Military tactics for battle dress

[Enoki]

Ukraine is a master class in modern (current) warfare, and each generation has to, apparently, relearn the lessons thereof, every generation.

However, Nagorno-Karabakh pretty much already demonstrated the affordability and practicality of drone warfare.

But it's still only a part of combined arms approach - you still need planes, tanks, artillery and infantry.

It shows what two mediocre militaries do in a modern war...

 

[mike wightman]

With neither side having air superiority, and Ukrainian HIMARS being software limited for range.

NATO forces would have such a superior air capability the Russian airforce would disappear, and with the range limiters off HIMARS deep strikes to ammo, C&C, and logistic centres would degrade them after the first strike.

 

[Dragoner]

War is just physics, boots on the ground and HE in the air to the grid square. Future will change maybe how it is done, though the basic formula won't change. Patton's "Firstest with the mostest" still will apply.

 

[Kakistocrat]

Patton’s “Firstest with the mostest” still will apply.

Or even Nathan Bedford Forrest’s “Ma’am, I got there first with the most men” (as reported in the New York Times, May 28, 1918).

 

[Condottiere]

I think the two biggest surprises from Ukraine are that the Russian Air Force is mostly a no show, and that the Black Sea fleet is surprisingly submarined.

The Russians seemed to have the preeminence in drones and electronic warfare from Twenty Fourteen, countered by gifted amateur volunteers on the other side, until they didn't. Now, they're hoovering up Iranian drones, at what seems a hefty markup.

And it seems if you can't do anything, just shell the other side.

 

[Spinward Flow]

And it seems if you can't do anything, just shell the other side.

To be fair, that was also the case in 1914-1918 ...

 

[Condottiere]

And trenches, since it's mostly rural, plus mine fields in vast depth.

 

[Commander Truestar]

Good heavens, that's even worse.

At least the low bidders have skin in the game. Future contracts, liabilities, penalties for not delivering or delivering substandard product, prison and fines for fraud.

Amazing the Imperial guns don't just go "click" and the vacc suits hold air.

I disagree
Even if a family member "gets" the contract...
....if the troops start dying like flies because the gear is crap, the contract gets relocated and the idiot who lost it is removed from the will.

So, there is certainly skin in the game.

 

[Condottiere]

There's also the possibility of, bring your own kit.

 

[kilemall]

There's also the possibility of, bring your own kit.

Supply chain issues.

 

[infojunky]

And the thought crossed my mind: Imperial Marines in battledress and GCarriers. They're going to move really fast, have sensors that make even a small unit have a really wide front for envelopment, and individually are going to be armed heavily enough to squish just about anything.

Ok, I have been pondering this topic for a whiles...

First off, Combat Armor and Battledress ameliorate a lot of the side effects of explosive ordinance. I.e. Vastly reducing both Blast Effects and Fragmentation, which is the number one killer of infantry. The battle space becomes one dominated by precision weapons.

Honestly I feel that Grav Belts are as important to the equation. In that a lot of the traditional impediments of infantry movement are removed. Meaning even close to the ground many obstacles can be circumvented, coupled to a 3d choice of firing positions to the individual infantrymen is vastly improved.

As for weapon choices, the TL13 Laser Rifle is probably the line weapon of choice, it is fully effective vs Battledress.

I haven't even touched upon the ability enhancement of improved communications and related that advanced armor would also provide.

Coming back to the GCarrier, it becomes a mobile fire support platform and command and control hub. As well as a forward logistics carrier for the deployed infantry.

Where things get hairy is Urban Combat, kinda. In an asymmetric conflict the increased protection the armor provides makes building clearance for the higher tech force much safer. Near-peer conflicts will probably be just as much as a pain as they are today.

Actually my question is What does the logistics train look like for a Power Armor Infantry in operation.

 

[Condottiere]

And last ditch rescue vehicle.

 

[Dragoner]

I would add digging in, BD troops would be excellent at entrenching, also in other fields, such as support, and engineering. I think airburst artillery shells would still be killer, and likely (as it is now) the most common fusing.

 

[mike wightman]

Not much point to digging in when facing meson artillery...

 

[Condottiere]

Battlefield variants are technological level fifteen, so limited to very few combatants.

 

[mike wightman]

The TL of the Imperial Army and Imperial Star Marines...

 

[The Oz]

Actually my question is What does the logistics train look like for a Power Armor Infantry in operation.

Logistics for BD troops is interesting. Since many weapons (FGMPs, X-ray lasers, meson artillery) are energy-based supply of power cells will be crucial, not to mention the power needs of the armor itself (enhanced STR, END, movement, computers, sensors, etc). Regular ammo (missiles, RAM grenades) might be lesser but still important. Food (water, air) would be a major item for any deployment longer than a hour or two. Drones for spotting and attack/defense would be vital.

A gripping question is how do you (the supply NCO) get the needed things to the front-line trooper? Presumably the BD computer requested the supplies (via meson comm IMTU) but delivering needed physical items to troopers could be difficult. Items capable of self-movement (drones) could fly themselves up, and I guess the other things could be loaded on logistics drones and delivered that way.

If the front-line boys have the time (and aren't needed at the front) they could just pull back out of contact and resupply, of course. That is basically what Heinlein's Mobile Infantry did.

 

[Ekofisk]

Heinlein also pointed out other potential issues iirc: the need for hypno-sleep and skirting the hygiene issue; "If I ever find a suit that will let me scratch between my shoulder blades, I'll marry it."
Unless your missions are all reliably short duration, you may want to get out of those suits on occasion. Medical treatment is going to be complicated as well.

 

[Dragoner]

I have an adventure where I write up resupply and other issues, this makes me think I should write up more BD options such as what is in the SRD.

 

[whartung]

Not much point to digging in when facing meson artillery...

Meson artillery/ortillery is Finger of God stuff.

I can see an orbital 2000-3000 ton orbital support ship with nothing but meson bay weapons laying waste to pretty much anything without a meson shield. You can park it in orbit, you can land it far back from the front. No need for "bunker busters", just "aim" the meson in the middle of the command center 100 feet under ground surrounded by a granite mountain. I like to use the "disruptor" sound from ST:TOS when I think of meson guns. Or, the phaser grenade/photon sound from the Gorn episode.

In Book 5, meson screens show up at TL12, and the bay weapons show up at TL13. Spinals at TL11.

Striker doesn't mention them until TL15, and doesn't mention screens at all (save for use in communicators).

FF&S has guns at TL11 and screens at TL12 (ooh, that's not good).

So, you have to wonder what land combat is like in that world. The screens have to be ubiquitous, but at the same time, they can't be. Do the BD troops fight within a bubble of the screens? Even if they get close enough to take the screen out, they're kind of in the "wrong place, wrong time". They would need to "get out of Dodge" so the artillery can do its work, because they'd be danger close.

This is where stealthy BD troops can come into play I think.