Build your own expeditionary brigade

[Rythm]

Lets assume that you are in charge of building an expeditionary brigade for a small(ish) european nation. Brigade is to be available to deploy worldwide, but you at this point only have limited resources for transport, mostly civilian sea transport and a few cargo aircraft. Brigade should be capable of operating independantly or in conjunction with local, EU or NATO forces. Peace keeping and peace enforcing are your two main missions, high-intensity war a distant third. Your Air Force will be contributing two fighter/attacksquadrons and AWACS aircraft,but no refuelers at this point. Also, the government has wishes that the unit should be multinational. €s are limited, but there is considerable political prestige in this project and quite a few funds could be tapped if more countries come onboard this project.

Knock yourselves out!

[Jon K]

Lets assume that you are in charge of building an expeditionary brigade for a small(ish) european nation. Brigade is to be available to deploy worldwide, but you at this point only have limited resources for transport, mostly civilian sea transport and a few cargo aircraft. Brigade should be capable of operating independantly or in conjunction with local, EU or NATO forces. Peace keeping and peace enforcing are your two main missions, high-intensity war a distant third. Your Air Force will be contributing two fighter/attacksquadrons and AWACS aircraft,but no refuelers at this point. Also, the government has wishes that the unit should be multinational. €s are limited, but there is considerable political prestige in this project and quite a few funds could be tapped if more countries come onboard this project.

Knock yourselves out!

As missions would be bound to be different, the force should be tailored to different missions but I think the premise is that we need a fixed organization.

Here's my try, vehicles are mainly nominal, they may be substituted)

Brigade HQ
HQ Battalion (Signals, logistics, special forces platoon, recon company)
Airborne Battalion (Pandur 6x6) - Battalion also trained in airborne entry
Marine Battalion (Bv 208) - Battalion trained in amphibious entry
Armored Battalion - (2 coys MICV, eg. CV-90, 2 coys MBT, eg. Leo II)
Each Battalion HQ capable of operating as Battle Group HQ
Artillery Battalion (1 ARCHER btry, 2 ISTAR btrys (UAV, radar etc)
Aviation Battalion (1 heavy lift coy CH-53, 1 UH coy)
Engineer Battalion (Construction Coy, 3 engineer coys)
Brigade HQ 2 - Home Command (not ever deployed)

Now, the organization is an odd mix, but there's a reason for it. Brigade from a small country isn't going to make forced entries, but having a rudimentary "semi-forced" entry capability might be worthwhile for some odd conflict.

Thus Airborne Battalion with Pandurs, which are light and can be lifted with CH-53's (IIRC). Humvees etc won't do, as the vehicle has to offer protection and at least rudimentary combat capabilities. With four companies one should be para trained, the rest helo trained.

Marine Battalion will have Bv-208's, armored amphibious vehicles with excellent cross-country capabilities. Also, IIRC, they're CH-53 compatible.

Armored battalion provides the armored support for heavy force protection and show of force, ultimately direct fire support. Thus tanks and MICV's.

Artillery battalion has one artillery battery with modern wheeled SPA. The most important element for most missions is the ISTAR capability.

HQ Battalions Special Forces platoon is the Brigade Commander's fist, his personal reserve. Recon company should have both unarmored vehicles (for helo lift) and armored vehicles (such as Fennek) for it's use. The logistics component should have modern modular armor trucks, which would give the ability to deploy either in unarmored or uparmored condition depending on conditions in the AO and transportation.

Aviation Battalion should have ability to lift one company of Marine or Airborne battalion with it's vehicles at the time and the capability to insert whole of Special Forces platoon in separate patrol areas at a time. UH should be able to lift small vehicles too.

Engineer organisation may sound very heavy but all the capabilities will be needed. Additionally, some of the forces might be left out for rotation etc.

Brigade HQ 2 - Home Command is a organization which handles all the missions which can be, through use of modern communications, handled better without deployment. Thus, all the payrolls, adminstrative tasks as far as possible etc. will be handled in home, cutting both the workload of the personnel deployed and also cutting the number of REMF's to be deployed.

Home Command gives social support for the dependants of those deployed, handles information etc. Home Command also handles special training prior of rotation units and maintains a separate Center of Lessons Learned. After the mission Home Command handles soldier debriefing and psychological support if necessary. Home Command should be able also to give specialist support for deployed brigade, via provision of translation services (possible via modern telecoms), specialist doctors for consultation etc. In effect, in normal peacekeeping duties this could be used as a "force multiplier" if a patrol could rely not only on translators hired from AO, but also on someone back home. Especially in initial stage of operations this could be crucial. The Home Command should also have a large library (database) with trained librarists, so if the patrol asks "I see a Toyota CRV4, haven't checked one out before, tell me and send me images on how a weapon could be concealed in this vehicle" there could be someone supplying additional information if necessary.

Thus, even a normal patrol would be not only depending on it's own assesments and lessons learned, but could also ask expert support from back home. This kind of "call center" duties could be handled better from someone deployed out of AO, than owerworked company HQ in middle of nowherestan with tired duty officers suffering from diarrhea.

Most importantly, Home Command has a small amount of "own money" which can operate cutting in normal adminstrative red tape to purchase special equipment for troops immediately, whether it's ice cream, duct tape or additional body armor. This Home Command is part of the brigade, not the deploying army organization, as to give it better sense of belonging to the force itself.

And even more importantly, Home Command would not have operational command over troops, but would be there only for support, not to micromanage!

[lobbie111]

Lets assume that you are in charge of building an expeditionary brigade for a small(ish) european nation. Brigade is to be available to deploy worldwide, but you at this point only have limited resources for transport, mostly civilian sea transport and a few cargo aircraft. Brigade should be capable of operating independantly or in conjunction with local, EU or NATO forces. Peace keeping and peace enforcing are your two main missions, high-intensity war a distant third. Your Air Force will be contributing two fighter/attacksquadrons and AWACS aircraft,but no refuelers at this point. Also, the government has wishes that the unit should be multinational. €s are limited, but there is considerable political prestige in this project and quite a few funds could be tapped if more countries come onboard this project.

Knock yourselves out!

Well first of all you have really left my imagination to play here I thank you for this...

Well Lets start off...

HQ Battalion (Signals and Logistics) - Land Rovers
Parachute Battalion (Includes Special Forces and Recon) - Puma 4x4 and 6x6
Air Assault Battalion - SupaCat ATMP's
Aviation Battalion - NH90's & Tiger HAD
Artillery Battalion - 1 Archer Btry, 2 Dragonfire II Btry, 1 Support Btry (logistics, UAV's, Radar etc.)
Engineer Battalion - 2 Construction Coy's 2 Engineer Coy's
2x Mechanized Battalions - M1A1AIM Abrams with Puma IFV

I'm basing this on the terrain around Europe of sweeping plains...Is this force meant to be an offensive or defensive capability or both and is it meant to deploy overseas?

I chose two mechanized battalions because if we are talking about Europe we're talking sweeping plains which is great for tanks not so good for lightly armored units.

The parachute battalion is more of a forward recce force it is equipped with AT missiles etc. It features the Italian Puma 6x6 and 4x4 for a multi role semi armored capability.

The Air Assault battalion has 6x6 Supacat's to fit inside the NH90's and the tigers for a heavy support capability as this until will forward deploy with the parachute regiment it allows some heavy firepower before anything topo heavy gets here.

The artillery battalion will have the forward deployable elements of the Dragonfire II system whilst the Archer and the support platoon arrive later.

Just like in Jon K's list mine will have two brigade HQ's one at home one away.

[Chrom]

SAM's missing.

[lobbie111]

SAM's missing.

I'll just add a SAM battery of RBS-70's to the HQ Battalion and add some Stinger MANPADS to all Infantry Battalions.

[kato]

SAM's missing.
You rarely attach SAMs (other than point-defence/self-defence such as Stinger-based stuff) in such small army units. In the West, at least. SAMs usually either form their own corps-level (!) SAM/AD regiments - or are owned by the airforce.

[lobbie111]

Yeah but still would be usefull

[Jon K]

Well first of all you have really left my imagination to play here I thank you for this...

Well Lets start off...

HQ Battalion (Signals and Logistics) - Land Rovers
Parachute Battalion (Includes Special Forces and Recon) - Puma 4x4 and 6x6
Air Assault Battalion - SupaCat ATMP's
Aviation Battalion - NH90's & Tiger HAD
Artillery Battalion - 1 Archer Btry, 2 Dragonfire II Btry, 1 Support Btry (logistics, UAV's, Radar etc.)
Engineer Battalion - 2 Construction Coy's 2 Engineer Coy's
2x Mechanized Battalions - M1A1AIM Abrams with Puma IFV

I'm basing this on the terrain around Europe of sweeping plains...Is this force meant to be an offensive or defensive capability or both and is it meant to deploy overseas?

