Army Lessons Learned Centre

Army Lessons Learned Centre
most readers would have noticed the recent coverage of opswarfare articles on canadian armed forces. this is due to the recent discovery of their informative websites. today's recommendation is especially good. a point brought up by an article [dispatches - vol 9 no 2, training for urban operations] comments that soldiers should not bunch up like police or paramilitary urban tactics, for the simple reason that grenade usage by enemy forces will cause multiple casualties. a simple comment, yet not followed by many.

Canadian participation in URGENT QUEST 05

The Canadian Army - News - Headlines
A Canadian major's point of view of Exercise Urgent Quest.

Coalition combat identification exercise

Nine nations kickoff Coalition exercise in England
Exercise Urgent Quest, conducted in 2005, tested several combat identification systems. It will be interesting to see how NATO decides to move in this issue after this big test.
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Nine nations kickoff Coalition exercise in England
By Lt.Col. Casey Bain and Marie La Touche


SALISBURY PLAIN TRAINING AREA, United Kingdom (Army News Service, Sept. 27, 2005) -- Exercise Urgent Quest, the largest military utility assessment of Coalition combat identification technology since the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom completed its first missions this week and continues through Oct. 7.

“This exercise will bring us one step closer to achieving greater combat effectiveness while reducing the potential of fratricide,” said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Mark Rasins, the exercise analytical lead from the Joint Fires Integration and Interoperability Team.

Exercise Urgent Quest is a U.S.-led and U.K.-hosted event that includes military representatives from Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, and Sweden.

The exercise will include a variety of field missions using combined forces from small unit (squad-level) to Coalition task force. The Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration will assess or demonstrate six devices including:

• The Battlefield Target Identification Device

• Digital Data Link

• Radio-Based Combat Identification

• Radio Frequency Tags

• Optical-Combat Identification System

• and the Joint Combat Identification Marking Systems

“We’re all very motivated to accomplish this vital mission,” Raisins said. “…these technologies may soon be saving the lives of U.S. and Coalition forces serving selflessly worldwide.”

More then 65 percent of the personnel participating in Urgent Quest have recent combat experience in OIF, Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) or other conflicts,” said Rasins.

Rasins was formerly the operations officer (S3) of Task Force 4-64 in the 3rd Infantry Division during the initial advance into Iraq, and personally experienced a loss due to fratricide during OIF.

“The feedback from these combat-savvy veterans is critical and will go a long way in validating the types of combat identification technologies that are being developed and eventually fielded,” Raisins said.

Exercise Urgent Quest is the capstone Coalition combat identification event for United States Joint Forces Command and NATO.

South Africa - Electric drive version of Rooikat armoured car

CVED trials to start soon
Another electric drive armoured vehicle project. This one is based on the wheeled tank destroyer, the Rooikat.

Replacing the Landrover / HMMWV

opswarfare believes that there is a very big market for army utility vehicles at the moment. A few choices remain in the mix, with Iveco's LMV, AM General's HMMWV, Landrover's Defender, and MOWAG's Eagle IV. opswarfare envisages a future vehicle, with a hybrid powerplant, a remote controlled weapons mount, run-flat tyres, and a 2 row, 3-abrest seating arrangement. More details to follow.

Below are the current products on the market

BAE Systems Panther Command and Liaison Vehicle
http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/FactShee...epantherClv.htm
Based on the Iveco LMV

BAE Systems RG-32M
http://www.baesystemsomc.co.za/default.aspx?tabid=647
South African design

MOWAG Eagle IV
http://www.mowag.ch/En/02_ProdukteEn/EAGLE...24_Frameset.htm
This is based on the AM General Humvee chassis

something a bit bigger...

ADI Bushmaster
http://www.adi-limited.com/2-01-010-040-030.html
Timoney has some input in this vehicle also. Timoney is the same company that developed the AV81 Terrex together with ST Kinetics

Krauss-Maffei Wegmann Dingo 2
http://193.158.125.14/gb/frame.php?page=30
Underneath the body is a Mercedes Unimog chassis

Canada Army uniform

Clothe the Soldier
While doing research on a review of past posts, opswarfare found this page on Canada's army uniform project. Previously, opswarfare reported on the new US Army uniform. The original intention was to find out how the new US Army uniform was performing in combat situations. It seems many armies are considering converting to a "digital" disruptive pattern uniform.

Armor - Magazine of Mounted Warfare

Operation Iraqi Freedom Article Index
Quite informative articles, but again, these are experiences of the US forces. Still on the lookout for non-US military journals.

French Navy Commissions New Spy Ship

eDefense - Detect. Decide. Shoot. Survive. (dead link)
This looks like a good idea. Put SIGINT equipment on a ship. 1 persistent surveillance platform. Have to read up more on its capabilities...

(UPDATE: 27th May 2007) Since the demise of eDefense, opswarfare has found a comprehensive (but in french) page on this vessel. Fire up your translation software...

(UPDATE: 14th March 2008) Using the wonders of technology (more exactly the Internet Archive), the text of the original eDefense article is reproduced below.

Named after famed French naval engineer Stanislas Charles Henri Dupuy de Lôme (1816-1895), the Dupuy de Lôme or "MINREM" (Moyen Interarmées Naval de Recherche ElectroMagnétique) was handed over to the French Navy at Toulon on Dec. 15, 2005. At the ceremony, French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie described the new signals-intelligence (SIGINT) vessel as "a unique strategic weapon against terrorism and a system that will allow France to hunt for enemy radio communications worldwide, close to any flashpoint."

The Dupuy de Lôme is France's newest spy-ship. She was handed over to the French Navy on Dec. 15 2005. Built in the Netherlands and outfitted in France with her complete array of secret radio-interception and communications instruments, the new vessel is regarded as a potent tool in the global war against terrorism.

French Navy

The development of the Dupuy de Lôme is the first project of its kind for the French Navy, as it was designed from the outset, under a $147.4-million contract, as a SIGINT vessel to replace the modified vintage BTS (Bâtiment de Transport et de Soutien) Bougainville, a converted cargo ship that has been in service with the Direction du Renseignemt Militaire (DRM, French military intelligence) since 2000 (see "France Orders New SIGINT Vessel"). The performance of the ship is directly linked to her intelligence systems, the key capabilities of which are interception, eavesdropping, direction-finding, and technical analysis of radio and radar signals at sea, including the latest waveforms and the most advanced types of communications.

A picture comparing the UK future carrier with other carriers. opswarfare has always [rightly or wrongly] believed that a LHD multipurpose amphibious assault ship is more useful than a pure aircraft carrier.

Army to get electronic warfare kit

Army to get electronic warfare kit
This is a pretty old article, but "project soothsayer" sounds like a very useful piece of equipment. Direction-finding equipment have mostly being off the limelight for obvious reasons [armed forces do not like to advertise their capabilities too much], but with the unyielding push towards network-centric warfare, this area of electronic warfare could reap benefits beyond the cost outlay for the equipment. Worth a closer look. opswarfare will be keen to research further.