Weapons and Tactics

Chapter 11

Columnist Brig (Retd) ZA KHAN gives an overview of the changing concepts over the years.

The Age of Nuclear Weapons and Automated Electronic Battlefield

1. ABC Weapons and Advances in Technology

Land battles in the Second World War were fought with improved versions of the weapons that were there at the end of the First World War except for anti-tank and anti-personnel mines to create artificial obstacles; rocket launchers, introduced in the latter stage of the war and the ‘multiple launch rocket missiles (MLRS)’ used extensively by the Russians.

In air warfare, the Germans introduced the V-1 ‘flying bomb’, the V2 rocket, and guided bombs. The V-1 flying bomb was a ram jet pilot-less aircraft with a warhead which could fly and crash on a large target like a city, the aircraft was slow and was easily shot down by anti-aircraft guns and fighter aircraft. The V-2 rocket missile was also an area target weapon which gave no warning and against which there was no defence; the V-1 and V-2 caused fear but did not affect the course of the war. The Germans used guided bombs against ships but without significant effect on the war.

The Second World War ended dramatically with the use of the atom bomb which gave Japan reason to surrender unconditionally. At the end of the war the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as the major powers and a confrontation between capitalist America and communist Russia developed; four years later China, under the leadership of Mao Tse Tung emerged as a communist state. With the United States possessing the atomic bomb and having used it, it became imperative for Russia and China to possess it and they developed the bomb; Britain and France, wanting to be considered amongst the world’s great powers, developed and tested nuclear bombs then India developed and tested an atomic bomb and Pakistan followed suit; Israel is said to have the bomb but has not publicly tested it.

Today the weapons of mass destruction, called A B C Warfare, are atomic (referred to as ‘nuclear’), biological and chemical weapons.

Initially nuclear bombs could only be delivered by strategic bombers, by 1960 the ‘intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)’ was added to the strategic atomic bomb delivery system and tactical delivery by artillery and short range missiles.

Tactical nuclear munitions, which can be delivered by artillery, short range missiles and aircraft have been developed by most countries that have nuclear weapons and the tactical training of troops now includes defence against tactical nuclear weapons and its offensive use. However, the strategic and the tactical use of nuclear weapons has so far been deterred by the fear of retaliation in kind or escalated form.

The types of bombs dropped by the Americans on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a 20 kiloton yield, would cause serious damage to cities, industry, large depots, ports and assembly areas but the effect on troops on the ground will be less if troops trained and prepared for a nuclear war. An airburst about 100 metres above ground level would disable tanks and guns in a radius of 400 metres from ground zero, vehicles in about 800 metres radius and troops in about 1800 metres radius; troops concentrated for an offensive would suffer heavy casualties but the danger to own troops from the after effects have to be taken into consideration.

Tactical nuclear weapons were devised in the years following the end of the Second World War. Devices with yields up to 0.9 KT are ‘sub-kiloton’, up to 0.99 megatons (MT), as KT weapons and above 1 mega-ton are mega-ton weapons.

 ‘Artillery Fired Atomic Projectile - AFAP W-33’ is the US Army’s artillery munition fired from a 203 mm gun, a short range missile delivered weapon is the W-70. Artillery delivered nuclear weapons provide pin point accuracy for small yield nuclear weapons; missile delivered weapons may have implosion war heads which mean the suck inwards instead of forcing outwards as in an explosion.

Research on tactical nuclear weapons showed that the destructive power of nuclear weapons varied with the distance from ground zero rather than the size of the weapon; field defences reduced the effect, beyond 1000 metres men in dugouts, with over head cover and three feet below ground surface were safe from radiation but were later affected by delayed radiation sickness; road movement was affected in radius of 4 kilometres; restriction of road movement by nuclear weapons required injection of residual radio activity up to a depth of about a 100 miles.

A tactical nuclear device, like atomic bombs, produces a fireball which sucks up the soil into a mushroom cloud and releases energy. The energy released is heat, blast and radiation; heat causes inflammable material to burn and skin and cause eye damage to human beings; blast is caused by a shock wave which destroys construction; immediate nuclear radiation consisting of neutron radiation near ground zero and gamma radiation away from ground zero; residual radiation is caused by radio active material generated by the explosion, the amount varies with the yield of the weapon and reduces with time; dose of 5,000 cGgs radiation will incapacitate a man in five minutes and kill him in about two days; an ‘electro-magnetic pulse (EMP)’ and a ‘transient radiation effect on electronics (TREE) are generated; EMP disables transistors; fibre optics are vulnerable to radiation.

EFFECT OF NUCLEAR WEAPON

Yield in KT           Armoured               Troops in Open

 in KT              Fighting Vehicles         or Light Cover

0.01                           -                           300 metres

1.0                      450 metres                  700 - 900 metres

5.0                      450 metres                  800  metres

10.0                    600 metres                  1100 metres

20.0                    800 metres                  1300 metres

Enhanced Radiation Weapon (ERW) is a refinement of nuclear weapons for tactical use by maximising the effects of high energy neutrons and reducing the blast of an explosion. A 1 KT ‘Enhanced Radiation/Reduced Blast - (ER/EB, W - 79) shell fired from a 203 mm gun, will affect a radius of 1,600 metres, it will damage buildings and vegetation up to 900 metres compared to 2,800 metres for a 20 KT bomb, it enhances nuclear radiation to produce the same radiation as a 10 KT bomb, a ER/RB atomic weapon will kill by radiation but leave little or no residual radiation, it produces almost no blast; troops can operate in the target area after the strike. Protection against ERW weapons is provided by 25 centimetres of concrete or 35 centimetres of moist earth, this reduces the ERW effects by 90 % and doubling of the protection reduces it to 1 %, armoured fighting vehicles reduce effects by about 25 % but causes armour to become radio active.