I chose two mechanized battalions because if we are talking about Europe we're talking sweeping plains which is great for tanks not so good for lightly armored units.

The parachute battalion is more of a forward recce force it is equipped with AT missiles etc. It features the Italian Puma 6x6 and 4x4 for a multi role semi armored capability.

The Air Assault battalion has 6x6 Supacat's to fit inside the NH90's and the tigers for a heavy support capability as this until will forward deploy with the parachute regiment it allows some heavy firepower before anything topo heavy gets here.

The artillery battalion will have the forward deployable elements of the Dragonfire II system whilst the Archer and the support platoon arrive later.

Just like in Jon K's list mine will have two brigade HQ's one at home one away.

I think we're thinking along similar lines, differing somewhat as the carrying capability of transportation is not known. Heavier is better, of course, but more difficult to deploy. Capability of forward deploying an recon/ISTAR battery with the first battalion/battle group is a very good point.

About vehicles, Supacat isn't, IIRC, available as armored version, so I'd say that the Air Assault battalion should also have armored patrol vehicles (which might be brought afterwards) available. Additionally, the HQ battalion should also have armored vehicles, at least RG-32 style ones, or somekind of vehicles which could be fitted with add-on modular armor.

It might be nice also to have wheeled, armored vehicles available for infantry coys of mechanized battalion to be used as patrol vehicles for operations in which full mechanized forces need not or can not be deployed.

On air defence, it depends so much on the mission on what AD is to be deployed it's quite difficult to judge. If the AO is under enemy theater missile threat, one needs the whole package. On the other hand, as non-state organizations, such as Hezbollah, already have UAV's, it might be good to have low level ad system available. German Gepard fitted with Stingers might be good choice, as it's armored and can be also used for escort and fire support missions, maybe they should be organic to the organization.

One thing to add is that perhaps the most important part of the whole brigade should be top notch personnel management, that's why I think it's important that dependants have the support of HQ2, organic to brigade organization. A soldier who knows his or her dependants are being looked after, is a happier one and performs his or her tasks better. He or she is also more prone to re-enlist. An organization which is known to take care of its own draws also more enlistments, while the spending necessary is minimal compared to purchases of military hardware.

[Rythm]

Remember: to deploy worldwide. limited transport. Peacekeeping and peaceenforcing.

While your initial planning has commenced, a second small(ish) european country has decided to join you. They will contribute staff personell for the brigade HQ, A Mechanized or motorized (your choice) batalion, a SF/Recce/ISTAR company and your choice of a company of either Engineer, military Police, Medical or Signals.

With their contribution a total of 10 C-130 Hercules are now available for transport plus a contract has been drawn with a civilian airline to lease 2 Airbus A310 passenger-jets in times of crisis.

Also, your Prime minister has made it clear that no Attack-Helos can be bought due to political considerations.

[kato]

I'll join in.

Below already takes the second nation contributing into account. My stuff will be "Nation A", the second "Nation B", with only "Nation B" marked out below.
"Nation A" will use quite some older French equipment, though some other mostly used equipment has also been acquired from other sources. Yes, it's a pretty mixed bag. Note that except for the heavy artillery, everything is C-130 transportable.

Nation A's contribution to the brigade totals three battalions, an oversized combat regiment and a helo transport unit.

Expeditionary Brigade

1. Brigade HQ (multinational)

2. Support Battalion
....a) Staff Coy
....b) Maintenance Coy
....c) Logistics Coy
....d) Transport Coy

3. Force Protection Battalion
....a) Staff/Log Coy
....b) Light Inf Coy (10x Fuchs, 4x Fuchs w/ 20mm turret)
....c) Light Inf Coy (10x Fuchs, 4x Fuchs w/ 20mm turret)
....d) Light Inf Coy (10x Fuchs, 4x Fuchs w/ 20mm turret)
....e) Military Police Coy (16x VLRA 4x4 APC)
....f) Air-Defense Coy (2x Skyguard II, 6x VLRA 4x4 w/ Mistral)

