I could take a page from previous discussion and turn 5th Brigade into a Light ACR, which would have roughly 4800 personnel from the organization I saw. That would still give me four ABCTs for fighting power, and a strong if lightweight reconnaissance and security force.
That's an organization from 1990. It consists of a Headquarters Troop, three Cavalry Squadrons, an Aviation Squadron, a Forward Support Squadron, Military Intelligence Company, Engineer Company, and CBRN Company. I originally didn't have aviation assets in the SSLF, but I suppose if I'm copying the Americans I should add some helicopters.
The Americans run nineteen UH-60s, eight OH-58s, and eight AH-64s in the squadron. I can easily copy that with nineteen Mi-17s, eight Mi-2s, and eight Mi-24s. Or...hm, instead of Mi-2s, the Americans started pulling their OH-58s from service in 2017. I'll assume they'll be cheap enough on the surplus market to afford since I only need eight aircraft, though the sensor packages might be pricey. Alright, nineteen Mi-17s, eight OH-58As, and we're keeping the Hinds because Hinds.
The support elements of the Regiment are best left to their own vagueness, I haven't been able to find a document that breaks down their detailed equipment and personnel like that one F16 found for the Brigade Combat Teams. That leaves attacking the Cavalry Squadron itself, and let's see what fresh hell I can inflict upon this thread.
As for the Cavalry Squadron itself...
The Headquarters & Headquarters Troop, Surveillance Troop, and Forward Support Company I'll leave off the field since they would mostly use light and medium trucks and aren't combat elements. That leaves each Cavalry Troop to organize, specifically around its scout platoons.
I did some thinking on the makeup of a scout platoon as well as the Fennek scout cars, and I managed to work out a 6x36 organization that fits the Fennek into it as a primary reconaissance vehicle. Each platoon has six vehicles, four Fenneks and two Tigrs carrying ten dismounts each. That gives me 36 scouts in the platoon, though sixteen of them are doing double-duty as vehicle crews. I can break the platoon into two sectons of two Fenneks and a Tigr each, or three sections of two vehicles, with one Fennek and one Tigr and the third with two Fenneks.
I'll also point out in the first organizational image that there's a tank troop and artillery battery attached to the cavalry squadron as well; I'm going to make use of that and put a troop of ERC 90 Sagaies and a battery of Hawkeye 105mm guns in each Cavalry Squadron. The breakdown looks like this:
Cavalry SquadronHeadquarters & Headquarters Troop
Medical Platoon
Sniper Platoon
Cavalry Troop
Troop HQ
Scout Platoon (4 Fennek, 2 Tigr)
Scout Platoon (4 Fennek, 2 Tigr)
Armored Car Platoon (4 ERC 90 Sagaie)
Armored Car Platoon (4 ERC 90 Sagaie)
Mortar Section (2 2S9 Nona)
Cavalry Troop
Troop HQ
Scout Platoon (4 Fennek, 2 Tigr)
Scout Platoon (4 Fennek, 2 Tigr)
Armored Car Platoon (4 ERC 90 Sagaie)
Armored Car Platoon (4 ERC 90 Sagaie)
Mortar Section (2 2S9 Nona)
Cavalry Troop
Troop HQ
Scout Platoon (4 Fennek, 2 Tigr)
Scout Platoon (4 Fennek, 2 Tigr)
Armored Car Platoon (4 ERC 90 Sagaie)
Armored Car Platoon (4 ERC 90 Sagaie)
Mortar Section (2 2S9 Nona)
Armored Car Troop
Troop HQ (2 ERC 90 Sagaie)
Armored Car Platoon (4 ERC 90 Sagaie)
Armored Car Platoon (4 ERC 90 Sagaie)
Armored Car Platoon (4 ERC 90 Sagaie)
Artillery Battery
Headquarters Section
Artillery Section (2 Hawkeye)
Artillery Section (2 Hawkeye)
Artillery Section (2 Hawkeye)
Surveillance Troop
Military Intelligence Company HQ
UAV Platoon
Human Intelligence Platoon
Signal Intelligence Platoon
Forward Support Company
Distribution Platoon
Maintenance Platoon
Recovery Section
That's a total of 24 Fenneks, 12 Tigrs, 38 ERC 90 Sagaies, 6 Hawkeyes, and 6 2S9 Nonas per Squadron, with three Squadrons in the Regiment.
So I end up with the following instead.
Land Forces:
1st Armored Brigade
87 PT-91 Twardy
120 VBCI 2
113 Tigr
36 Fennek
18 K9 Thunder
2nd Armored Brigade
87 PT-91 Twardy
120 VBCI 2
113 Tigr
36 Fennek
18 K9 Thunder
3rd Armored Brigade
87 PT-91 Twardy
120 BMP-2
113 Tigr
36 Fennek
18 K9 Thunder
4th Armored Brigade
87 PT-91 Twardy
120 BMP-2
113 Tigr
36 Fennek
18 K9 Thunder
5th Light Cavalry Regiment
114 ERC 90 Sagaie
36 Tigr
72 Fennek
18 2S9 Nona
18 Hawkeye
19 Mi-17
8 OH-58
8 Mi-24
Air Defense Force
80 Buk SA-6
80 Fennek SWP
80 ZSU-23-4
Total:
348 PT-91 Twardy ($174m)
240 VBCI 2 ($900m)
240 BMP-2 (pre-owned)
488 Tigr ($78.1m)
216 Fennek ($345.6m)
80 Fennek SWP ($128m)
72 K9 Thunder ($216m)
114 ERC 90 Sagaie (unknown)
18 2S9 Nona (pre-owned)
18 Hawkeye (unknown)
19 Mi-17 (pre-owned)
8 OH-58 (unknown)
8 Mi-24 (pre-owned)
80 Buk SA-6 (pre-owned)
80 ZSU-23-4 (pre-owned)
24 Alpha Jets ($48m)
That's a total of $1.89 billion in military spending, not counting the unknowns. Hawkeyes are new, so I'm probably paying full price for it, but the ERC 90s and OH-58s are both being phased out of service and should be very inexpensive to buy a batch of. With a procurement budget of $230 million a year, I could spread that over a 20 year period; things like the Fennek and PT-91 are over 20 years old and would be purchasable at that time.
To quote Joel and Mike, "whaddya think, sirs?"
Recent Posts