon dozens of millions of euro). Heavier vehicles
means more stores and more flights. The UK has a C-17 fleet of its own, but on
the other hand has nowhere near the same level of forward-deployed forces that
France enjoyed in the opening stages of the operation, meaning that the
majority of the movements would be direct from the UK. Greater distances,
greater challenges.
 |
| 15 C-17 sorties are needed to deploy a Stryker company group with some direct and indirect fire support and minimum logistics. Unless the A400M can contribute in carrying the elements of the Strike Brigade into battle, the UK will not be able to deploy any significant air-delivered armour package, or at least not quickly. |
Another concern is the logistic
tail, and more specifically its protection. In a contested environment, moving
dispersed battlegroups across a wide battlefield means leaving behind unsafe
areas that logistic convoys will most likely have to cross. Resupply by A400
via austere landing strips is part of the Strike Concept, but nobody in their
sane mind can expect that it will somehow eliminate the logistic convoy. France
has added
security squadrons within its logistic regiments, giving them their organic
escort. The Americans have their military police and convoy protection groups
with M1117
armoured vehicles.
The british army would probably draw
from the Light Cavalry and Light Infantry in the 6 “infantry brigades”. They
are not good for much else anyway, as they are completely devoid of CS and CSS
elements of their own. However, this will further complicate the process of putting
together any kind of enduring presence for the stabilization phase.
Other concerns about the logistic
tail are the enduring absence of a true replacement programme for DROPS. The
EPLS is not available in sufficient numbers, and the army doesn’t consider it
the right long-term solution, yet little progress is evident on the way to
replacing the old trucks which technically went out of service in December 2014
but continue serving for lack of alternatives.
Light Equipment Transporters are
also on the back burner; and the fleet of Oshkosh Tankers has a 2025 OSD.
Probably will be extended; but in the same period the Heavy Equipment
Transporter PFI will also come to an end (1 July 2024) and the army will have to
find a solution for keeping the capability going.
Dealing with natural and man-made
gaps is another concern. The Strike Brigade cannot expect all enemies to be as
inept as jihadists in Mali that failed to negate to the French army any of the
5 bridges upon which the entire road infrastructure of the country depends.
Army 2020 Refine includes more resources for 75 RE, which holds the M3 rigs for
amphibious gap crossing, but an assault bridging solution is not readily
available. This is another evident weak spot. Obviously, Titan cannot be the
answer.
A small number of Rapidly Emplaced
Bridging System (REBS) was procured for use in Afghanistan and should still be
available, but being carried on a MAN SV 15 tonner they are too vulnerable to
truly mount an assault operation. ABLE, which needs to be assembled to span
wider gaps, is even more vulnerable, and Project TYRO, the life extension or
replacement programme for the whole family of BR90 bridging, is not going to
make it any less vulnerable, although it might replace the Unipower truck with
MAN trucks for welcome logistical commonality.
Communications are also a concern. The
Army and Joint Forces command are working on Project MORPHEUS to replace
Bowman: the first contract "EvO - Evolve to Open", has been signed to get General Dynamics to work on
migrating the Bowman BCIP 5.6 system towards an open, modular, MOD-owned architecture. This is meant to simplify future capability additions and detach software and hardware, opening more options for the replacement of current data-radio sets. The next phase is selecting a new battlefield management application. But much
remains to be done, and the British Army is badly lagging in areas such as
SATCOM On the Move, a key capability for more mobile, more dispersed operations
with smaller, less vulnerable HQs. Fixing the Army’s ability to communicate and
share data is more important than any 8x8.
From whichever angle you look at it,
the Strike Brigade is unconvincing. Too heavy to be a South-African raiding
force; too light in firepower to face any significantly equipped enemy. It does
not appear to be a solution to any of the British Army’s problems and
capability gaps. If anything, the current plan for the creation of the Strike
brigades opens new holes and introduces new requirements that the army cannot
resource.
The more i look at it, the more i get convinced that the true "Medium Force" concept is realized by having the ability to deploy armoured mobility and firepower quickly at the point of need. The 8x8 is just one way to do it. But having insufficient resources for building up a realistic force means that probably it is better to shift the attention on other solutions.
