Page 33 - MERCIAN Eagle 2017

1 MERCIAN Oppositional Force Annual Summary
The world-class US OPFOR Units are routinely ordered to ‘win at all costs’ against the exercising BGs that they encounter (BLUEFOR) and the general effect is that after a period of complete chaos and, generally, a failed mission
or two, the BLUEFOR BG reassesses everything that they have learned and have another consolidated stab towards victory. They train to failure and, in doing so, learn to succeed quickly and grittily. In order to provide this level of OPFOR to 1 R WELSH and 1 YORKS, the majority of
1 MERCIAN deployed to BATUS, Canada, on a long-haul between 1 Apr - 5 Aug
17. The OPFOR BG consisted of a Recce Coy (Dragon), Armoured Sqn (Cyclops, RTR), AI Coy (B Coy), BGHQ (HQ Coy,
B Bty RHA, 22 Regt RE & 4 MI Bn) and
a complete REME Detachment totalling 351 individuals, a huge commitment of manpower to prepare 12 Armoured Infantry Brigade for their Readiness Year. Despite these numbers, we were dwarfed by the BLUEFOR BGs (3:1
and environmentally-acclimatised combined arms group. This paid particular dividends in our ongoing battle with our own fleet which was tired by the time we arrived and practically exhausted by the end of PS 1, but ‘a man and his tools make a man and his trade’ and supported by the BGLO, QM(T) and EME departments, we developed a solid understanding of the foundations, capabilities and limitations of our kit and
our Equipment Care steadily increased throughout.
Decisive: ‘Success occurs when preparation meets opportunity’ – Zig Ziglar.
Despite being part of the BATUS ‘Team of Teams’, to ensure parity, we were kept as situationally unaware as the Battlegroup. In fact, it is safe to say that we were often more in the dark as we didn’t have a fully functioning ISTAR and Host Nation liaison system to support our decision making.
Maj Ozzie Osborne BGLO
from mission start to mission end (often over 17hrs a day) to wreak havoc on the baffled BLUEFOR. By the start of the night missions (making up four of seven), we were able to conduct hasty attacks to devastating effect led by the RTR; conduct obstacle crossings without detection enabled by Recce; our ability to hold urban locations under B Coy was near impregnable; and an entire BG was stalled for three hours by a superbly-placed Javelin Section.
All of this activity was guaranteed by our use of TES as a weapon system in its own right. Simulated weaponry can never fully match its physical counterpart: sometimes it is better, instantly killing targets that may have survived a realistic engagement;
but often it is sub-standard, as was the case with our Anti-Tank Guided Weapons (ATGW) which only replicated half of the realistic engagement range. Regardless, the time invested by all operators in their own weapon system paid dividends as BLUEFOR struggled to gain control of the world’s largest two-way laser-range.
Sustaining: ‘First we build the tools, then they build us’ – Marshall McLuhan.
Although it has been mentioned previously, a special note must be given to both the quantity and quality of, initially, Equipment Support and, latterly, Equipment Care which
on PS1 and 5:1 on
PS2) and, therefore,
invested in the
quality of our free-
thinking and ruthless
attitude towards
warfighting with
which to prosecute
each mission. This
led to what can only
be described as catastrophic success in both exercises: pushing both BGs to their limits (and often beyond) as they stumbled towards hard-fought mission completion.
Shaping: ‘Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.’ – Abraham Lincoln.
As this was the first time that BATUS OPFOR have been instructed to push BLUEFOR beyond the point of failure, but without significant uplift to personnel or equipment, preparation for this role was no mean feat. Members of BHQ set conditions by visiting 11 Armoured Cav Regt (US) at the National Training Centre in Fort Irwin, USA; attended the 1-4 Infantry Battalion (US) in Hohenfels, Germany; and conducted a bespoke Super Recce of BATUS within the first quarter of 2017. The result of this collected wisdom was the development of the Donovian ‘How We Will Fight’ document (Fig 1).
These principles were tested on the Prairie in a bespoke collective training period during which the OPFOR deployed out for 15 days in advance of the Exercise to stress-test vehicles, crews, comms and command, with particular emphasis on every man being able to call for Fires. Far from a standard OPFOR run-out, the BG treated the event as though we were being tested and the cohesion that developed from rapid planning, battle-lanes and force-on-force led to a battle-ready
Throughout PS 1 we would hit the start line conceptually cold and build up
a picture as swiftly
as possible fed by
the incredible efforts of our Recce Coy mounted in landrovers without windshields. Key to our approach
was to dominate the night and disperse across as much ground as possible to find and fix the BLUEFOR without becoming decisively engaged by a larger and better- equipped force. This we achieved through the unrelenting use of Fires enabled by our RHA atts who literally did not stop talking
‘Key to our approach was to dominate the night and disperse across as much ground as possible’
Donovian Mech Infantry Brigade
‘How We Will Fight To Win’
FOR BATUS AND
THEN OURSELVES
MASKIROVKA – Deception, guile, concealment, disinformation and manoeuvre. AGGRESSION – Hyper-aggressive; overmatching the enemy with tempo. COUNTER ATTACK – counter attack in every tactical action; exploit success. EQUIPMENT CARE – excellent vehicle availability.
PROFESSIONALISM – empowered junior commanders will seize the initiative and exploit fleeting opportunity. We will abide by the BATUS rules and maintain the highest personal standards throughout.
SAFETY – Paramount in everything we do.
Principles of War
• Avoid the strong, attack the weak.
• Exploit every opportunity, no matter how small.
• Surprise and distraction are essential to
success.
• Keep moving, get ahead of the enemy, both
conceptually and physically.
• Keep the enemy on constant alert front to rear.
• Morale is king. Avoid notions of enemy
superiority.
• Media has immeasurable gains, gather and
use it in every battle opportunity.
• Conceal our forces in all ways (conventional
and asymmetric).
• Use deception and disinformation in all
actions.
• Use all opportunities to harass the enemy and
reduce their FoM.
TTP’s
• Slick & Simple drills. 6 principal LTAs – A2C, Mobile and Area Defence, Recce in Force, Assault, Relief of Troops and Obs Breaching.
• Excellent low level battlefield disc, by day and night utilising innovative (C3D) to allow the OPFOR to survive against a significantly more capable force.
• Stealth and manoeuvre to exploit low vehicle signatures.
• Flexibility, surprise & rapid re-grouping to be a central pillar in all
operations, the ability to rapidly mass and disperse combat power will
be paramount.
• Exploitation of anti-tank range overmatch.
• Avoid the decisive battle (where possible) – manoeuvre, survive, strike.
• Exploitation of OS range overmatch, cuing of mass fires (MLRS), use
of SCATMIN & C-Bty Fire.
• Exploitation of Media to spread propaganda, initiate civil unrest and
expose tactical (strategic failure).
• Exploitation of C-PERS through the media for intelligence and expose
tactical (strategic failure).
Donovian How We Will Fight
THE MERCIAN EAGLE
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