National Training Center (NTC). 1994.

A Heavy Brigade of M1A1 Abrams MBTs and M2A2 Bradley IFVs approaches their dust clouds seen miles away.....

We are OPFOR on the mountains they must pass.

We must wait. And wait. And wait.....for them to get within range of our infantry weapons...

When they do finally arrive, we hit them first with TOW ATGMs a long way out--4 kms. Vehicles stop with blue light flashing. We call in artillery on them. More blue lights and stopped vehicles.

By the time the main body is in front of us there were 58 "dead" vehicles by my count.

A "light mechanized" (M113s) infantry company had killed a Brigade's attack.

But some of our guys were "dead", too because we had to wait until we were in direct fire gun range of the heavy AFV's guns to fire our own. This is decisive engagement--win or die and what we must avoid.

AIRBORNE INFANTRY AND STAND-OFF ATTACKS

One of the conclusions the British made from their Falklands War against the Argentines was that reverse slope defenses they used were sound and the forward slope positions the Argies used were pummeled by every gun and mortar that could be fired at them. The British Paras were even firing MILAN ATGMs at them! The forward slope defense is tactically unsound though we got away with it at NTC because artillery fires there are not simulated well. Waiting in forward slope positions for the enemy to get within range of your own less than 1 kilometer infantry weapons is suicide in an age where forward-looking Infared will detect you first and rain down artillery on you long before you can shoot back.

We need to execute the reverse slope and/or minimum defilade type defenses as outlined in John English's book, On Infantry so the main body of infantry troops stay masked behind the terrain. Only a few scouts to report back the enemy's actions are even slightly exposed and they are extremely well camouflaged to include Thellie suits and space blankets over their hide sites to defeat FLIR. When the enemy reaches a stand-off engagement point, long range weapons like Javelin, TOW and Hellfire ATGMs coupled with our own artillery and HMMWV mounted EFOGMs and LOSAT Hyper-Velocity Missiles hit the Iraqi-type armored Brigade which cannot reach our own infantry with fire---they are dug in on the reverse slope with good overhead cover. This is their "cold" fighting position. If the enemy tries to send in its own infantry, they will crest the terrain rise, come back down and be slaughtered by our infantry with the enemy's fire support masked and unable to help.

If the enemy tries to "stampede" on through like BlueFor tried against us at NTC, the infantry moves from its reverse slope positions to minimum terrain defilade ambush positions and completes the slaughter as their AFVs hit our mines and obstacles. This is their "Hot" fighting position. In essence, a reverse slope defense is like a tank's hull-down position for infantry.

LONG-RANGE ATGMS TO STOP THE GUNFIGHTER MENTALITY

The key to avoiding the forward slope/decisive engagement is longer range ATGMs which with the new Javelin's 2,000 meter range are a vast improvement over the M47 Dragon's mere 1,000 meter range. Dragons were not effective for us at NTC. Our most effective weapons were man-packed TOW ATGMs attached to us.

The down-side is that Javelin at 50 pounds is very heavy to manpack---though a double-sling with waist belt could help keep the thing away from your legs. The TOW ATGM is not organic to the rifle company and is usually wedded to HMMWV 4x4 wheeled or M901 ITV tracked AFV ground vehicles, the latter unavailable to Light/Airborne Divisions, which is a serious mistake. The 12-ton M901 ITV weighs the roughly the same as 22,000 pound FMTV trucks used by the Airborne and is EASIER to rig for airdrop. ITVs come with tripods to man-pack TOWs like the IDF Paras do so well in their wars with the Arabs. The ITV can fire the TOW BLAM missile good against buildings and bunkers and Carlton Meyer's 150mm rockets if created, since future wars are likely to be in cities.

The TOW ATGM has its own "gunslinger" problems--its gunner must stay exposed to track its missile all the way to the target. The ITV's Emerson Hammerhead is breakage-prone and is slow to retract and be locked before it can "scoot" after shooting. Thus, The U.S. Army is developing the Follow On To Tow (FOTT) ATGM to replace it which will be "fire and forget" like Javelin. This still leaves the ITV with a fragile Hammerhead turret.

