Infantry 2012: the new battalion and the rule of four
To meet the demands of complex warfighting the Australian Army will initiate a significant restructure of the infantry battalion. This new ‘modular’ battalion will replace the current conventional battalion structure that has remained effectively unchanged since the end of World War I. Unlike previous restructures such as the ‘Pentropic’ or A21 experiments the new changes focus on the lower levels of the battalion, not radically increasing or decreasing the number of infantry companies. This reorganisation aims to improve flexibility and suppressive firepower so the infantry can survive in the complex battlefields of the present and the future.
Principle of Four and the ‘Arms Room’
The number four will be a dominant theme in the new battalion structure, with each team made up of four people and each command level - battalion, company, platoon – having four sub-units. The principle of four has been identified as a consistent theme in infantry. Having four elements enables a unit to simultaneously fix, assault, echelon and provide a reserve. In non-linear operations four also enables all directions to be covered. Having four sub-units provides a commander more flexibility in manoeuvring in linear operations with significantly more options such as three up, one back, etc.
The new infantry structure will rely heavily on the ‘Arms Room’ approach in which more weapon and equipment types are made available than can be used at once by a unit. This enables the commander to determine the weapons and equipment needed for particular operational and tactical demands. For example, a support weapon operator will have a choice of weapons, either a specialised anti-tank weapon or another system that is less lethal against tanks but more effective in fire suppression or fixed target destruction. This principle is currently used by Special Forces and Direct Fire Support Weapon (DFSW) platoons with a mix of the 84mm Carl Gustav Medium Anti-Tank Weapon (MAW) and 7.62mm Sustained Fire Machineguns (SFMG).
Team based structure
The building block of the new battalion will be a ‘brick’ or team of four soldiers. All combat elements of the battalion will be based on ‘bricks’ so they can easily double as low intensity conflict foot patrols. The basic brick will be the Infantry Team consisting of a team leader, Light Support Weapon (LSW) operator (armed with a 5.56mm Minimi LSW), grenadier (armed with a 40mm grenade launcher attachment to the basic assault rifle) and a marksman (with extra sighting options for his assault rifle). Each platoon will have six Infantry Teams normally organised as three sections, with three senior team leaders doubling as section leaders.
The new addition to the platoon will be three Manoeuvre Support (MS) Teams normally organised as a single section in the barracks. Each MS Team will have a team leader, support weapon operator, grenadier and sharpshooter and will be able to carry out all the tasks of an Infantry Team. However, the MS Team will have more powerful weapons and will generally operate in the fire suppression role. The support weapon operator in each team will be armed with a 7.62mm MAG-58 General-Purpose Machinegun (GPMG) and the sharpshooter with a semi-automatic 7.62mm sniper rifle. As part of the ‘Arms Room’ approach the three MS teams will also have two additional heavy weapons to draw upon if needed. These will be one 12.7mm Heavy Machinegun (HMG) and one 40mm Automatic Grenade Launcher (AGL) along with their required tripods, sights and ammunition to be acquired for the infantry under Project LAND 40. To provide mobility to the MS Teams with their heavier weapons and ammunition loads each MS Team in a light infantry battalion will also receive a small, lightweight vehicle such as the parachute deployable Supacat 6x6 Mk III All Terrain Mobile Platform (ATMP). ATMPs are lightweight, compact vehicles able to carry 1,000kg in a variety of configurations. They are limited to a top speed of 60kph but their low weight and small footprint make them easily deployable.
The flexibility of the new structure will best be seen in the way the MS Teams are deployed, either as their own section per platoon or by adding one team to each infantry section, or even grouping all the MS Teams at company level as a very powerful MS Platoon under command of the Company Weapons Sergeant. The MS Teams will use the appropriate weapon for each particular situation and mission and provide a major boost to the platoon’s combat power. The final team in each platoon will be a four-person command team with the platoon commander, sergeant, signaller and medic.
Thales has handed over the first prototype vehicle and trailer under Stage 2 of Land 121 Phase 4