Medium Weight Wheeled Forces...the British Army's only hope to remain relevant...

Those of us that care about British forces and British ground forces in particular have been alarmed at some of the cuts that have been bandied about.

It's obvious that the Royal Marines are about to take a hit and the British Army is about to get kicked hard.

So what is the future...what is the British Army's only hope to remain relevant?

First check this out.  via UK Landpower.

At its heart, medium weight doctrine reflects a fundamental shift in doctrinal thinking. First and foremost, it is about having a rapidly deployable expeditionary capability that allows infantry mass to be deployed independently at distance. It recognises that, in future conflicts, getting to the fight is likely to be as challenging as the fight itself.

The second key aspect of medium weight forces is that they are a key enabler of divisional manoeuvre. This means that they provide an Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) component; an independent strike or raiding capability; a screening force operating ahead or protecting the flanks of a division; and enabling heavier units to move unimpeded out of contact.

Using medium weight forces effectively is about information manoeuvre. This is moving pre-emptively, somewhat like moving a chess piece defensively, to counter a corresponding enemy threat or movement. Medium weight forces can rapidly to encircle, seize and hold territory. They also allow infantry to dominate ground through aggressive patrolling, mobile ambushes and rapid reinforcement.

The most significant shift in thinking is that medium weight vehicles are not intended to take-on main battle tanks. Ideally, these will be defeated by combat aircraft, attack helicopters, long range ATGMs and precision fires. Medium weight formations will avoid or outmanoeuvre a superior enemy force through the speed and agility of their wheeled vehicles. Connectivity also plays a part in this. When medium weight units are networked into other C4ISR assets, this builds a real-time awareness of enemy dispositions. Allocating dedicated UAV support will provide a timely warning of any enemy forces heading towards it, but also the ability to neutralise enemy armour.

Ok.  Right off the bat let me tell you this.  Check out this blog! You can get to it here. 

Next.  I get it.

This dude hit every buzzword floating around the Pentagon.  But if you take the time to read the entire piece, you'll see that he sells the concept pretty well.  So well that I think we can even jump ahead and say that this is the Brit Army's only hope.

Challengers? 

As much as we might hate it the Brits just can't afford tanks anymore.  I believe those that say that tanks are dead...are dead wrong!  But that conventional thinking seems to be all the rage.

Protection via Airpower?

That is what the author believes will protect the Medium Weight Wheeled Force.  That's HQMC thinking.  I believe he's wrong and I can just look at developments in Russia and China and come to one conclusion.  They aren't seeking air superiority.  They're seeking to DENY US air superiority!  I believe the future battlefield (with nation states involved) will be so deadly for aircraft that they will not even try and wander over it.  I think we'll see the same situation we see in Ukraine.  Airpower will be rendered inert....too valuable to risk over a too dangerous battlefield.  Artillery will be king.

Standardization?

This one will be tricky for the Army.  They've bought a range of vehicles with no rhyme or reason behind it.  It's all been under Urgent Operational Requirements so they've gotten it with little debate.

Now?  Now they have a roadmap laid but will have difficulty getting this dog's breakfast of a procurement system to get the proposal past the House of Commons.

Reality?

I see a plan for the British Army.  They could still be effective in low intensity warfare and have a place in a high intensity fight.  The problem is now money.  Will they be able to get policymakers to dig into pockets to buy another magic vehicle now that they have the Ajax Scout going?  Will they admit to failure in previous plans and move out on this one?

I doubt it.

This generation of leaders just can't admit when they've done it wrong.  They'll continue to muddle thru, and will continue buying vehicles that won't fit with the one concept that they could possible afford that would still leave them a place at the table when it comes to land warfare.

And that my friends is just too bad.

Open Comment Post. Dec 11, 2017

So now we supply our allies with ground troops too? TF 51/5 Marines deploy aboard French Ship Tonnerre...pic by Sgt. Jessica Lucio

U.S. 5TH FLEET AREA OPERATIONS (Dec. 5, 2017) - Naval Amphibious Force, Task Force 51, 5th Marine Expeditionary Brigade (TF 51/5) Sailors and Marines participate in unit physical fitness training aboard the French amphibious assault ship LHD Tonnerre (L9014). The French ship, with embarked Marines and Sailors from the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit and TF 51/5, is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operation in support of maritime security operations to reassure allies and partners and preserve the freedom of navigation and the free flow of commerce in the region. 

Hmm.  So its not enough that the US Army, Air Force and now Marines have troops in Europe supporting the EU...even though they have a larger population base, larger GDP, spend less on defense than the US and have a higher standard of living.

No.