The effect of nuclear weapons on troops will be death, severe burns, blinding, radiation sickness and the effect of shock. To avoid and reduce the effects troops should be in field defences designed to reduce the effect of nuclear weapons or in armoured fighting vehicles, they should wear proper protective clothing, if caught in the open they should fall on their faces with hand under their bodies to minimise burns.

In mountainous terrain nuclear explosions are channelised in valleys, in plains and deserts the effects of nuclear weapons on troops in the open increases.

The difficulty in separating strategy and the tactical use of nuclear weapons which may result in escalated retaliation has prevented the use of tactical nuclear weapons. (Radiation sickness symptoms and deaths of US and British Army personnel indicates that tactical weapons were tried out against Iraq in the Gulf War.)

Biological weapons which spread contagious diseases are the second mass destruction weapons, they are banned by the Geneva Convention and an international treaty of 1972. While nuclear and chemical weapons have to be delivered by aircraft, artillery or missiles, biological agents can be introduced by more insidious methods, insects or rodents can carry biological agents, water and food can be used to spread germs of cholera, typhoid, tularemia and incapacitating diseases such as anthrax and equine encephalitis; agents are difficult to detect until the effects begin to show which makes defence difficult, when an attack is detected it is too late to do more than treat those who are infected and evacuate the affected area. Biological weapons are not resorted to because the agents do not differentiate between friend and foe and can equally affect side which starts its use.

Chemical weapons are the third mass destruction weapons. Arsenic smoke was first used by the Japanese in Russo-Japanese war at the beginning of the twentieth century and extensively by both sides in Europe during the First World War. After the First World War, chemical weapons were banned by the Geneva Convention and have generally not been used. There are four types of Chemical Agents used in chemical warfare:

Nerve Agents.

These make breathing difficult, cause drooling, nausea, vomiting and convulsions, incapacitate or kill in seconds; nerve agent can be delivered by missiles, bombs, aerial spray or land mine.

Blistering Agents.

These have a searing effect on the eyes which can cause temporary blindness and a stinging effect on the skin which blister and destroy the respiratory tract in minutes; delivery methods are the same as for nerve agents.

Blood Affecting Agents.

These cause convulsions and coma they incapaci- tate and kill in minutes; delivery is by missiles, bombs or artillery.

Choking Agents.

These cause choking, nausea and headache, they damage and flood lungs and act in hours; delivery is by missiles, bombs or artillery.

In the fifty years since the end of the Second World War there have been great advances in hundreds of technologies which include more efficient engines, jet aircraft, helicopters, guided weapons in the anti-tank and anti-aircraft role, electronic and automated fire control systems, improved communications, navigation systems, surveillance systems, night vision devices and sensors to detect men and vehicles on the battlefield.

The advances with most far reaching effects are: mobility on the battlefield by the use of the helicopter; surveillance and location technology to locate, identify and track the enemy; guidance technology to accurately deliver weapons on their targets; warhead technology to ensure that a target - a man, a tank, an aircraft or anything else, once hit, is out of battle. These technological advances have been based on developments in microelectronics, fibre optics, a range of new materials and the omni-present computer.

Helicopter borne air mobility started in the Korean war with evacuation of casualties, and limited troop and logistical movement; it was developed to rapidly concentrate and disperse troops on a nuclear battlefield. The advantages of helicopter borne air mobile forces are mobility on the battlefield for delaying operations, a capability to ‘ambush’ troops moving on the ground besides providing commanders a means of quick movement to critical points on the battlefield, surveillance and a means of delivering helicopter borne direct fire support.

The concept of employment of ‘air mobile’ forces is “to employ firepower and mobility to fix enemy forces, reduce enemy firepower, limit enemy manoeuvring capability, to support friendly forces in the seizure of terrain and the destruction of the enemy; these operations are characterised by rapid execution and timely withdrawal. The air mobile assault forces are particularly well suited for economy of force operations, link up operations, mobile defence and for rearguard action in the withdrawal”.

The mobility provided by the helicopter evolved a new organisation; the Americans organised ‘air assault’ divisions with 459 aircraft, mostly helicopters, and ‘air cavalry brigades’ with 316 aircraft, including 144 attack helicopters which dramatically increased mobility. A battalion helicopter lift of five hundred men requires sixty UH-1 helicopters, the helicopters fly in two lines of thirty each at a safe height till near the landing zone; once on the ground the ‘air mobile troops’ become foot mobile.

In battle the location, composition and if possible the identification of enemy forces, is most important; reconnaissance satellites, orbiting between 250 and 500 kilometres, are the mainstay of powers such as America for this task. On the battlefield active and passive sensors are used to locate the enemy; active sensors transmit energy which is reflected back by the target and indicates its presence and position; a passive sensor detects energy, such as infra-red radiation, emitted by the target. Ground based sensors may detect light, sound, magnetic fields, infra-red radiation, seismic disturbances.

