Deep Battle: The way forward?

As mentioned in my previous blog on Future Soldier, the British Army is planning to focus it's warfighting capability on a move from the 'Close Battle' to the 'Deep Battle'. This comes as a move away from the focus of Army 2020 Refine on the 'Strike' Brigades, which was undeliverable due to costs among other issues.

M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) on Otterburn Ranges

Contents:

1. What is Deep Battle?

2. Why is the British Army adopting it?

3. How is the British Army adopting it?

4. Conclusion

What is Deep Battle?

Deep Battle is a change in doctrine that will hopefully redefine the way the Army will fight it's battles. Up until now, the Army has worked on the Cold-War style combat system of 'Close Battle', which involves closing with the enemy and destroying their combat units (Tanks, IFVs, APCs, Infantry etc.) with your combat units. This made sense in the Cold War, where although ranges had become larger since the Second World War, artillery was still not that effective at taking out armoured vehicles and so the most effective way to take out an enemy tank was by firing at it from your tank or using an ATGM from your foxhole.

Deep Battle on the other hand emphasises destroying enemy units from long ranges with precision-fired artillery. This saves your own combat units for a counterattack or other missions. Of course, if your artillery is unsuccessful at destroying the enemy, your combat units can still close and engage them in 'Close Battle'. The idea for achieving 'Deep Battle' is for your forces to send out an effective reconnaissance force, to detect and harass the enemy without drawing too much fire themselves, then sending the enemy's location to a series of Deep Fires units, who will engage the enemy before relocating to avoid counter-battery fire.

Why Is the British Army adopting it?

The British Army has decided to adopt the ‘Deep Battle’ doctrine in light of the recent restructuring of the Army under the Future Soldier programme. In addition, the Army is adopting the doctrine as strategy to replace the previous large strategy change, which came with the ’Strike Brigade’ concept.

A Boxer AFV, the vehicle which won the MIV contract in 2018.

The 'Strike Brigade' concept of Army 2020 Refine envisioned two 'Strike Brigades', made up of Armoured Cavalry Regiments equipped with Ajax, and infantry with ATGMs in Mechanised Infantry Vehicles (MIVs). This concept fell short due to overrunning costs, as well as the troubled Ajax programme and slow decision-making on choice of MIV.

How is the British Army adopting it?

The first major move towards 'Deep Battle' under Future Soldier is the restructuring of the Royal Artillery. Currently, the two Regiments who provide the Army's 'Deep Fires' are 26th Regiment Royal Artillery and 101st Regiment Royal Artillery, the latter being a reserve regiment. These Regiments are both equipped with the M270 MLRS tracked vehicle. However, under Future Soldier 3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery, currently equipped with the L118 Light Gun, will convert to a 'Deep Fires' Regiment. The envisaged structure of these Regiments is as follows:

• 26th Regiment Royal Artillery will be a 3 Battery Regiment, with 2 Batteries of M270s, one of which will have an Ajax tactical group, as well as an Ajax tactical group Battery. Upon deployment, 101st Regiment Royal Artillery will provide the Regiment with a 3rd M270 Battery.

• 3rd Regiment Royal Artillery will instead be a 2 Battery Regiment, equipped with 2 Batteries of M270s, with one receiving a Jackal tactical group. 101st Regiment Royal Artillery will also provide 3rd Regiment Royal Horse Artillery with a 3rd Battery of M270s upon deployment.

• 101st Regiment Royal Artillery will provide the two active Regiments with an extra Battery each, as opposed to their previous role where they only provided individual M270 detachments and reinforcements.

In addition to the restructuring, the 'Deep Fires' Regiments will also be receive a £250,000 investment in their equipment. Currently around 30 M270s are in service, but after this upgrade this will rise to above 40. The upgrades in this investment include: a new Load Launcher Module (LLM) and firing computer, an option of new munitions as they enter service such as the US precision strike missile which can hit targets 500km (311 miles!) away as well as Exactor-type rockets, new more fuel-efficient engines and composite rubber tracks, refurbished hulls, new running gear, upgraded armour and an enlarged cabin.

These new Regiments will fall under the 1st Deep Recce Strike Brigade Combat Team (BCT). As touched on in my previous article, this BCT will use Ajax's sensors to detect enemy forces, alongside traditional scouting by Light Cavalry, and then use the M270 Regiments to carry out fire missions on those targets.

Conclusion

This doctrine seems to fulfill the Army's needs, as it cannot spend too much on creating new BCTs and needs to do the best with what it has. However, I believe that the MLRS Regiments do not fit in 1st Deep Recce Strike Brigade Combat Team, as it is simply an odd formation, which I believe to be a marriage of convenience of several different units. If I were CGS, I'd place the M270 Regiments as well as 5th Regiment Royal Artillery and a Light Cavalry Regiment into their own Artillery Brigade to provide either Divisional or Corps-Level support.