Now we supply our allies with ground troops.  We take up boat spaces so their guys can relax on the beach?  Or we take up boat spaces so they can cut the size of their own Marines like the Brits are doing?

But it gets better.  Today its ships, tomorrow its gonna be our aircraft filling the deck of a Brit carrier.  Why?  I have no idea.  USMC Air is in shit shape and needs to do an immediate reset.  The SPMAGTF-CR is running our aircraft and people into the ground.  The endless deployments for God knows what reason is doing the same.  And what is the answer?  Leadership is still looking for ways to increase ops tempo instead of trying to preserve the force for the big fight coming. 

Simply amazing.

Side note.  Spare me your idiocy.  This "exercise", cross decking, whatever you want to call it is a feel good exercise with NO benefit to the US.  Ask yourself a simple question.  How does this increase our combat capability?  How does this make us more lethal?  If it doesn't then its time to rethink our drink.  From my seat the only people that benefit are our allies...as usual.

Fox Company Conduct with Mechanized Raid....Pics by Staff Sgt. Dengrier Baez

You keep saying we MUST fight in mega cities? Calculate the costs in tiny Marawi in your planning!

via Star and Stripes.

MARAWI, Philippines — More than six months after Filipino and foreign fighters claiming allegiance to the Islamic State stormed this lakeside city, setting off a monthslong war with U.S.-backed Philippine troops, liberated Marawi lies in ruins and its people seethe.

The heart of the city has been bombed and burned beyond recognition, its domed mosques pierced by mortar fire. Homes stand roofless, blackened. There are armored vehicles on the streets.

Some 200,000 residents are still scattered across the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, living with weary relatives or in displacement camps thick with mud and worry.

Those who have been allowed to return found their homes sacked and looted - safes open, jewelry snatched, appliances gone.

Many are angry at the men who seized their city in a failed bid to establish a caliphate, taking hostages and targeting civilians. They are angry, too, at the forces that fought those men, namely the Philippine army and its backer, the United States.

Beyond earshot of officials and soldiers, people wonder why the army was so quick to pummel their predominantly Muslim city. They are also suspicious of the role played by U.S. Special Forces.

Story here. 

Hate me if you want but I bet body parts I consider valuable that this fight was a test bed for the Army/Marine Corps and specifically the Special Ops bubba's wet dream of fighting in mega cities.

I hope they're properly assessing the costs.

I've talked about the refugee crisis that will develop.  I've talked about how air operations will be inadvisable due to enemy forces firing horizontally at our aircraft as they're inserting personnel.  I've talked about how the terrain favors the defense over the assault.

I could go on but you get the drift.  Fighting in a mega city is a STUPID idea.

While this debate has raged (well not really...there is NO pushback in the military journals) I have yet to hear a plausible explanation of why we should do such a thing.

All I get is "that's where the people are so that's where we have to fight".  What bullshit!  But ignoring the lack of logic, it really seems as if a general got a chance to see Call of Duty Advanced Warfare and wants to make it come true.  There is no strategy other than thinking that a video game points the way to the future.

USMC put the F-35 into service before it was ready and now tries to blame the Program Office for a fire...

via Defense News.

The weapons bay bracket that caused the fire was a “known and previously identified hazard in the F-35B community,” the commander of Marine Aircraft Group 31 wrote in an endorsement of the investigation.

“The Joint Strike Fighter Program Office (JSFPO) should have assessed the risk of the broken bracket as more severe than Marginal, properly assessed the root cause of the broken brackets, and implemented a long-term solution to prevent bracket failures,” according to a redacted copy of the investigation, which Marine Corps Times obtained through a Freedom of information act request.

On Oct. 27, 2016, a fire broke out while the F-35B was in the air. The plane’s warning system identified the malfunction, allowing the pilot to land safely at Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, South Carolina, a 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing spokesman said.

The broken bracket had chafed against electrical wiring, which are near hydraulic lines, the investigation found. An electrical short ignited fluid from a pinhole-sized leak in the hydraulic line.

“The Joint Strike Fighter Program Office should re-evaluate the risk severity of the faulty bracket design in order to prevent re-occurrence of an in-flight fire or the potential loss of an aircraft,” wrote the commander, whose name was redacted.

Story here. 

Pretty interesting stuff, so make sure you read the story.

What I find interesting is that the USMC pushed for an early IOC....waaaaay before the plane was ready to enter service and in total opposition to the way that we've done business before and now they have the temerity to complain about the Program Office?  Simply amazing!  Additionally the idea that they would redact the name of the commander is puzzling.  Simple Google searches can track him down in seconds.  Last.  This type of thing should have been expected.  You put an airplane into service before testing is complete and they're lucky as hell we haven't seen one crash or pilots killed.