Remotely piloted vehicles (RPV), are used for a number of purposes, equipped with remote controlled television cameras, they are used for real time surveillance, reconnaissance and direction of artillery fire.

Guidance technology has made tanks and aircraft vulnerable to guided missile attacks. ‘Tube launched, Optically tracked, Wire guided (TOW)’ anti-tank missiles have been in service since 1970; newer anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles are ‘fire and forget’ which requires no action by the firer after firing and these with a number of different sensors including homing on infra-red radiation insure a hit.

The modern air defence system is a mixture of surface to air missiles for various altitudes, radar controlled anti-aircraft artillery and interception aircraft; defence against low flying aircraft on the battle field is also by portable surface to air missile, carried and fired by one man.

 The cruise missile, similar to the German V-1 ‘flying bomb’, a low flying aircraft, is a formidable weapon capable of carrying a nuclear or conventional warhead. The missile is powered by a jet engine 80 by 31 centimetres, which weighs 60 kilograms and generates a thrust of 275 kilograms, the speed of the missile is about 500 kilometres per hour. Very accurate terrain data information, necessary for programming the cruise missile flight path computer, is obtained from reconnaissance satellites; using a ‘terrain contour matching’ guidance system, cruise missiles hug the ground, flying very low they are very difficult to shoot down, their range is about 3,000 kilometres and an accuracy within fifty metres radius of the target.

The command decision process and the communication of decisions to subordinates or weapon controlling devices is called command, control, communications or C3 in military parlance; success on a modern battle field depends on a good C3 system.

For battlefield navigation and accurately locating positions, a space based ‘global positioning system (GPS)’ is used. The system, called NAVSTAR, is based on 18 satellites, it enables the determination of a location within a few metres, speed to within a few centimetres per second and time to a millionth of a second, anywhere in the world.

With the importance of electronics on the present day battlefield, electronic intelligence (ELINT) to spy on the enemy’s communications, radar and weapon systems depending on electronics, have become very an important peace time activity to eavesdrop on military, diplomatic and domestic communications, including radio, telephone and cable.

2. Domination of the Land Battlefield by Air Power

The Gulf War

The Iraqi invasion of Kuwait brought about a war in which the Iraqi army was defeated by air power, a concept advocated after the end of the First World War.

Iraq was part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire till the end of the First World War, after the defeat of Turkey it became a British mandate and in 1932 it became a ‘sovereign state’ under British control. In 1948 Iraq sent a force of 10,000 to fight against the Jews in Palestine but her troops performed very badly; in 1958 a coup overthrew the monarchy, in the 1973 Arab-Israeli war the Iraqis deployed two mechanised divisions at the Golan Heights in Syria. An oil rich country, Iraq spent a lot of money on equipping and modernising its army.

Iraq had an old dispute with Iran over their boundary in the Shatt-al-Arab, Iraq claimed the whole channel while Iran insisted and forced a boundary in the middle of the waterway in 1975 in exchange for stopping support to Kurdish rebels; Iraq repudiated the agreement after Reza Shah was deposed by Khomeini in 1979.

Khomeini's Shiite dominated revolution created a major problem for Iraq where a Shia majority population was ruled by the Sunni faction, this was likely to be endangered if the Iranian revolution was to spread.

Iran, in 1979, had 1,700 modern American and British tanks, about 460 latest combat aircraft and a navy of over 30 combat ships, but after Reza Shah was deposed, under Khomeini, the officer corps was purged, crippling the leadership of the armed forces and with the cutting off of the relations with America the supply of spare parts was cut off by the Americans.

Between 1973 and 1980, the Iraqis had critically studied their failure in the 1973 Arab-Israeli war and carried out reforms, they re-equipped with the most modern Russian weapons and aircraft, organised along Soviet lines and trained in combined arms tactics. Having considered their military effectiveness, including morale, leadership, training, supply of parts and other intangibles, the Iraqis decided to preempt a possible Khomeini backed revolution and attacked Iran on 22 September 1980.

The Iraqi attack, on four axes with six divisions, quickly captured all its objectives and seized Iranian territory about thirty miles deep. The Iranians regrouped and fought a defensive battle till July 1982 when they attacked in human waves of holy warriors, called "Pasdaran", old men and boys walked clearing obstacles, minefields and drawing artillery fire, casualties were in thousands, they broke through the Iraqi lines at places but no decisive breakthrough was made. In 1983 Iran launched two offensives which did not succeed in breaking the Iraqi front, the Iranians casualties were two to one but the Iraqis with a population of 14 million could not afford the attrition while the Iranians with about fifty million people could take the losses.

In 1984 the Iranians launched an offensive to capture Basra but failed, then they tried to cut the Basra - Baghdad road but were repulsed, in the next attack the Iranians made children walk in minefields to clear mines, the Iraqis retaliated with mustard gas. In 1986 the Iranians attacked across the Shatt-al-Arab and nearly reached the borders of Kuwait; in the north they penetrated deep into Iraqi Kurdestan towards the Kirkuk oilfields and again the Iraqis used gas; offensives in 1987 were not significant.

In 1988 both sides obtained and used medium range ballistic missiles, Iran fired about sixty and Iraq over 200. The missiles were aimed at each other's capital city and terrorised the urban population; this indicated that the psychological value of the ballistic missiles in war outweighed the military value.

