The drive to increase the army’s lethality means that alterations to tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) and training are on their way. We quizzed Maj Adam Szczerbiuk (RA) from the Experimentation and Trials Group…
Why does the army need to alter its training?
Because current conflicts look and feel very different to most exercises we stage. Part of the challenge is a physical one. We need to provide a more immersive experience with realistic sights, sounds and smells, but this is currently too hard to achieve. The process of making sites like Imber Village into an authentic battlefield is very challenging and when it is achieved, it all has to be undone at the end of the exercise. We must be far more proactive in providing things like rubble, hulks, debris, fire, smoke and carcasses. There needs to be more realistic urban facilities and freedom to dig and not have to fill in again. The other part of the challenge is about modifying the training itself so the Army can change the way it fights.
Why is this required?
Today’s battlefields are showing us that, while conventional manoeuvres need to be practised, there should also be a focus on the electromagnetic spectrum and the near-surface flank. To survive and outmanoeuvre the enemy, we must dominate this zone. That means when fighting by recce strike, commanders need to take into account their forward line of sensors and robotics, not just their forward line of troops. All soldiers – not just a few specialists – need a detailed picture of the enemy and what the high value targets are, which is where the digital network is essential. The latest situational awareness tools allow personnel to operate in a dispersed but synchronised way.
Also, with our focus on combined arms, we need to increase skill sets rapidly. Counter-UAS, for example, should not be a niche trade. At the lowest level, a soldier with a shotgun can defeat an enemy drone. Anti-tank capability should exist within every section and all troops must be able to construct obstacles and improvised protection. Specialist anti-tank or assault pioneer platoons should no longer be standalone capabilities.
How are drones influencing change?
Commanders need to be experts in countering enemy drones. They must also know how to use their own remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, as well as attacking enemy forces with first-person view assets, loitering munitions and droppers. They need a mindset of air offence as well as air defence. Knowing how to use resupply drones and uncrewed ground vehicles is also becoming a factor. There is intent to make every drone operator in the army capable of beyond visual line of sight operations, which isn’t the case at the moment. On the defensive side, our approach to camouflage and concealment must adapt. Individuals should consider their infrared and thermal signatures as well as the visual. Also, every door, window and small opening should now have some form of protection against intrusion by first-person view drones. Occupying a building is no use if the threat can fly right in.
What other aspects of training could change?
Ad hoc formations should be encouraged so that armoured, mechanised and light forces become much more interchangeable and adept at working together at a low level. This will take a major investment in training hours but it will make junior commanders more confident, enabling them to truly understand and exploit combined arms capability. And it is almost certainly more realistic in a first-battle scenario. In addition, having one forming-up point is becoming an outdated tactic. If you concentrate, you attract immediate indirect fire. Therefore, smaller dispersed points and infiltration are the way forward.
How important is all this?
Critical. The chief of the general staff has given the service some challenging timelines for doubling and tripling our fighting power. When our findings are woven together with developments, and lessons from current conflicts, we can achieve powerful advances in capability. Ultimately, these changes will help save British and allied lives and give us a winning edge if the balloon ever goes up.
For more informaton on how the British Army will respond to future threats, search for the Land Operating Concept strategy.
