Britain's BMD family

[uk 75]

Watching Ukrainian infantry riding Spartan APCs last year got me thinking that the CVR(T) family could have given 16 Brigade capabilities similar to the BMD in Soviet Airborne Divisions.
Scorpion and Scimitar could take care of enemy APCs while Striker with Swingfire took on the tanks. Sultan Command, Samson Engineer and Samaritan ambulances make up the support. The 105mm light gun with a 1ton Land Rover took care of the artillery.

16 Brigade would have given NATO a useful force to deploy to Denmark or Turkish Thrace in times of tension while the UK could deploy it to allies like Singapore or Oman.

 

[Yellow Palace]

Of course, 16 (Air Assault) Brigade wasn't formed until 1999, by merging 5 (Airborne) Brigade and 24 (Airmobile) Brigade. The latter was really intended as a force of ATGM firing posts to be moved by helicopter into the path of Soviet tank columns. It's difficult to see how light armoured vehicles would help them.

In the case of 5 (Airborne), the big challenge is what it does for lift capacity. When I've looked at similar questions in the past, a crude rule of thumb is that an air transport force that can drop a battalion of paratroops can probably drop a company group of airborne mechanised troops.

There may well be circumstances when you really want that mobility and protection. There are likely to be a lot of circumstances where you'd rather have a force three or four times larger.

 

[uk 75]

Sorry I meant the earlier brigade.

16th Parachute Brigade (United Kingdom) - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Yellow Palace]

Fair play, they are indeed the direct equivalent (via a circuitous route of 'Field Forces') of the later 5th Airborne Brigade. In which case my comments stand. Sometimes useful, sometimes not, always needing more airlift.

 

[DWG]

Of course, 16 (Air Assault) Brigade wasn't formed until 1999, by merging 5 (Airborne) Brigade and 24 (Airmobile) Brigade. The latter was really intended as a force of ATGM firing posts to be moved by helicopter into the path of Soviet tank columns. It's difficult to see how light armoured vehicles would help them.

Speaking of 24 Airmobile Brigade, I hadn't realised until recently that NATO's Planning Committee snaffled it out of BAOR in 1992 to be a NORTHAG asset in the Multi-National Airborne Division, later Multinational Division Centre, Airmobile, along with the Belgian Para-Commando Brigade, Netherlands 11 Airmobile Brigade, and German 31 Luftlandebrigade. That was an expansion of the counter-breakthrough force concept to divisional level, after testing it with the same units in Exercise Certain Shield in 1991. It had a rapid reaction tasking, but possibly also intended as a counter to the Soviet Unified Army Corps concept?

(The Unified Army Corps was essentially a pre-formed Operational Manouevre Group, intended as a deep penetration unit after a breakthrough).

 

[Scott Kenny]

While I think the Russians have the right idea with the BMDs, they really suck up transport capacity.

A C130 can actually carry 130 paratroopers (yes, they're jammed in there like sardines). Or two CVR(T)s plus crew (volume issue, not weight limited).