After the Iranian successes in 1986 the Iraqis reorganised their army and command system; the core of the army was the elite Republican Guard Force about 100,000 strong, the army and the air force were re-equipped and numbered about one million with 850,000 in reserve. In April 1988 the Iraqis carried out an amphibious assault across the Shatt-al-Arab and landed troops behind the Iranian defenders and simultaneously attacked on a two corps front and secured the al-Faw peninsula; after consolidating their gains the Iraqis advanced 700 miles northwards routing the Iranians and winning four more battles. After eight years of a war of attrition, with each side holding the other's territory, the war ended in stalemate.

After the end of the Iraq - Iran war, the Iraqi air force consisted of fighters and bombers of Soviet and Chinese origin, there were about seventy air bases with support facilities and other tactical considerations; the land forces were made up of the "Popular Army", a militia of volunteers for the control of internal affairs which had little military training except in small unit tactics; the bulk of Iraq's combat power was in its army which consisted 32 divisions, including nine armoured and mechanised divisions, organised in seven corps; twelve of the best Iraqi divisions made up the 'Republican Guards' which were larger and better equipped than the rest of the army. Iraq now became the dominant military power in the Middle East.

When the Turks ruled Mesopotamia, Kuwait was part of the province of Basra, at the outbreak of First World War the British recognised Kuwait as an independent principality under British protection, in 1961 Iraq pressed its claim to the territory and British troops were sent. In 1990, with the largest and the most experienced army in the Middle East, the Iraqis were a threat to all their neighbours. They raised a dispute with Kuwait over two islands in the Shatt-al-Arab and about oil production, the United States ambassador informed the Iraqis that the United States would not take sides in disputes between Iraq and its neighbours, after talks with Kuwait failed, on 2 August 1990 Iraq invaded Kuwait and occupied it in a day.

The sudden and swift overrunning of Kuwait and the threat to the Saudi oilfields made the Saudis look around for assistance while they hurriedly deployed a screen on their border with Kuwait, the Americans immediately asked the Saudis to allow the deployment of American troops in Saudi territory, the Saudis agreed on 6 August, the Americans set about organising a world wide coalition against Iraq and started moving air and ground forces to Saudi Arabia.

Early in 1990 the Americans had carried out contingency planning in the case of the occupation of Kuwait by Iraq, the plan required that Iraq be prevented from attacking Saudi Arabia for a month to move adequate forces to stop the Iraqis, the forces earmarked were a Marine Expeditionary Force of 45,000, the XVIII Airborne Corps, consisting of the 82nd Airborne Division, 101 Air Assault Division and the 24 Mechanised Infantry Division.

The American concentration started immediately after the Saudi consent, by the end of September the ground and air forces were capable of defending Saudi territory. By October about 720 aircraft, including about 450 fighters were based in Saudi Arabia, these excluded the US Navy aircraft and B-52 bombers.

In September the Iraqis began to build defences along the Kuwait - Saudi border which indicated that they did not intend to attack Saudi Arabia and that they did not intend to withdraw from Kuwait. Satellite pictures showed that the Iraqis were dismantling and removing every thing of value to Iraq.

By the end of the first week of October the American government started considering an offensive operation, the commander in the field demanded additional forces, the American government authorised the calling up of 200,000 reservists, US VII Corps was moved from Germany, the number of aircraft were doubled, three carrier battle groups were added and contingents, varying from a battalion to a division, were sent by numerous countries.

The effect of air power on ground operations was demonstrated by the Germans at the beginning of the Second World War, its effect increased as aircraft improved and inaccuracies in bombing were overcome with 'smart bombs' which hit their target virtually every time. The air power theorists, Guilio Douhet and the British and American air force commanders of the Second World War, had advocated strategic bombing for destroying the will of the enemy to fight, this theory was practiced by the British and American air forces in the Second World War and by the Americans in the Korean and Vietnam wars, in all these wars strategic bombing failed to destroy the enemy's will and the ability to fight.

The US Air Force had argued for some time that precision guided weapons gave it the ability to knock out the enemy's military central nervous system with -out damaging non military targets. Col John A Warden in his book 'The Air Campaign: Planning for Combat' argued that air superiority, once won, provided the means of striking at the enemy's centre of gravity and winning a war, ground troops would only be required for mopping up after a successful air campaign, that gaining and maintaining air superiority should be the first and the most important goal in a war; air superiority could be won by attacking the enemy's air force directly in the air or on the ground, or indirectly by hitting his logistical support, basic infrastructure, pilot training facilities, or command and control network. Once air superiority is won, the enemy's other centres of gravity can be attacked, these include national command authority, military forces, industry and the will of the people.

As soon as the American deployment started, American target planners started assembling a list of Iraqi targets which included, in order of priority, air defence, airfields, aircraft, missile sites, communication and command centres, chemical, nuclear and munitions plants, armoured formations and 'Saddam Hussain' as the "centre of gravity" whose destruction would make a difference to the outcome of the war; a victory through air power approach.

The initial targets were command, control and communication systems, air defence systems and radar, airfields used by Iraqi combat planes, the 30 missile launching sites, the Iraqi nuclear reactor, the eight Republican Guard Divisions, the supply network (storage depots, ammunition dumps, transportation hubs, roads, bridges and railway), refineries and petrochemical facilities, electrical power system, industrial war supporting facilities, Iraqi troops occupying Kuwait.

