This unit sounds like a large, regular forces version of the A-Teams we used we used in Afghanistan.
ARMORED WARFARE: Recon Reconfigured and Untested
strategypage.com
March 22, 2005: The new American mechanized brigades have a reconnaissance battalion that is unlike the traditional recon battalions used by American combat units. The new recon battalion will be called a Reconnaissance, Surveillance, and Target Acquisition (RSTA) Battalion, and is currently designed to have no tanks, and very few Bradley IFVs (Infantry Fighting Vehicles.) RSTA relies a lot on UAVs and electronic surveillance. The RSTA battalion has one recon troop (company) that is organized to drive out and poke around. But instead of doing it with tanks and IFVs, it uses mostly armed hummers. The troop headquarters has an M-3 Bradley, and a hummer armed with a .50 caliber (12.7mm) machine-gun. There is also a mortar section, with two hummers (each with a .50 caliber machine-gun) and two 120mm mortars. There are two recon platoons, each with a platoon headquarters (one hummer with a Mk19 automatic 40mm grenade launcher and a Laser Designator, and another hummer with a .50 caliber machine-gun and a Laser Designator. Each vehicle also has Javelin anti-tank guided missiles. There is a recon section with three hummers, one armed with a Mk19 automatic 40mm grenade launcher and a thermal sight, one armed with a .50 caliber machine-gun and a thermal site, and another with a .50 caliber machine-gun and a Laser Designator. There is a third section, equipped with three M-3 Bradleys.
Without the M-1 tanks and additional Bradleys, the RSTA recon troops cannot fight for information. It is believed that with UAVs and better sensors, that won’t be necessary. The many laser designators used by the recon troop means that there is plenty of ability to use smart bombs. Those that use laser designators are even more accurate (to within ten feet) than GPS guided JDAMs (that will land within 30 feet of the aim point.) The RSTA scouts also have a lot of new network gear, which makes them part of a tight knit team of aircraft, space satellites and ground troops. Experience in Afghanistan and Iraq, plus lots of wargaming, indicates the RSTA approach will work. But only actual battlefield experience will prove it. |