WHAT IF THE ENEMY TANKS HAVE LASER WARNING DEVICES?

The latest Russian tanks have laser warning devices to tell them if they are being "lazed"; will this render weapons like Hellfire obsolete?

Noted U.S. Army Aviator, Glenn S. Bloom says in his awesome The Helicopter Web Page:

"One of the special capabilities of the OH-58D's laser designator is to allow for "offset lasing". What that means is that the target can be aquired and a false target can be aquired right next to the real target. When the laser guided munition is fired from an Apache helicopter, an A-10 Warthog airplane, or another ground based weapons system, the munition will follow the laser toward the false target. At the last few seconds, the laser is switched to the primary target, and the primary target is now painted and is then destroyed by the weapon fired. What this does is limits the use of laser tracking warning devices that tell a target that it is being painted by a laser. If the operators of target, (like a tank) are aware that they are being lased, then they have the opportunity to take evasive measures to reduce the possibility of being destroyed. They may move behind cover, or depart the area. The offset lasing system only allows them a very short period of time to realize that they are being lased and allows no time to take evasive measures. If you have ever watched a capabilities exercise put on by the Army, you will know that there is nothing more accurate than laser guided munitions. They always go right for the laser spot on the target, and they are extremely destructive. Development of newer self propelled howitzers (Like the Paladin project) have made the OH-58D much more useful on the modern battlefield."

TRIPOD MOUNTING FOR AIRBORNE TROOPS

Paratroopers might be dropped in to secure key terrain/mobility corridors as we did at NTC. Special Forces might be tasked to "close down" an enemy airfield like the SEALs were assigned to do at the disastrous Punta Paitilla Raid in Panama. Instead of moving in close and manhandling planes to serve as obstacles on the runway, we hit the enemy "from a distance" firing Hellfires from a tripod as depicted above. This is not unlike the VC rocketing DaNang Air Base in the Vietnam war with man-packed 122mm rockets, just more lethal--the Hellfire hits exactly what its aimed at. The stand-off range is vital to give Paratroopers the ability to avoid decisive engagement and to keep moving to a myriad of new ambush positions. Such tools are exactly what SAS patrol Bravo Two-Zero needed to destroy far-off mobile SCUD TELs when it tried to foot infiltrate close enough to lay demolition charges but were detected and surrounded long before they had a chance.

The down-size is that the extra range costs you in the missile's weight--over 100 pounds each. To counter this use All-Terrain All-purpose Carts (ATACs) to tow them into firing positions after being airdropped as an A-21 or A-22 bundle. Extremely small motor vehicles like the ParaGator or German Wiesel tracked AFV could be paradropped or CH-47D Chinook helicopter or V-22 tilt-rotor inserted to carry the Hellfires and even launch them, though the vehicles themselves give off IR signatures. If absolute stealth is not needed, vehicles could shoot n scoot Hellfires from a distance and drive to "cold" hiding positions terrain masked from IR detection.

Weapons analyst Carlton Meyer writes:

"Just some thoughts on the tripod Hellfire. The 100 lbs Hellfire would be hell to hump, but a two-man team using a stretcher should be able to move one few miles. Another opition are the tow carts which you advocate.

Airborne blocking forces
In many cases, terrain or lack of airlift will not allow vehicle mounted anti-tank systems to be dropped with Paras. However, a Para company with 10 tripods and 100 Hellfires could blast an attacking tank company.

Special Ops Traditionally, Commandos had to sneak up and place explosives to destroy a target, which was tried as recently as 1990 in Panama. The Hellfire is the ultimate special ops weapons. Paras could set up a few well outside an airbase and quickly blast aircraft or anything else. Blast/frag Hellfires are available as well as shaped anti-armor. The SEALs should put these on their Mark V patrol boats as well.