In October, the American Central Command, in Saudi Arabia, was suddenly called upon to put forward a plan for an offensive to evict the Iraqis from Kuwait. The Command recommended a four phase plan in which the air campaign took up three phases and was to destroy "the enemy's centre of gravity", the four phases were:

Phase One. - First part: Air attacks concentrating on Iraq's vital centres of gravity, firstly to destroy Iraqi offensive and defensive air power by destroying Iraqi aircraft on the ground, neutralising the air defence system and shooting down of air craft.

Second part: To destroy and disrupt the national command, communications and control structure by destroying the central telecommunication facility, television, radio and telephone transmission lines, elimination of nuclear, chemical and biological weapon centres, disruption of the military support system, armament production, electrical power grids, factories, transportation network, oil industry etc.

Phase Two - Massive air attacks on Iraqi supply and munitions bases, transportation facilities and roads to cut off Iraqi forces from their supplies.

Phase Three - Air attack on the entrenched 430,000 Iraqi ground troops.

Phase Four - Ground assault including an amphibious assault by the US Marines from the Gulf and an attack by the US Army and allied forces on the Iraqi defences.

The complex air campaign required the use of ‘cruise missiles’, 160 air-refuelling tankers refuelling over 300 attack aircraft flying 2000 sorties daily, and the use of aircraft carrier based aircraft.

The US Air Force flew two Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft from which radar covered all Iraqi airspace; satellite intelligence data was provided directly to the AWACS; computers and radios onboard gave control officers the capability to monitor, assess, and manage the air campaign as it progressed by watching every airborne aircraft and directing pilots. The Airborne Communications, Command and Control System (ABCCCS) housed in a C-130 aircraft provided close control of the air campaign.

Against the Iraqi ground forces the American used the Joint Surveillance Target Attack System (JSTARS) housed in a Boeing 707 which could detect, locate, identify, classify, track and target ground forces in any kind of weather; it collected data that was transmitted immediately to commanders of ground troops and air bases on which plans could be based. JSTARS gave the ground forces hours of warning and also directed aircraft and helicopters to the enemy threat.

Electronic Warfare aircraft, EC-130, EF-111, EA-6B were flown to jam and deceive the Iraqi radar; the air campaign included air supremacy fighters, F-15s, F-16s, Navy F-14s and F-18s which flew 'Combat Air Patrol' to provide protection against the Iraqi air force.

The air strikes were organised as 'packages' for striking a single installation. 'Packages' included electronic warfare aircraft which went ahead of the bombers to destroy anti-aircraft missiles and guns, radar, communications and command facilities for missile launch sites, along the path of the bombers; a 'Package' included a fighter escort if it was to penetrate deep into Iraq, and command and control aircraft if it was a large 'Package' or a complex one; the heart of the 'Package' were the aircraft designated to bomb the various targets selected by the planners as constituting Iraq's "centre of gravity". Bombing was carried out by the F-117 "Stealth" fighters, F-111, F-15E, A-6 and B-52 bombers apart from British and French aircraft. The air strikes were carried out with 'precision guided munitions (PGM)', laser guided munition, in this bombing one aircraft provides the laser guide on which the bombs ride to the target. The initial success of the air campaign was the result of defence suppression measures, active measures included electronic warfare, raids by helicopter borne troops and guided missile (HARM) strikes. The US Navy fired about 100 cruise missiles on the first night and naval aircraft took part in the air campaign.

Supporting the air, land and naval forces were the 'space based systems' under the control of the US Air Force; satellites "eyes in the sky" on which space based systems rely were critical, they provided weather information, acted as navigation aids through the Global Positioning System, gave early warning of missile launches which enabled Patriot anti-missile system to intercept in coming missiles and communications.

The air campaign lasted 38 days; after air superiority was won the ‘enemy’s centre of gravity targets’ were attacked and destroyed then the land campaign started; the effectiveness of precision bombing had a salutary effect on the land battle, smart bombs knocked out Iraqi tanks, hit troop positions and prevented movement. The Americans and their allied land forces used 'remote piloted vehicles' (RPVs) to keep the battlefield under observation and the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) was used "to deliver more fire power with fewer manpower".

On a battlefield dominated by the air forces of the Americans and their allies, the one million Iraqi ground troops lasted four days after which Iraq agreed to a cease fire. The air forces won an old argument, the land battlefield is now dominated by air power.

3. Weapons, Organisation and Tactics, End Of 20th Century

Since the end of the Second World War most weapons have been replaced by improved versions and some new ones have been added; organisations, where considered necessary, have changed; and in tactics the reliance on fire power has increased.

In armies, the fighting arms are the armoured (tank) corps, the infantry and the artillery; the supporting arms are engineers, signals, air defence and army aviation; the supporting services are supply and transport, ordnance, electrical and mechanical engineers and the medical corps; some armies have supporting ‘intelligence’ and ‘electronic warfare’ organisations.

The infantry is known as ‘the queen of the battle’, The basic infantry weapons are the light machine gun, the rifle, the bayonet, the grenade and light mortars; the bayonet has been considered useless since about 1860 but continues as an adjunct of the rifle; the modern rifle is 5,56 mm replacing the 7.62 calibre, it fires about 10 rounds per second on automatic, each rifle man carries 10 to 20 magazines of 20 to 40 rounds each; the main fire power of the infantry comes from the ‘light machine gun (LMG)’, the MG42 is a widely used machine gun.