4. Mechanized Infantry Regiment
....a) Staff/Log Coy (10x AMX-10P)
....b) Recon Coy (16x VLRA 4x4 Recon)
....c) Inf Coy (13x AMX-10P, 2x AMX-10P HOT)
....d) Inf Coy (13x AMX-10P, 2x AMX-10P HOT)
....e) Inf Coy (13x AMX-10P, 2x AMX-10P HOT)
....f) Inf Coy (13x AMX-10P, 2x AMX-10P HOT)
....g) Light Inf Coy (16x VLRA 4x4 APC w/ OWS)
....h) Light Inf Coy (16x VLRA 4x4 APC w/ OWS)
....i) Heavy Coy (10x AMX-10 TM w/ towed 120mm, 6x AMX-10P HOT)
....j) Heavy Coy (10x AMX-10 TM w/ towed 120mm, 6x AMX-10P HOT)
....k) Tank Sq (12x ERC-90 Sagaie)

5. Mixed Artillery Battalion
....a) Staff/Log Coy (6x AMX-10P FO)
....b) Light Artillery Bttry (8x FH-70, 12x VLRA 6x6)
....c) Heavy Artillery Bttry (8x M109A3, 4x AMX-10P FO)
....d) Heavy Artillery Bttry (8x M109A3, 4x AMX-10P FO)
....e) Drone Recon Bttry (1x Luna System, 4 drones, on VLRA 6x6)

6. Helicopter Regiment
....a) Staff/Log Coy
....b) Light Helicopter Sq (6x Bo-105LS liaison, 6x UH-1D)
....c) Transport Helicopter Sq (8x AS-532 Cougar UL/AL)
....e) Maintenance Coy

7. Motorized Infantry Battalion (Nation B)
....(as provided by Nation B)

Brigade-Attached Coys hooked at HQ:
....a) Mechanized Engineer Coy
....b) Specialized Engineer Coy (Infrastructure)
....c) Signals Coy
....d) SF/Recce/ISTAR Coy (Nation B)
....e) Medical Coy (Nation B)

edit: ToE

Combat Vehicles
16x M109A3
12x ERC-90 Sagaie
96x AMX-10P
42x Fuchs

Towed Guns
8x FH-70
20x towed 120mm mortar

Uparmored Jeeps/Trucks
(not all stated in Orbat)
~40x ACMAT VLRA 6x6
~80x ACMAT VLRA 4x4
~80x other medium trucks
~40x other jeeps/light trucks

Helicopters
8x AS-532 Cougar UL/AL
6x Bo-105LS liaison
6x UH-1D

Other Systems
1x Luna system
2x Skyguard II system

For manfred2: total worth of equipment should be... less than 500 million, i'd guess.

[lobbie111]

About vehicles, Supacat isn't, IIRC, available as armored version, so I'd say that the Air Assault battalion should also have armored patrol vehicles (which might be brought afterwards) available. Additionally, the HQ battalion should also have armored vehicles, at least RG-32 style ones, or somekind of vehicles which could be fitted with add-on modular armor.

I was referring to light infantry using supacat's like mules, like the British Airborne brigades, I chose them because they fit into the back of an NH90.

I do see your point so I am recommending two vehicle choices for that unit in that they can use Supacats for low intensity conflicts or the Mungo ESK for high intensity conflicts along with supporting AGF light infantry vehicles.

[Manfred2]

I like what lobbie came up with.
When I spotted this thread, I was afraid somebody woud come up with a Regiment and call it a Brigade, an annoying habbit that I have seen here in the US.
M-1s and Pumas together, wouldn't that be something? ;)

However, it seems that everyone went a little too High Dollar. WHat kind of budget are we looking at, and will our Allies be expected to help with in-air refueling?

Also, can a HumVee tow a 160mm mortar and a useful amount of Ammo?

[Rythm]

The Allies will help with refueling if other tasks arent present. In Plain english: After all other missions for NATO/EU-partners are fullfilled, then you get refueling, yes.

Since i dont wnat to disclose the country in question just yet (and thereby what equipment and current units are available), nor the partnering nations, I cant really say how much money we are talking about. For arguments sake: 0,7 Billion €.

[lobbie111]

The Allies will help with refueling if other tasks arent present. In Plain english: After all other missions for NATO/EU-partners are fullfilled, then you get refueling, yes.

Since i dont wnat to disclose the country in question just yet (and thereby what equipment and current units are available), nor the partnering nations, I cant really say how much money we are talking about. For arguments sake: 0,7 Billion €.

