Quote:
Originally Posted by Officer of Engineers
I have a question for you.
Where do you see the need for mech war assets? For us Canuckians, obviously Europe and now Afghanistan but outside of the Korean War, your deployments have mostly been infantry centric and in the case of Vietnam, jungle warfare.
In which case, air insert seem to be the way to go, ie towed pieces. Truck mounted howitzers are great, if you have roads but come rock, mud, and big holes, they're next to useless.
SPHs are next to impossible in jungle. Your white paper stated that you need to sustain a brigade outside of Australia indefinitely but mostly infantry and engineers, at most mech infanteers. Very few mention of tanks and artillery. So, what is the operational picture?
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Again I agree with you!
The Australian government and the ADF though, have this thing over the past decade or so, of wanting to be one of the big boys.
Wanting to play with the big league – like America, Britain etc……
So over the past decade they have some-what fallen into the trap of wanting the big toys, just like the big boys!
I must say, my time in East Timor also reiterated to us that there was and is a need of tracked mobility in the mountains at times (especially in the ‘rainy season’ – when wheeled vehicles were useless!)
Seeing this first hand I do not know how we would have went moving towed artillery (L118 or M198’s) in those conditions if they were needed or deployed. Even our LAV’s were useless!!!
To the issue regarding tracked armour in jungle warfare.
Well the Australian’s proved tracked armour’s worth and capability in jungle warfare in WWII with their Matilda tanks!
In Vietnam the Australian deployed their Centurion tanks in jungle warfare with great success – often to the shock of the enemy, and the surprise of the Americans.
The American’s were surprised, because their tanks M47/M48 were not as efficient or capable as the Centurion in going through the thick jungles of Vietnam.
I have heard many stories that the American’s on many occasions requested Australian Centurion support in some operation, due to its ability to operate in this environment!
Regards
Pioneer