Other infantry weapons are: ‘sniper rifles’, these are not automatic and use full size 7.62 ammunition, snipers are specially trained sharpshooters; fragmentation grenades which can be thrown to about 40 metres or projected to about 100 metres by using a device which fits on a rifle or a short barrelled shot gun like projector, they have a lethal zone of about 6 metres from the point of the explosion.

The crew served heavy infantry weapons are: mortars with ranges from 1200 to 3000 metres; anti-tank weapons ranging from an effective range of 350 metres to 3000 metres (including anti-tank guided missiles, ATGMs); all infantrymen are trained to man and fire all weapons but specialists generally man mortars and ATGMs. The heavy machine gun, 12.7-mm or 14.5 mm, are not considered infantry weapons as they are not portable, they are dismounted from vehicles used in defence against lightly armoured vehicles and against aircraft and helicopters.

 Besides using their diverse weapons, infantrymen lay mines and booby traps under supervision; mines are used to create an obstacle for the enemy infantry and tanks and then covered with machine gun and anti-tank fire.

For communication the infantryman may have a helmet radio within the section, section commanders may have radio communications with their platoon commanders and the platoon upwards all commanders are in radio and telephone communications.

The other equipment that an infantryman carries is an entrenching tool, a gas mask, chemical protectors (clothing, antidotes, ointments, etc), helmet and in some armies, a bullet-proof vest.

On the battlefield radar, which detects human beings at 1,000 metres, electronic sensors that detect human movement, passive night vision devices which intensify light and infra-red vision devices are used to detect the enemy and bring down aimed fire.

The lowest infantry organisation is the ‘section’ (squad in the US Army) of 9 to 15 men, armed with rifles, serving one or more crew served weapons light machine guns, commanded by a ‘naik’ (corporal or sergeant) is the lowest infantry organisation. Very little fighting is done with rifles, most of it is done with crew served weapons, a section with two light machine guns is capable of ‘fire and movement’, one light machine gun moving from one cover to another while the other provides covering fire.

 A ‘platoon’ has a platoon headquarter and three sections, about 40 men, the platoon headquarter has a 60mm mortar with a range of about 1,200 metres and an anti-tank rocket launcher with a range of about 350 metres; a platoon in defence covers a front of about 500 metres while in the attack the front is about 150 metres. A platoon is commanded by ‘naib-subedar or subedar’ (in most armies, the platoon commander is second lieutenant or a lieutenant because a young dashing commander is required at this level of the infantry). The platoon has radio and telephone communications with the company headquarters and it may have radio communication with sections.

The ‘company’ consists of three platoons and a company headquarters, it has anti-tank weapons and may be augmented with heavy machine guns and sensor equipment; in the defence the front is up to 2,000 metres while in the attack it is about 500 metres. A major or a captain commands the company.

The ‘battalion’ has 3 to 5 companies, a headquarters company and a weapons company, it has mortars with a range of about 3,000 metres, and it may be supported by tanks, anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons and sensors. In the attack, the battalion front is up to 2,000 metres and in the defence up to about 5,000 metres. The battalion is commanded by a lieutenant colonel and is referred to as a ‘unit’; a company is a ‘sub-unit’.

Infantry is now either ordinary on foot or mechanised; foot infantry moves in trucks or marches, mechanised infantry moves in ‘armoured personnel carriers’ (APC) or ‘infantry fighting vehicles’ (IFV). The APC is a tracked vehicle which carries about ten infantrymen, it provides protection against small arms fire and is armed with a 12.7 mm machine gun, to fight infantry has to dismount, it is known as a battle field taxi; the IFV is similar to an APC, it has a turret with a small calibre cannon and may be armed with ‘anti-tank guided missiles’ or ‘surface to air missiles’, infantry can fight while mounted in the IFV but experience has shown that fighting from inside the vehicle is less effective than troops out in the open using the IFV for support.

Armour wins or loses battles, it is known as ‘the arm of decision’. Traditionally armies have consisted of mounted and dismounted troops, after the rifle and the machine gun drove the horse mounted cavalry off the battlefield the cavalrymen replaced the horse with the tank and the cavalry is now known as the ‘armoured corps’ (tank corps in some armies).

The tank is an armoured tracked vehicle with a gun in a turret which revolves 360 degrees, it weighs from 35 to 60 tons, has a main gun 100 mm to 125 mm calibre with an anti-tank range of about 3000 metres, a medium machine gun of 7.62 mm, a heavy machine gun of 12.7 mm; the tank carries 40 to 60 rounds for the main gun, the gun has a range finder and can hit any target that the commander and the gunner can see; the tank crew varies between three and five men; the tank speed can be up to 60 km and the range from 250 to 500 km.

The lowest armour organisation is the ‘troop’ (platoon in some armies) of three to five tanks with the troop commanded by a lieutenant and tanks by a daffadar (sergeant) or a naib-risaldar; the next higher organisation is a squadron (company) of three or four troops commanded by a major; three squadrons make an armoured regiment (tank battalion) commanded by a lieutenant colonel.

One or two armoured regiments grouped with a mechanised or motorised infantry battalion forms an armoured brigade, two or three armoured brigades with supporting artillery and services form an armoured division. An armoured brigade is usually part of a corps and a regiment, under some conditions, forms a part of an infantry division.