Well in that case this is my revised army list:

HQ Battalion (Signals and Logistics) - Land Rovers
Parachute Battalion (Includes Special Forces and Recon) - Puma 4x4 and 6x6
Air Assault Battalion - SupaCat ATMP's / Mungo or AGF
Aviation Battalion - Mi-24's
Artillery Battalion - 1 M777 Btry, 1 M119 Btry, 1 1 Support Coy (logistics, UAV's, Radar etc.)
Engineer Battalion - 2 Construction Coy's 2 Engineer Coy's
2x Mechanized Battalions - T-90 along with M2 Bradley's

[MarcH]

My take on it:


Brigade HQ (multinational)
attached: Signal Coy
Medical Coy
Recce/Specops Coy
Military Police Coy

Support Battalion
2x Transport Coy
Logistics Coy
Maintenance Coy

Light Infantry Battalion
3x Light Infantry, Sisu XA-185
1x Artillery Coy, Sisu XA-185, towed 155mm
1x Skyshield SHORAD Coy
1x Para Coy

Mechnized Infantry Battalion
1x Fennek RECCE Coy
3x Mechanized Infantry Coy, equipped with CV-90 (-30, -AMOS,
-120)
1x Engineer Coy
1x Fennek SWP Coy

Airmobility Regiment
Mi-17 Sq
MD 500 Sq

[Distiller]

Are you folks aware of the logistics tail needed for all the above outlined troops??? You need a harbor and a railroad for all that. My rebels already know where to strike ...

I wouldn't take anything that doesn't fit into a C-130. Based around small, modular, networked units, more like special forces than a conventional brigade. What do you need 155mm, or MBTs, or air defense for? For serious work you have the fighterbombers.

And look at the EU Tchad mission. There is nothing. Only one of two larger airstrips, only two hard surface roads in the whole country, you have to fly in everything - food, water, fuel, everything!

And this is not war, right? This is peace keeping stuff.
Your main enemy will be bandits, local clans, some tightly strung djihadists.

I'd take mostly paras and Pandur II 6x6, with 50cal, some with that 30mm/Spike turret, some with infantry employed 120mm mortars.
Tracked vehicles would be fine, like CV90, but too heavy.

Air mobility would be all so fine, but is very thirsty. Maybe a few Mi-17, contracted out to some Ukrainians. But they are thirsty! Where do I get the fuel from? A couple of MD500 might have to do.
And if I can get my hands on any number of C-130 and C-27J, I'd take them all, but they'd have to come from outside the ops area. Mostly for air drops.

ISTAR is key. Fire Scout UAVs on MAN HX trucks (no need for runways), Fenneks. If I could add a plane to my fighterbomber and tankers it would be a ELINT bizjet, like the IAI 3001.

And engineers and medics. For everything. Especially for working with the locals. Winning hearts and minds stuff.

And: Don't take along anything you can't afford to loose.

---

The other side:
My rebels have AK47, SVD, RPG-29, 80mm mortars, IEDs.
Some foreign advisors for enemy equipment and SIGINT.
PR-teams to record the latest attrocities by the foreign forces. On youtube and with leftist Western media within 2 hours.
Some shady business men all over the world to collect money and political support for my righteous cause.

[Rythm]

Excellent points distiller. But Peace Enforcing is also part of the mission.

Your very kind government just called you to let you know that russian, chinese or israeli equipment/vehicles can not be purchased by your glorious country.

[Waylander]

Sweden. :D ;)

One question. Is there a special requirement of how many of the troops have to be deployable by C-130 with all their organic equipment?

[MarcH]

Oh, what a coincidence that I proposed mostly equipment used by the members of the nordic battlegroup ;)

[Rythm]

Sweden. :D ;)

One question. Is there a special requirement of how many of the troops have to be deployable by C-130 with all their organic equipment?

Nope and nope. But the first one was close :D

[Sgt.Banes]

Brigade HQ (multinational)
Military Police Training
Main Command Center


Support Battalion
2x Transport Coy
Logistics Coy
Maintenance Coy

Light Infantry Battalion
3x Light Infantry: Boxers
1x Artillery Coy: M109 howitzer
1x Para Coy

Mechnized Infantry Battalion
1x Armor Coy: Leopard 2s
1x Medical Coy : Humvees and M-35 trucks
2x Mechanized Infantry Coy: Marders and Wiesels
1x Engineer Coy (M-35 trucks, Humvees, and MTV)


Airmobility Regiment
CH-47 Chinook
UH-60 Black hawk (Seahawk if troops are deploying from a naval infantry carrier or Amphibious ship)
UH-1 Iroquois

