Page 20 - Bugle Spring 2023

3 RIFLES
A COMPANY PREPARES
TO KILL TANKS
A Company has been training hard over the past six months to prepare itself to deploy to Estonia in March 2023 as part of the QRH Battlegroup on Op CABRIT(E) 12. The primary focus has been turning the Rifle Company into an Anti-Tank Company, a role created for the Op CABRIT deployment. To enable this, Anti-Tank Platoon has been moved
into A Company. This has also involved a redesignation of the company to A (Anti- Tank) Company to encapsulate this unique role.
NCOs and Officers have taken part in conceptual training to understand the capabilities and doctrine whilst Riflemen
and JNCOs have trained as Javelin and NLAW operators – weapons made famous by their use by Ukrainian soldiers. Anti-Tank Platoon are certainly the subject matter experts, but for the company to be effective, that knowledge has to be shared. Such breadth of knowledge enables any one part of the grouping to destroy tanks with efficiency and skill, whilst simultaneously being able to perform as a regular Rifle Company in the field when the situation demands it.
The training requirements for the deployment have also necessitated demanding live and dry training. The Company deployed to Barry Buddon in September
to conduct Live Fire Tactical Training up to Platoon attack by night and to Otterburn in October to achieve the required standard
in live fire gunnery training on the Mastiff vehicles that the Company will be operating in. This has been the most complex Live Fire Training conducted by the Company in recent times, including using weapon systems not
normally available to a Rifle Company, such as the Heavy Machine Gun. A (A-Tk) Company also deployed on Ex RAPID SKIRMISH in November, a mechanised exercise to validate it as ready to fight. Operating across the plains of Norfolk, the Company conducted actions both familiar and foreign, culminating in an anti-tank delay across 10km against a larger enemy force.
In December and January 2023, the company will spend seven weeks in Sennelager, Germany on Ex TALLINN DAWN where it will join the QRH Battlegroup. Starting with simulated training to develop the planning side and experiment with how
20 RIFLES The Bugle
A Company practicing live firing Anti-Tank weapons
Riflemen and JNCOs have trained
the Company will be utilised, the Company started to integrate with the tanks. This will then develop into live fire and dry training
at battlegroup level, with Riflemen from the Company fighting alongside Challenger 2s, Warriors, artillery, and a Company from the French Foreign Legion. A first for the majority of the Riflemen.
The training has been demanding; however, A (A-Tk) Company will be at the top of its game on its deployment to Estonia, demonstrating a capability that could not be more relevant to the current international situation.
Capt Hunter, Company Second-in- Command
A (A-Tk) Company
as Javelin and NLAW operators
Mechanised vehicles were used to support Riflemen in the urban environments
Company HQ receive their options brief from Recce Platoon