On the battlefield tanks remain hidden and wait for the enemy’s tanks to expose themselves then they fire at them; when tanks move on the battlefield they move with about 100 metres between them, some tanks remain stationary to engage any enemy interfering with the movement, the stationary force moves when the moving tanks have taken up a position and are observing the enemy; in a tank versus tank battle the stationary tank has a very great advantage. Tanks account for about one third of a mechanised army’s firepower, about 20 percent of the cost but the tank crews constitute about 2 to 5 percent of the manpower; the victory or defeat in battle in a desert or a plain depends on the success or failure of the tank force.

Artillery is known as ‘the killer’ it has large calibre guns firing high explosive shells from positions well behind the front line out of sight of the enemy; it supports armour and infantry in battle. Artillery is classified as heavy mortars (about 120 mm 6000 metres range), field artillery (about 105 mm with about 11 km range), medium artillery (130 - 155 mm, range 15 - 27 km), heavy artillery (175 - 203 mm, range 29 - 33 km) and multiple launch rocket system (MLRS) in which a launcher mounted on a vehicle with upto 40 barrels of up to 150 mm with a range of about 20 km; all the barrels of the MLRS can be fired simultaneously giving a regiment of 18 launchers a volley of 720 rockets which can devastate an area as large as 2000 metres by 500 metres. Three field regiments and a medium regiment constitute the divisional artillery brigade; two medium, a heavy regiment and a MLRS regiment form a corps artillery brigade or an army artillery brigade. The trend is to do away with field guns and have medium guns in their place.

Artillery fires fixed ammunition either like a rifle or the shell and the cartridge are separate; high explosive ammunition is used against men and fortifications, smoke to deny observation to the enemy, star shells with parachute illuminating flares to illuminate an area, high explosive anti-tank (HEAT) against tanks, chemical shells with poison gas, germs and nuclear devices can be fired from guns of 155 mm or more with a nuclear yield of about 5 kilo-tons.

The smallest artillery organisation is a battery of six guns, a regiment consists of three firing batteries and a headquarter battery which provides communications, personnel, equipment for fire control and ammunition re-supply arrangements. A battery usually supports a tank regiment or an infantry battalion by providing ‘observers’ who direct the battery fire, a field regiment supports a brigade; medium artillery of a division and the corps artillery are used to support armoured and infantry brigades or divisions and for ‘counter battery’ which means firing at the enemy guns.

The fighting arms are supported by supporting arms. The Corps of Engineers,

 build bridges, lay minefields and lift mines (they lay up to 10 km of mines to defend a brigade/regiment by laying 800 mines per kilometre), control construction equipment (in some armies they can entrench a battalion in a day), on the battlefield they repair damage caused by the enemy or demolish whatever is to be denied to the enemy. Engineers are organised like infantry in platoons, companies and battalions and battalions are divisional, corps or army engineers.

The Signal Corps provides radio and telephone communications and mail service between a headquarter and its subordinate headquarters up to the battalion level; within the battalion and equivalent level the responsibility is of the unit itself.

 Ai-defence, formerly called anti-aircraft artillery and part of the artillery, defends against enemy air attacks on the battlefield, in the rear areas and other strategic areas. Troops in forward areas, when necessary, defend themselves against helicopters and aircraft with rifles, machine guns and 12.7 mm heavy machine guns, this usually does not deter attacking aircraft; portable surface to air missile (SAM) for use against low flying aircraft and helicopters are also used; in trying to avoid portable SAMs aircraft and helicopters come into the range of light anti-aircraft guns of 20 mm to 57 mm and are shot down; air defence units are also equipped with large surface to air missiles and anti-missile missiles.

Army aviation, originally flew small aircraft for artillery observation and reconnaissance as part of the artillery, it is now a separate arm and flies small fixed wing aircraft for observation and liaison, transport helicopters and armed helicopters.

Intelligence means getting information about the enemy on which plans are based while counter intelligence is preventing information reaching the enemy. On the battlefield patrolling is an important activity for collecting information; apart from patrolling, sensors, radar, aerial observation and photography and prisoner interrogation are sources of information, a rule of thumb is 10 to 20 percent of the enemy’s situation must be revealed each day to discover his strength, dispositions and capabilities. Electronic sensors, devices that recognise sound and heat signatures of men and equipment, and battlefield radar are used. Computers are used to collect, collate, analyse and disseminate information on which command decisions are based.

 Electronic warfare by jamming of radio communications, target acquisition and electronic deception measures makes ground forces unresponsive to commands and thereby aimless in purpose. Electronic surveillance measures (ESM) which is keeping track of the enemy’s electronic devices since no one knows how the electronic equipment will interact, it is carried out with special monitoring units that have a range of receivers, recorders, signal processing equipment and language interpreters. Active sensors are radar which send out signals which bounce off objects while passive sensors listen for electronic signals, radar without a transmitter is a passive sensor, electronic bugs delivered by artillery or shaped like vegetation etc make passive sensors. Electronic control device (ECD) means machines operating without human intervention, a mine exploding when it receives the proper ‘signature’. Electronic counter measures (ECM) is the techniques of disrupting electronic devices like jamming of radio signals; electronic counter countermeasure (ECCM) are measures for dealing with ECM and electronic deception measures (EDM) are electronic measures to deceive the enemy.

The fighting and supporting arms are supplied with food and other essential items by the ‘services’. The ‘Ordnance Corps’ are store keepers who acquire, store and supply stores, equipment, weapons and ammunition used by an army.