[weasel1962]

Deleted

[mic of orion]

Ok My attempt, lol :)


I' think medium mobile force for peacekeeping ops is what is needed here, force that can be entirely deployed to the field with in 72 hours (by tactical air transport) or with in 720 hours (tactical sea lift)

Brigade size: 5800 personal

HQ Coy, - 250 men
-- C3, HQ Platoon - 50 men
-- Signals Platoon - 50 men
-- Military Police Platoon - 50 men
-- Reconnaissance Platoon - 50 men
-- Special Forces Platoon - 50 men

Support Battalion - 1000 men
-- 2x Transport Coy
-- 2x Logistics Coy
-- 1x Maintenance/Workshops Coy
-- 1x Medical Coy - field hospital
-- 1x Support Coy (kitchen and supply)

Mechanized Battalion x 3 (3000 men)
-- 7x Mechanized Coy - 120x AMV Patria/Pandur 2 armed with Striker ATG's and 20-30mm AMRT's)
-- 4x Light Mechanized Coy - 72x Iveco LMV's (armed with 7.62mm or 12.7mm RT)
-- 2x Reconnaissance Coy - 32x Iveco LMV's (armed with advanced observation system and spike ER remote turret)
-- 2x Heavy Mechanized Coy - 36x CV90 - Armed with 40mm Turret and Spike ATGM's)
-- 1x Armour Coy - 18x Leopard 2A6 MBT.
-- 1x Anti Aircraft Warfare Coy, 8x2 Crotale NG vehicles (luncher with 8 missiles and radar tracking vehicle).

Mechanized Engineer Battalion - 750 men
-- 2x Construction Coy's
-- 2x Engineer Coy's
-- 1x Workshops

Light Artillery Battalion - Fire support Battalion - 500 men
-- 8x Bofors Archer 155mm SPH's.
-- 12x 120mm Heavy Mortars, M95 or any NATO version would do
-- 24x 81mm Mortars - NATO standard, no preference.
-- Artillery Support Coy

Air Mobile Support Detachment - 300 men
-- 8x AS 532 Caguar Helicopters
-- 4x AS 550 Fennec Light Helicopter
-- 1x Support/workshop Coy
OK, this unit is geared for Peacekeeping and Peaceenforcing, places like Afghanistan or Lebanon. :)

[Manfred2]

I'm going to ignore the tail and concentrait on the teeth of this unit-

To my mind, a Brigade is half a Division, an independant fighting unit trimmed down for mobility, therefore it should have five combat Battalions.
By "smallish", I am thinking Romania, Poland or maybe even Italy or Spain. Since equipment varies widely, I will not go into specific items, and 700m Euros is not a whole lot of equipment. I would leave the Generals to fill in the blanks as they saw fit... since they usualy do anyway.:p:

Also, air-deployment was not emphasised.
This information is what colors my answer to this thread-

I would build 5 nearly identical Battalions, all of whom can act independantly and can be shipped overseas as units capapble of carrying out their share of the mission.
There will be no Artillery battalion. Each of the five battalions will have a battery of MRLS and one of standard tube artillery. Self-proppeled weapons would be preferable, but must not exceed mission parameters. More about this later.

Each battalion would have an armored Company with (about) 9 tanks and 12-14 APCs or IVCs, and one battery of AAA mounted on a chassis that is the same as either the tanks or the APCs.
Since these are the only Armored vehicles in the battalion, it means that only one of your two infantry companies will be transported in them at a time. Here is why;

One of your infantry Companies will be "heavy", with training and equipment for serous defense or assault on diffucult targets. They should have mortars and a squad or two of engineers.
The other company will be Light Fighters, and here is where my notion of "mostly identical" comes in. In three of these Battalions, this will be a company trained for Airborne operations (how few is a "few" cargo aircraft, anyway?). In the other two, they will be recon troops, with small, fast, soft-skinned vehicles and perhaps a few helocopters.


So here you have a collection of combined arms Battalions that can be mixed and matched to build custom task-forces. If you are mainly interested in low-intensity conflicts, you know how a unit the size of a Brigade can get scattered all over the place. The commander of 1,000 men will be much more likely to act in a timely, aggresive manner if he knows he does not have to borrow equipment from other units to balance his forces out.

You will need good officers, and every company commander in the Brigade should know all the rest. The task-force concept looks good on paper, but you need first-class leadership to make it work.
I would accept second-class equipment if that was what it took to build the funds for serious training, at all levels of command.

