Read on for a summary of its recently published pointers on what every soldier must master in order to identify battlefield threats and – ultimately – survive.
This isn’t just a task for the Intelligence Corps. Learn how the opposition thinks and fights. Be able to recognise their vehicles and weapons, and learn what their movements and patterns mean. If we can’t read their signs we’ll be surprised – and killed.
Learn to see the enemy before they see you. Find, decide and strike faster than them. Opposition troops will be well camouflaged, try and trick us and mask their emissions. The principle is simple… any sensor, right decider, best effector. Information must flow fast and clearly. We need one shared common operating picture whenever we can. Keep it updated and share info quickly with the right people. Confusion kills.
We must survive to fight. Hide using camouflage and concealment. Control heat signature and electronic emissions. Use deception and decoys. They are watching us all the time, even in the UK. Disperse by keeping troops/vehicles 100-150m apart and groups small (four to five people max). Stay back from the front line unless necessary and avoid setting patterns. Artillery and mortars may be hit by counter-battery fire within three minutes. Dig and then hunt – the enemy will fire on us with massive and endless firepower, shells, mortars, rockets, drones. We must be ready to burrow deep and build proper overhead cover. Use drone nets, fake positions, and trenches with sharp twists and turns. Carry a shovel. If you can’t move, fortify. A trench may save your life.
Enemy targeting has already begun. We must defend supply lines, staging areas and every point in between. This must be tested in training now. The whole sustainment system – factory to front line – must work under attack.
These systems can find us, jam us, guide artillery or strike directly. We must learn to defeat them. Every training exercise must include enemy drones. Start with simple tools: camouflage, nets, decoys and air sentries. Every soldier must know how to spot a drone and report it. Action must be fast.
In Ukraine now, drones kill more soldiers than any other weapon. We must upskill at this. Every unit needs drone pilots. We must develop our skills with all types of systems, so we waste no time in effectively integrating them.
The enemy can see us from the sky, space, ground and on the airwaves. No move is truly hidden. Marching at night may not save you, so use cover. Use the weather and the thermal crossover (dawn/dusk). Use blind spots in their systems. Don’t set patterns. Hide your electronic emissions.
Every soldier must understand the battlefield is not just physical, it is also electromagnetic. The enemy can hear us. They can jam us. They can locate and strike us. If you are within 50km of the front line, your GPS may not work. You must be confident with a map and compass and know how your kit works without GPS. Strict radio emissions control – or emcon – is a vital discipline.
The enemy has already used tear gas in urban areas and trench fighting. They will do worse. They may strike chemical and nuclear plants. They may use nerve gas agents and even small ‘tactical’ nuclear weapons. You must be able to don your respirator and CBRN suit fast. Panic will kill you more rapidly than gas.
Helicopter rescue is unlikely. You may wait hours or days. Every soldier must have good basic casualty drills. We must increase the ability of CMTs to treat the wounded before they reach hospital. The enemy will target medical units, so medics may need to use deception, dispersal and any transport they can find. Medical facilities will need the same protection as HQs and logistic hubs. Prepare for many wounded – fast and all at once.
We must clear routes for our forces and block routes for the enemy. That means crossing rivers, clearing mines, and breaching obstructions. It also means building obstacles, fortifications and laying mines. All soldiers – at every echelon – must be ready to deal with mines. These will be everywhere.
The enemy is brutal, skilled and well armed. Their ‘recce-strike complex’ uses drones, massed cannon artillery, mortars and fast-moving assault detachments. They are willing to suffer continued losses and they will attack, again and again. We will lose equipment. We may lose ground. We must prepare for this. We must also prepare our minds. Train hard. Learn to fight in trenches, forests, and ruined urban areas. Expect casualties. Expect confusion. Expect exhaustion. Solid drills, SOIs, discipline and teamwork will hold us together.