The ‘Supply and Transport’ supply all food items, POL (petrol, oil and lubricants), and ammunition in war; they also provide transport for carrying troops, supply items and stores; divisions, corps and the army have ‘supply and transport battalions’.

 The ‘Medical Corps’ takes care of the wounded and those who fall sick, the medical services are organised to take care of the wounded and to provide immediate surgery; every fighting unit has a medical officer and nursing orderlies to take immediate care of the wounded and the sick.

The Electrical and Mechanical Engineers carry out the mechanical repairs of vehicles and equipment and are responsible for the battlefield recovery of armoured fighting vehicles and other equipment left on a battlefield.

The fighting formations, above a battalion or regiment, are brigades, divisions, corps and army.

A ‘brigade’ consists of two or more units and a brigade headquarter; it has integral supporting elements such as a brigade signal company which provides communications to its subordinate units, workshops to effect repairs to vehicles and equipment. A brigade is usually grouped with armour, artillery and other supporting arms such as anti-tank etc according to its task; an ‘independent brigade’ is permanently organised with its own artillery, supporting arms and services for tasks which require less than a division; a brigade is commanded by a brigadier.

Most European and other armies have ‘regiments’ instead of brigades consisting of three or more infantry battalions, supporting tanks, artillery and other arms as the basic organisation.

A ‘division’ consists of two or more brigades (regiments), an artillery brigade, an engineer battalion, a signal battalion, a supply and transport battalion, an electrical and mechanical engineers battalion, it may have an armoured regiment; the division is commanded by a major general and has a number of staff officers to plan and control operations and logistics.

A ‘corps’ consists of two or more divisions, often two infantry divisions with one armoured division; it has a corps artillery, engineers, signals, army aviation and other supporting arms and services; the corps is commanded by a lieutenant general and has a large headquarters.

An army consists of two or more corps, it has ‘army troops’ of armour, infantry, artillery and supporting arms and services; an army is commanded by a general.

Battle is the firing of weapons by armour, artillery, infantry and aircraft to prevent the enemy from using his weapons and moving on the battlefield; it is also moving on the battlefield to close with the enemy while neutralising the enemy weapons and movement. Battle activities are patrolling, defence, attack, pursuit and withdrawal.

Patrolling is an activity, usually carried by sections and platoons, to collect and deny information. Information is collected about the presence and the absence of enemy and his weapons in an area; the enemy’s intentions are found out by capturing prisoners and interrogating them. Setting of daytime ambushes, mining, booby trapping, removal of enemy mines and booby traps are all activities carried out at night by infantry patrols assisted by engineers and other arms where necessary.

Defence is conducted to prevent the enemy from capturing a position, it consists of bringing rifle, machine gun and artillery fire on the attacking infantry and anti-tank fire on the attacking tanks. The defenders are usually under cover in prepared positions which if known to the enemy are neutralised by the enemy artillery; the defenders initially engage the enemy with artillery when the attack starts, if tanks are attacking tank or anti-tank fire is brought down, when the enemy gets closer machine guns and short range anti-tank weapons are used; higher commanders engage the enemy first with weapons that they control, as the enemy gets closer the control passes to successive lower levels. If the enemy succeeds in overrunning a position it is counterattacked and recaptured.

 An attack is conducted to capture a position that the enemy is defending; first of all information about the enemy’s defences are gathered by patrolling, aerial reconnaissance and other intelligence gathering means. The artillery registers known enemy positions before the attack commences, the attacking tanks and infantry form up, at the given time the artillery starts firing, the tanks and infantry start moving towards the enemy’s positions till the enemy’s positions are reached and occupied.

A pursuit takes place when the enemy has been defeated at one position is withdrawing to another position, the aim of the pursuing forces is to deny the enemy the opportunity of preparing new defences and fighting from them.

A withdrawal is the retirement from a defensive position to another. The effort in a withdrawal is to delay the pursuing forces to gain enough time to prepare new defences for the next battle.

 The basis of tactics have remained the same throughout the ages, some of the force fires while another part moves towards the enemy or away from the enemy, with changes in technology the methods and the destructiveness of fire and the means and the methods fire and movement keep changing.

 Micro electronics technology has changed the characteristics of weapons, missiles, aircraft, tank guns and artillery. Developments in surveillance to locate, identify and keep track of the enemy, guidance technology to ensure that weapons are accurately guided to targets and warhead technology to make sure that targets, men, tanks, aircraft, etc are permanently disabled. These advances in technology with computer assisted military decisions has transformed war. In the future warfare is likely to become fully automated fought with machines and computerised missiles. Multi-attack munitions exist where a number of rockets fired simultaneously carry numerous sub-munitions, a ‘multiple launch rocket system’ (MLRS) can spread 10,000 grenades or mines in its impact area; these weapons are referred to as ‘weapons of high firepower’. With improved guidance missiles have become ‘autonomous’, when fired they seek the programmed target and destroy it without further instructions from the launcher, they are known as ‘fire and forget’ or ‘launch and leave’ missiles.

 With spy satellites hovering over battlefields and devices that can continuously track the enemy, the location of enemy forces will be almost instantaneous and continous; through computerised data links, computerised intelligence evaluation, automated fire control and first round kill probability the need for conventional forces to find and fix the enemy will be almost disappear.

Automated military systems have their own military doctrines for those that have automated systems and those who do not have automated systems have to develop their own systems or doctrines to neutralise automation.