I strongly suggest that all items of equipment be standard with the rest of the Army. Those high-intensity wars still happen, even if they are a distant third in your planning priority.


Was this a radical enough idea for you?

[Rythm]

And now, The brigade is the to-be Nordic Expeditionary Brigade.

Participants will be:

Sweden
Norway
Denmark
Finland

and to a lesser extent:

Iceland (a single platoon)
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania (each a company and staff for the brigade HQ)

How would this change your proposals? Especially as stadardization goes?

[ELP]

Since you said multi-national, the Brigade HQ might be a bit top heavy. :D

I would base it around a Brigade that had the Bushmaster IFV family of vehicles. I would use the old old British organization where the Regiment is just two Battalions. The 1st Battalion actually deploys and the 2nd Battalion stays home in garrison for support and training of the first Battalion.


1st Regiment

1st Mot Inf Battalion
2nd Mot Inf Battalion

2nd Regiment

1st Mot Inf Battalion
2nd Mot Inf Battalion

3rd Regiment (aviation)( MI-17 and MI-24 customized by Israelis ( like the MI-24 as it can carry stuff too )

1st Aviation Battalion
2nd Aviation Battalion

4th Regiment-Combat Support ( each battalion having all the support companies that make things run - Supply, Signals, Medical, Repair, MP, civil affairs, etc etc

1st Combat Support Battalion
2nd Combat Support Battalion

Brigade HQ has 3 or 4 companies attached with a full variety of stuff that gets attached to HQs, a basic sampling of skills that the main regiments have.

Combat/Construction Engineer Companies would be prominent in the 1st and 2nd Battalion of the 1st and 2nd Regiments.
Obviously for peace keeping stuff and depending on what fund sites are available for the operation, anything would deploy from the above organization would most likely be a "task force" that takes bits and pieces as needed from each of the 1st Battalions of each of the Regiments, and someone from Brigade Staff or the Brigade commander takes the task force to the field.

[mic of orion]

And now, The brigade is the to-be Nordic Expeditionary Brigade.

Participants will be:

Sweden
Norway
Denmark
Finland

and to a lesser extent:

Iceland (a single platoon)
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania (each a company and staff for the brigade HQ)

How would this change your proposals? Especially as stadardization goes?


There actually is a unit called NORDBAT, lol, I think Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are contributing with one company each.

NORDBAT to NORDBGD; a nice concept IMHO.

[GebInfBat77]

My take on it: It has 2 lighter Elements with Landrover (Air Assault Battalion) and LMV (Scout Group) and 2 x heavier Elements with AMV which is not air mobile. Anyway no smaller european country can deploy a hole Brigade by air.

24th Intervention Brigade (Rapid Reaction)
241st Headquatersbattalion
- Brigade Headquarters Company
- Signal Company
- MI Company
- Cavalry Squadron: 3 Troops with each 5 x Patria AMV with 30mm gun and 2 x Patria AMV with 105mm gun
- MP Coy
242nd Scout Group
- HHS
- 3 x Scout Squadrons: 3 Troops with each 7 x IVECO LMV of which 2 with Spike ATGM
- Antitank Squadron: 3 Troops with each 7 x IVECO LMV with Spike ATGM
243rd and 244th Motorised Infantry Battalion
- HHC
- 3 Mot Inf Companies: 14 x Patria AMV
- Support Company:
-- 6 x M252 81mm mortars on Patria AMV
-- 7 x IVECO LMV with Spike
-- Recon Platoon with 7 x IVECP LMV
-- Assault Pioneer Platoon with 4 x Patria AMV
245th Infantry Battalion (air assault)
- HHC
- 3 x Inf Companies: 4 x Platoons with each 7 x Landrover Defender
- Support Company: 6 x M252 81mm mortars, 7 x Landrover with Spike
246th Field Artillery Group
- HHB
- 3 Field Artillery Batteries (light): 6 x M777 Howitzers
- AD Artillery Battery (light): 24 x Stinger
247th Combat Engineer Battalion
- HHC
- 3 Combat Engineer Companies
- Engineer Company
248th Logistic Battalion
- HHC
- Logistic Company
- Transport Company
- Maintenance Company
- Medical Company
+ 1/168 Utility Helicopter Squadron from 168th Utility Helicopter Group with 6 x Cougar and 6 x OH-58