Blaming the program office over a bracket?  Pretty ballsy stuff.

The Brits are selling their Landing Platform Docks...clever, diabolical and stupid...

via Janes.

Proposals to retire the UK Royal Navy’s (RN's) two landing platform docks (LPDs) and reduce the size of the Royal Marines (RM) have come under fire from retired officers and academic experts during a parliamentary inquiry.

The proposals prepared by RN chiefs as part of the ongoing UK national security capability review were described as “perverse” and “aggregated stupidity” during a session of the House of Commons Defence Committee on 5 December to investigate the RM and UK amphibious capability.

The committee launched the inquiry in November in response to media reports – that were not denied by the Ministry of Defence – that the early retirement of the RN’s two LPDs, HMS Bulwark and HMS Albion , and a reduction in the strength of the RM by 1,000 was being considered in the review.

This is crazy.  But also clever, diabolical and stupid.

Why is it clever?  Because they get to get rid of other pieces of equipment at the same time and few are taking that into account.  With the LPDs gone then the landing craft are useless.  Sell the LPD and the air cushion vehicles are useless.  Of course you don't need the Beach Armored Recovery Vehicles (right) that were a uniquely British "thing".

Why is it diabolical?  Cause it justifies cutting the Brit Army. How do you get them overseas ...especially the Army's vehicles without LPDs?  Everything will be suboptimal and I don't think you can put Challengers on the flight deck of the QE.  They're taking out two majestic ships but they're gonna be able to justify FAR LARGER cuts across the board with this decision.

Why is it stupid?  All of the above.  The Brits don't want to admit it but they've just relegated themselves to a different class.  I don't know their aspirations but they will never "punch above their weight class" if they go forward with this planning.

To be blunt.  The Brits will become a drag on operations and militarily irrelevant.  Instead of asking the Brits to provide fighting forces I can see future commanders telling the Brits to send donations to the Red Cross and to go shopping to support the war effort.

Russian MoD Reports Incident With US F-22 Fighter Over Syria's Euphates River

via Sputnik

The Russian Defense Ministry has called the presence of the US air force in Syria illegal.

"An American F-22 fighter actively prevented the Russian pair of Su-25 attack aircraft from carrying out a combat mission to destroy the Daesh stronghold in the suburbs of the city of Mayadin in the airspace over the western bank of the Euphrates River on November 23. The F-22 aircraft fired off heat flares and released brake shields with permanent maneuvering, imitating an air battle," Major-General Igor Konashenkov, the Russian Defense Ministry's spokesperson said on Saturday.

The spokesperson has explained that most of the majority of near-misses between US and Russian planes in Syria and in the area of Euphrates were connected with the Washington's attempts to hinder Daesh defeat.

At the same time, he noted that "after the appearance of a Russian multifunctional super maneuverable Su-35S fighter, the American fighter stopped dangerous maneuvers and hurried to move into Iraqi airspace."

Moreover, the ministry's representative has noted that the American side has failed to give any answer to the Russian command at the Hmeymim airbase in Syria "concerning this and many other incidents in the Syrian sky".

I don't understand this.  Why are we still protecting ISIS?  I thought those games were over with.

Someday someone is gonna have to explain this nonsense we have going with ISIS and why it continued for so long.

Quite honestly this is the biggest scandal of the last three decades.  We're looking at almost OVERT support of a terror outfit.  That has to be something new right?

Blast from the past.....They could build nukes thru open source but the bio stuff worries me today...

Nuke development doesn't worry me.  In the age of the internet and big brother watching, you would be caught in a New York second just by typing a few key words in sequence...and that applies no matter where you live.

The mass destruction thing that worries is the bio stuff.  That junk is written in books all over the place and if you have access to those old skool book stores...I'm talking about the mom and pop joints that people just give those old high school textbooks, medical journals, etc... to after a loved one has passed then that's where you can do the deed without coming to the attention of officials.

A little brains, determination and evil intent and we could be looking at a mass casualty event.

The price you pay for living in interesting times I guess.

2nd CAV receives it's first 30 mm Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicle - Dragoon (ICVD)

We are excited to announce we have received our first 30 mm Stryker Infantry Carrier Vehicle - Dragoon (ICVD), named after our very own "Dragoons." This variant increases lethality and provides 2CR the additional assets needed to defend the NATO Alliance against any adversaries if called to do so. Which Dragoons are looking forward to testing this Stryker out? #StrongEurope #AlwaysReady #Stryker #2CR #Readiness #Lethal #NATO #Dragoon

A post shared by "Always Ready" (@2dcavalryregiment) on Dec 8, 2017 at 11:35pm PST