Scenario: build-up of local defence

[Rythm]

Your mission is to raise the capabillities of the 25 local defence-battalions of your (european) country. This to quickly (within two years) raise the overall defence-capabilliy of your armed forces versus an as yet unnamed aggressor.

Currently these battalions are equipped with 7.62mm Small arms, AT-mines and light AT-weapons only. Vehicles are near-scrap trucks and only a platoons-worth of vehicles per battalion. The soldiers are mostly volunteers with 1 company per battalion being conscripts. Commanders are volunteer ReserveOfficers. The men and women train about 10 weekends per year, this could increase to a maximum of 20 weekends per year the following two years. Time to retrain troops are limited because of this, obviously. Soldiers have between 3 and 24 months of basic training and a few have experience from UN-missions or similar, before joining the battalions. Average age is 34.

The army will consider giving the local defence-battalions the following, used, equipment:

129 6x6 Wheeled APCs (of wich 20 are command-versions and 20 Ambulance)
240 81mm mortars (manportable)
270 ATGMs, medium-range
5.56mm small arms (not including Machineguns)
50 Mercedez G-wagens (unarmoured)

Your budget is: 772 million € for acquisition and "special needs"
What do you do?

 

[Rythm]

No takers? Should they all be disbanded?

 

[kato]

Step 1:

Lower number of battalions. Let's say 10 "equal uparmed" btls, good number. The other 15 would stay as a "second tier". Second Tier would only add a mortar platoon (8x 81mm) and a AT platoon (8x ATGM) at battalion level, and be equipped with trucks.

Step 2:

Rest is simple math, per btl. Equip two first tier btls with 36 APC each (B-D coy 12 ea) as heavy motorized battalions, the other eight are light motorized battalions with 2-ton trucks instead (240 total).

A company:
- 2-vehicle COM APC section
- 2-vehicle medical/ambulance APC section
A-E coy each:
- 1 G-Wagon for Liaison purposes
E coy (mortar/AT coy):
- 2 APCs as command vehicles
- 2 mortar pl with 8 mortars each
- 2 AT pl with 8 ATGM each

Money will be spent on re-equipping some of the vehicles for their role, buying some additional units of certain parts (one APC, a few G-Wagons, a few mortars etc), and - most importantly - somewhere around 1,000 trucks and light vehicles.

 

[Grand Danois]

I'm suspecting that this could be a Baltic state you're thinking of. If that is the case, it should be heavy on ATGMs. Perhaps it should also be shored up with a section of SR-SAM on bn lvl, drawn from the regular army in case of war, and integrated into the wider ADS.