INTRODUCTION

The third regiment in the Militech Airborne Brigade was originally outfitted as a light air-mobile infantry regiment equipped with AV6 gunships for the assault echelons and a mix of AV9s, Ospreys and UH9 copters for the main and transport elements. An attack troop of AVX-9C Viper attack aerodynes was originally slated to provide Landing Zone (LZ) clearance and close air support but production delays meant that these were replaced by a mixed force of AV6s and 8s. Ground based support equipment included a battery of mortars and a company of easily portable but very light Commando scout cars. Such an organisation provided a fast response force capable of assaulting rear area targets against medium opposition and holding until relieved. In full Brigade deployment, the 3rd MACAV provided a stiffener for the paratroops of the other two Regiments.

However, in March 2018, the head of Militech’s ACPA Applications Centre, Major Bentley Collins, teamed up with Colonel Greg Ryan, commander of 3rd MACAV, to present a revolutionary new idea to the General Staff at Militech’s Proving Grounds in the US. The presentation was a runaway success and in the autumn of 2019, 3rd MACAV became a testbed for a new form of warfare.

THE FUTURE OF POWERED ARMOUR?

Collins had vast experience of ACPA in combat, thanks to his time as part of Militech’s 22nd Extraction Team. His time in Special Forces had given him a keen appreciation of Powered Armour’s firepower and portability. During an exercise at “The Garden” in late’17, he had listened closely to Ryan’s misgivings about his regiment’s ability to conduct offensive ground operations against resistance without airportable armour. The Militech Commando is a very light armoured car with inadequate weaponry, while the 60mm mortars of the support units were insufficient artillery support. The regiment was also vulnerable to air attack once on the ground and had virtually no ground based anti-tank capability. Furthermore, it could only move rapidly by air in sufficient strength to do something worthwhile on arrival – within the LZ everything moved at the pace of the infantry. The missions that the Regiment could carry out were therefore highly limited.

Collins could see that ACPA could make a significant difference to all of these factors, while the air transport of the Regiment could solve ACPA’s greatest problem- that of strategic mobility. An ACPA suit can cross rough terrain at around 25mph while wheeled off-roaders make 35mph and modern AFVs can manage 70mph. The PA units would therefore be left behind in any general advance by modern, rapidly moving mechanised units. Likewise, the size of the suits limited the amount of armour and weapons they could carry and so they could not slug it out toe-to-toe with IFV’s and tanks. By marrying the air mobility of the air cavalry with the hitting power of ACPA in numbers, the two should make a unit capable of rapid movement which could still deliver a formidable all-arms ground and air punch when it arrived. ACPA would at last be able to move away from being special forces weapons attached to higher commands to stand in the line of battle. The final element of the plan as it evolved was to produce a series of specialised Hummer general-purpose jeeps to carry heavier weapons and artillery. Now, the 3rd MACAV would be able to dig in and expect to survive against counterattacks by armour and mechanised infantry.

IMPLEMENTATION

 The 3rd MACAV was reorganised in 2019 as a completely self-contained airmobile unit. The non-modified Hummers added to its strength could transport normal infantry across the ground if needed while the AV6s used by the infantry for air transport would become the new IFV’s and could even move two ACPA troopers each when required. The C3 (Command, Communication, Control) systems developed and fitted to all the ACPA and specialised Hummers enabled a truly devastating volume of fire to be directed at a target, with radar equipped units sharing data with others without radar for an integrated air-defence system.

Even without its gunships, the Regiment now has 36 30mm autocannon and 24VSAM launchers available to put up a stiff defence against air attack. Add in the 364 LATGMs and 24 HATGMs available, along with a half dozen Hummer mounted 105mm recoilless rifles and even heavy armour has a problem. The infantry have Hummers with 7.62mm MGs, automatic weapons and squad automatic weapons. The artillery support consists of 120mm mortars and 105mm howitzers: more of the specialised Hummers. The Ospreys operated are all of the military H variant with 5.56mm miniguns and LATGMs. The gunships carry bombs, missiles and automatic grenade launchers. Finally, the Commando and Paladin ACPA suits of the Regiment field more automatic grenade launchers, which can now be tied to the C3 system for indirect fire. The generic firepower of the regiment is truly superlative and is now possible the equal of a more conventional ground cavalry regiment.

The total strength of the regiment is now:

26 AV9 transports, 54 Osprey Hs, 122 AV6s, 21 AV8 gunships and 21 AVX-9C Vipers for local air superiority. (Total 244 Aircraft)

36 Paladin and 292 Commando ACPA, 8 Engineering vehicles, 138 Hummers

12 120mm Mortars, 12 105mm Howitzers, 24 80mm Mortars,
6 105mm Recoilless Rifles, 6 Quad-HATGM launchers, 6 Quad-VSAM launchers,
6 Twin-20mm Autocannon (All Hummer mounted)

432 Infantry in 6 platoons.

Total Manpower: 3,129.
 
 
 
 

NOTES:

As a basic rule of thumb, vehicles can carry ACPA as follows:

2 Ospreys carry 18 PA = one Platoon.
4 AV9s carry 56 PA = one Company including a Captain and Company Sergeant

a UH9 copter carries 4 PA = one Squad

a Table Of Organisation is available, but is as long as this article. If you want one
e-mail me on steve.hynd@talk21.com