Accession Number:

ADB006708

Title:

A New Unit for Europe

Descriptive Note:

Final rept.

Corporate Author:

ARMY COMMAND AND GENERAL STAFF COLLEGE FORT LEAVENWORTH KS

Personal Author(s):

• Harper, Philip R.

Report Date:

1975-06-06

Pagination or Media Count:

36.0

Abstract:

The purpose of the study was to recommend a task force concept, based on an analysis of the factors of command and control, fire support, and weapons mix which would perform best for U.S. forces in NATO. The study employs war gaming techniques to evaluate the relative merits of various combined arms force concepts as they might be used to defend against a motorized rifle battalion reinforced by one tank company and an antitank battery. Various battalion size units were created and deployed on the war game site. A platoon plus slice of each of these test battalions was then war gamed against a standard threat. The results were compared against the performance of the present U.S. system of task organization. The study concludes that the war game and the literature supports the requirement for at least three long-range ATGM systems per committed platoon with one backup to replace battle losses. The mix should include at least one Shillelagh system due to the effect of enemy artillery suppressive fires on soft ATGM systems. The best force for U.S. troops in NATO would be a standard mech battalion task force with a 13 tank M60A2 armored company cross attacked.

Descriptors:

• *MILITARY FORCES(UNITED STATES)
• ANTITANK WEAPONS
• ARTILLERY UNITS
• BATTALION LEVEL ORGANIZATIONS
• CENTRAL EUROPE
• COMPANY LEVEL ORGANIZATIONS
• DEFENSE SYSTEMS
• FIREPOWER
• INFANTRY
• MILITARY FORCE LEVELS
• NATO
• PLATOON LEVEL ORGANIZATIONS
• SURFACE TO SURFACE MISSILES
• THREAT EVALUATION
• WAR GAMES
• WEAPON MIXES
• WEST GERMANY

Subject Categories:

• Personnel Management and Labor Relations
• Military Operations, Strategy and Tactics

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE