Thread: Stryker pics from Iraq

I was under the impression it had a 39 Caliber Cannon(they were testing the chasis with modifed XM777). At least that is what it says on the United Defense site.

http://www.uniteddefense.com/pr/pr_20031022.htm

I highly dought a 20 ton vehicle could take a 56 caliber cannon.

NLOS-C Demonstrator

Copy and Paste
http://www.geocities.com/althorc/NLOS-C.jpg

It's not the weight of the vehicle but how it is anchored. The XM777 is a demonstrator, not even a prototype. To handle the various munitions demanded by FCS, there is no choice but the 56 calibre.

Thanks for the info.

Everytime i look at the Stryker i want to blow it up with a 1/4 stick of dynamite.

It's overkill....but hey, i like blowing up toys.

It's not the weight of the vehicle but how it is anchored. The XM777 is a demonstrator, not even a prototype. To handle the various munitions demanded by FCS, there is no choice but the 56 calibre.

Nearly every single site I have seen said it will use a 39 caliber gun and they are developing thoose stupid Long Range shells that will go 40km to make up for the smaller barrel.

I hope to god it is 56 caliber but it doesn't look that way.

There are two issues here. The technology demonstrator and the army requirements.

As far as Maj Holthus is concerned, those requirements has not and will not change. He also doesn't have much hope for the NLOS-C as in lacking the sustainable punch of the Crusader which was a self-contained system. The NLOS-C is reliant on external computing power.

The technology demonstrator is slated to do exactly that, to demonstrate that the technology is feasible and produceable. For that, they're skewing the demonstration left, right, and centre and hence, the 39 instead of the 56 calibre.

However, in no way is the USArmy abandonning their requirements for the 56 calibre.

My comments
From the Maj, presents several arguements for and against truck mounted arty.

Also, Col MacDonald is one hell of a war leader and now, one hell of a lawyer.

Dutch MOBAT system offered to Canada for fast deployment in indirect fire
SHARON HOBSON

The Mobile Artillery (MOBAT) system, developed by RDM Technology in the Netherlands, may be suitable for armies, such as Canada's, which are looking for a cost-effective, technological stepping stone to the future. MOBAT is a 105mm truck-mounted howitzer, combining existing technology with new technology and new operational concepts. The 105mm, 33-caliber gun is mounted on a platform that integrates the gun; the electric gun drives; the working platform of the crew; the ammunition racks; the stabilization system; and the BAE Systems Avionics Group LINAPS (Laser Inertial Artillery Pointing System). The platform can be mounted on almost any type of 4x4, 4t or 5t truck.

At Canadian Forces Base Gagetown, in New Brunswick, in September 2003, the MOBAT system demonstrated its speed, firepower and ease of operation as it fired 48 rounds from four different locations in less than 20 minutes.

In the first location, the four-member MOBAT crew fired 12 charge-3 rounds within one minute and then followed that with a three-serial fireplan - two high-angle shots, then two low-angle shots to the right, and two shots to the left.

At the second location, the MOBAT fired three shots straight ahead at low angle, four shots at high angle, and then another three shots at low angle. It took only 42 seconds to move the gun from the high-angle to low-angle position.

Firings at the third and fourth locations further demonstrated the system's ability to move into and out of action quickly and efficiently.

The system impressed its mainly Canadian audience with its speed of redeployment: the MOBAT took approximately 30 seconds to come out of firing position and begin traveling to its next location. Once in location, the system took about one minute to lower the stabilizers, load the first round, check the LINAPS grid, lay the gun, and fire. In operational testing, RDM says the MOBAT requires a time from call for fire while driving, up to the first round fired, of 90 seconds.

Captain Wade McHattie, senior instructor ammunition and equipment, Artillery School, Combat Training Centre, noted that the time coming in and out of action "is probably 1/20th of the amount of time we actually spend bringing a gun into action right now". He said: "When a gun arrives on location, right now, if everything was set up - and it takes about 20min to set up a position before the gun even arrives, with a recce party and instruments - it still takes about five minutes to get one gun recorded and ready, one gun to engage."

Counter-bombardment

He was impressed that "with this system here, they were firing in less than a minute on every single deployment. So you could have six guns [a Canadian battery] pulling in and within a minute, they're firing. It's a light-year improvement."

The gun can fire all existing and modern base-bleed 105mm artillery ammunition up to a range of nearly 20km. For the Canadian demonstration, the army used only charge 3 due to safety concerns. The organizers had only a narrow corridor for firing, because the demonstration was taking place near the edge of the impact range and a Canadian Forces Air Command and forward air controller exercise was taking place on the other side.

With an ERM1 base-bleed projectile in conjunction with an RO663A2 charge, and 70º of elevation, MOBAT is claimed to have a maximum range of 19.5km. When firing a US XM913 rocket-assisted round with an M200 charge, the maximum range would be 19.6km.

A concern expressed by several attendees was that of crew protection. Driving a regular army truck, with an open back, the four-member crew has no protection from either opposing forces or the elements while traveling or firing.

The speed of moving in and out of action, however, offers substantial protection from counter-bombardment. As retired Colonel Brian MacDonald, a former Canadian artillery officer, observed: "It would take an awfully sharp locating and counter-bombardment shop to get it."

The Canadians at the trial appeared to be in agreement that the MOBAT platform should be put on another type of truck. A truck with an extended, lightly armored cab would protect the crew while traveling. RDM says that it is responding to concerns about crew comfort.

Colonel Peter Janker, commander of the US Army Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center, commented that he "thought it was a very impressive integration of existing technology employed in a unique manner". Noting that "it's relatively still a prototype", he suggested that "there are a lot of areas that could evolve to be even more efficient". Col Janker added: "There are several things that the crew identified that would make it a little bit easier - perhaps an ability to automatically lay rather than having to individually lay on to an asset, and to an elevation."

Prior to the demonstration, company representatives briefed the attendees on the major components of the MOBAT system.

In the M101 with the 33-caliber upgrade "the recoil system has been designed especially for the extended-range ammunition from Royal Ordnance" as well as other modern ammunition, RDM's Project Manager Development, Wim de Ruijter, told his audience. The breech ring is stronger, the recoil system has been improved, and there is a new three-baffle muzzle brake. The gun has a burst rate of 12rds/min and a sustained rate of fire of 5rds/min.

De Ruijter said that the LINAPS navigation and display system is what makes it possible for the system to "shoot and scoot".

BAE's Kevin Browne, senior technical representative for the Sensor Systems Division, said the LINAPS proved itself during Operation 'Iraqi Freedom' in March-April 2003, when the British Army used it with its 105mm L118 guns to fire approximately 20,000 rounds "with no faults to date". He said, "The methods of orientating artillery have changed little since World War I," noting the optical dial sight necessitates a high degree of training.

It also requires heavy maintenance, is affected by environmental conditions and requires orientation from an outside source. The LINAPS, on the other hand, is an all-weather system; is faster into action; does not require external orientation; is easy to train and use; and has three navigation components - Global Positioning System (GPS), inertial navigation unit (INU) and a distance transmitter unit (odometer) - to give it reliability, flexibility and improved accuracy, BAE Systems claimed.

Menu-driven gunlaying

A Rockwell Collins 12-channel P(Y) code GPS receiver, together with an associated antenna, is built into the top cover of the FIN 3110L INU. If the GPS is not available, the INU is capable of providing accurate navigation with GPS data by the integration of inertial and odometer data. The odometer is specially designed for the light gun to fit completely within the wheel hub assembly.

In the horizontal position, using the inertial navigation system (INS) and GPS, LINAPS has an accuracy of 10m CEP (circular error probability); using the INS and odometer, the CEP is 15m or 0.15% of the distance traveled. In the vertical position, with INS/GPS, the accuracy is 10m PE; with the INS/odometer, it is 0.15% of distance traveled. For heading/pointing and roll/elevation, LINAPS has an accuracy of <1mil.

The Layer's Display and Control Unit lies at the heart of the LINAPS and combines an 8.1in touch-sensitive electro-luminescent display, with powerful processing and specialized interfacing. It provides a user-friendly, menu-driven display of gunlaying and navigation information, communicating with other LINAPS subsystems via a bidirectional serial interface. A commercial-off the-shelf, large flat-panel, touch-sensitive display provides the truck driver with navigation data.

LINAPS is powered from a gun-mounted power management system (PMS) based on nickel-cadmium (Ni-Cad) battery technology. Browne said, "Once the battery detects that it is receiving an external source [of power], it flips a switch, and it allows that external source to power the system." When the external source is unplugged, the battery again takes over as the power source. A fully charged PMS is able to power LINAPS for seven hours (or nearly 10 hours if Power Save Mode is selected).

Browne said the basic LINAPS package is "a full navigation and pointing system" - the system demonstrated at Gagetown - "but it has the capability to be upgraded to a full onboard computation system". BAE Systems is supplying the standard LINAPS to Jordan, and also supplies its FIN 3110L INU for incorporation in Denel/Kentron's full-up Arachnida weapon management system, from which LINAPS is derived. Arachnida forms the basis of the universal Laying Management and Navigation System (LMNS), which Kentron is reported to have sold to the UAV for fire control aboard G6 and M109 155mm self-propelled howitzers, as well as 122mm and 240mm multiple rocket launchers, respectively supplied from Italy and North Korea (see IDR 1/2002, p26).

BAE Systems says the LINAPS software is easily upgraded for battlefield digitization and there is also growth provision to integrate with the Bowman battlefield tactical communications network, muzzle velocity radar, laser range-finder and ammunition handling.

In response to concerns about the system having only been subjected to warm weather trials, Bruce Armstrong, RDM's representative in Canada, added: "The gun portion or the ordnance portion of the normal C3 towed howitzer (which uses the same ordnance as the MOBAT) was tested to -45ºC in a cold chamber test just outside of Montreal." Browne said the Ni-Cad battery has been tested and proven to power LINAPS at -32ºC for six hours.

Stable firing

The MOBAT can carry 20 rounds of prepared ammunition behind the truck cab, near the loader, and also has racks for another 20-40 prepared rounds at the rear of the platform.

The MOBAT platform can be installed or removed from the truck in under one hour. The system is made stable for firing by hydraulically operated struts which are lowered to the ground, one on each side of the vehicle, just behind the front axle. There is a separate adjustment of the individual stabilizer struts.

De Ruijter said that when the gun is fired, there is "no force in the front axle, and a light force in the rear axle", but he emphasized that "the forces are never higher than those that occur when driving a 4t truck".

The gun's electric elevating and traversing drives are controlled by a joystick mounted on the right side, and powered by an auxiliary power unit (APU).

Traverse capability is normally constrained to a +/-800mil arc (45º), but this can be extended to +/-3,400mils using manual drive. The elevation range is -90/+1260mils (71º).

The MOBAT system carries its own APU fitted under cover at the rear of the truck. Trials in Thailand and Jordan "showed you can operate off the batteries for one day; after that, you can use the APU to recharge the batteries", said De Ruijter.

The company emphasizes that in addition to high mobility on land, air mobility of the entire system was an important design requirement. The MOBAT is air-transportable in a C-130, and can be carried as a slung load underneath a heavy lift helicopter (typically a Boeing Chinook). Mounted on a DAF YA4440 4t truck, the MOBAT system, in its C-130 transport configuration, weighs 10,800kg fully equipped and is 5.4m long, 2.7m wide and 2.7m high.

In normal traveling configuration, the MOBAT system has an empty weight of 8,900kg.

RDM says it conceived the MOBAT system "out of the realization that the ever-growing threat of fast and accurate counter-fire makes it more and more difficult to make use of the classic artillery batteries. A reaction to that threat is an increased requirement for mobility, enabling the systems to be relocated before counter-fire may have any effect - the so-called 'shoot and scoot' tactics".

Faster deployment

RDM Technology began development of the MOBAT for the export market in 1996, and produced a prototype two years later. The first firing tests in October 1999 established that the MOBAT was a viable concept, and RDM then proceeded with extensive firing trials in the Netherlands to demonstrate the system's stability with various combinations of projectile. This was followed by an extensive series of user trials in Thailand.

The Royal Jordanian Armed Forces trialed the MOBAT in 2001, and became RDM's launch customer on very favorable terms when it signed a contract in January 2003 for 18 MOBAT systems with an option for 20 more (see IDR 3/2003, p24). Jordan's MOBAT systems, supplied on DAF YA4440 military trucks, will be used by the Royal Special Operations Forces, replacing the M102 105mm towed howitzers.

In its offer to Jordan, RDM included the LINAPS but not the ability to exchange data with the Jordanian army's Atila artillery command and control system. The Jordanian MOBAT systems will, however, have a modified stabilizer system for faster deployment and the capacity to carry more prepared rounds.

The initial 18 systems will be delivered in 2004 and Jordan has until January 2005 to exercise the option for the additional 20 systems.

Kier Vis, RDM group marketing and sales director, said that the company regards every country with 105mm artillery systems as a potential customer. While Thailand has expressed an interest, he said they do not have room in their budget for the MOBAT. However, Vis said: "There is really serious interest in Latin America," including Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela. RDM is also looking to Chile, which has the M101/33 in service.

Canada is in the midst of revamping its indirect fire systems and is beginning the process of acquiring a new medium-lift support vehicle to replace its 1980s-vintage 2.5t trucks, which have already passed their estimated life expectancy. With that in mind, RDM approached the Canadian army and offered to conduct a concept demonstration on Canadian soil. The result was the Gagetown demonstration.

Canada has in service two mortar (M19 60mm and C3 81mm) and four howitzer systems (20 105mm C2 towed howitzers; 96 105mm C3 towed howitzers; 76 155mm M109 self-propelled howitzers; and 28 105mm LG1 Mk II towed howitzers).

Director of Land Requirements Colonel Bob Gunn told an industry audience in April 2003 that these systems suffer from various shortcomings: they are manpower-intensive, have insufficient range, have manual fire-control systems and cannot fire precision-guided munitions. The Canadian army has therefore initiated a Future Indirect Fire Capability (FIFC) project to replace the current systems with a modern indirect fire delivery system, precision-guided munitions and an automated fire-control system.

Project Director Captain Bruno Di Ilio said that FIFC is the amalgamation of three projects: the medium indirect fire system to replace or upgrade the self-propelled 155mm M109A4 howitzer (see IDR 2/2001, p10); the battalion-level indirect fire system; and precision indirect fire capability. "FIFC is not scheduled to start until 2010-plus," Capt Di Ilio told IDR, because "the technology isn't quite available".

Meantime, the army needs an interim system. Capt McHattie explained: "We're going almost from the stone age to the digital age, and we're going there in one jump, so we need something in the interim that will support the operations that we're doing while at the same time it's more technologically advanced."

The MOBAT could meet Canadian requirements. Capt Di Ilio said, "We're reviewing it," adding that the Artillery School "liked it, they were very pleased with the demonstration". If the school recommends following it up, "we'll put together a business case and see what we can do".

Light assault capability

The Canadian army is undertaking a complete indirect fire-power study to identify its deficiencies, and determine its future force structure and requirements. That study is expected to complete in mid-2004. Until it is completed, and the army leadership signs off on the recommendations, the FIFC project and the interim projects cannot move forward.

"One of our capabilities is, we want to retain that light assault capability," said Capt Di Ilio. "So we can sling, using our light helicopters, a towed gun and move it. Mounting it on a truck, in that particular scenario, wouldn't be beneficial. So we would have to examine what do we want to retain in terms of capability and systems. We may want both."

A system such as MOBAT would affect army doctrine. "It would never stay in one position the way our current guns do," says Capt Di Ilio. "Essentially once it's fired, it would go to a central location and resupply", which has operational and support implications. If the system is capable of ballistics calculations for autonomous operations, "right now we aren't trained to do that", so there are also training implications.

The Canadian army is willing to consider all options for its indirect fire system requirements - towed, truck-mounted, LAV armored vehicle-mounted - as it watches and waits for technology to advance towards an affordable solution. As former artillery officer Brian MacDonald observed: "If we could get a 105mm 33-caliber barrel on a LAV chassis with GPS terminal guidance and crew protection while firing, we would have a most interesting system."

Some extremely heavy reading or for a cure for insomnia.

B-GL-300-002/FP-000 - Land Force Tactical Doctrine
B-GL-321-001/FP-001 - Corp Operations
B-GL-321-004/FP-001 - The Battle Group in Operations
B-GL-321-006/FP-001 - Combat Team Operations (Interim)
B-GL-321-007/FP-001 - LAV Compnay Tactics (Interim)

LOL, thanx Sir.

From an Apache coy cmdr in Iraq

I've worked operationally with the Stryker BDE here and I'll tell you they are very effective. Surprise: their effectiveness has almost nothing to do with their chariot, it's the people inside that make them work. It's easy to get focused on the Stryker vehicle, which BTW looks like a tuna boat bobbing down the road because it's so top heavy, but the real strength is the way the units are organized that makes the difference. By placing the right people, like CI agents in every platoon, with the right tools, like the organic UAVs, you get an empowered unit that can really make a difference. They appear to be nearly ideal for the current conflict. However, and this will be no surprise to you all, armor plate is the coin of the realm right now here.

This sort of unit that OWNS important assets instead of having to ask for support from a corps or division level unit is the way to go. I'd estimate that having to request a general support asset from higher instead of having the same asset OPCON to you results in a 85% loss in utility.

I'd like to see aviation added to the stryker MTOE, similar to a div cav squadron, for the added utility of owning the air assets (remember 3-7 CAV in the begining of the war? Owning those OH58Ds makes a big difference in your effectiveness). And I'd also like to see an aviation "stryker" brigade that had a brigade headquarters and three deployable battalions, one each apache, blackhawk, and chinook. This brigade would deploy to provide air support to two or more deployed stryker or other brigades.

OK enough ranting. Wish you were here.

Desperado6

I was right in that the people will make the Strykers work. Some interesting items. Not directly stated here but implied but the snipers organic to the bde instead to bn is a big help.

FM 3-21.31 THE STRYKER BRIGADE COMBAT TEAM, 13 MAR 2003

FM 3-21.21 THE STRYKER BRIGADE COMBAT TEAM INFANTRY BATTALION, 08 APR 2003 , CHANGE 1, 31 JUL 2003

FM 3-21.11 THE SBCT INFANTRY RIFLE COMPANY, 23 JAN 2003

FM 3-21.9 THE SBCT INFANTRY RIFLE PLATOON AND SQUAD, 02 DEC 2002

The Army Transformation is highly visible at Fort Lewis, Washington, and no more so than with the engineers. From the first announcement on Transformation by Army Chief of Staff General Eric K. Shinseki, in October 1999, the engineers at Fort Lewis began work in earnest, receiving new personnel and equipment and turning in their legacy equipment. In September of last year, A Company, 168th Engineer Battalion, became the18th Engineer Company—the first Interim Brigade Combat Team (IBCT) engineer company.

Structure

The structure of the engineer company in the IBCT is unique in the Engineer Regiment. It is a carefully tailored organization with a focused set of missions. It is important to understand the concept and mission of the IBCT and the engineer company's role within the brigade in order to understand its structure.

The brigade is designed as a full-spectrum early-entry combat force, optimized primarily for small-scale contingency operations in complex and urban environments.1 The organizational and operational (O&O) concept emphasizes the need to balance the strategic responsiveness of the brigade against the requirements for battlespace dominance in determining the organizational structure. The organization must balance deployability, sustainability, and the in-theater footprint with lethality, mobility, and survivability. The IBCT’s effectiveness is further enhanced by a design based on embedded unit capabilities—military-intelligence, signal, engineer, antitank, artillery, and combat-service-support (CSS) elements—that have been tailored specifically to the unique requirements of the unit’s set of missions.

The brigade is an infantry-centric force with three motorized infantry battalions; a reconnaissance, surveillance, and target-acquisition squadron; an artillery battalion; a brigade support battalion (BSB); an antitank company; a signal company; a military-intelligence (MI) company; and the 18th Engineer Company (see Figure 1).


Figure 1. IBCT Structure



The organization and role of the engineer company is reflective of the embedded-unit-capability concept. When balancing the myriad missions an engineer unit may face against the deployability and sustainability of the brigade, the designers of the engineer company tailored the company to focus on providing mobility support to the brigade. Limited countermobility, survivability, and general-engineering capabilities are made possible using the same force structure required for the mobility mission. The engineer company supports the movement of combat forces to achieve a position of advantage with respect to enemy forces. Mobility operations maintain freedom of movement for personnel and equipment within the area of operations without delays due to terrain, barriers, obstacles, or mines. Combat mobility platoons are task-organized to maneuver elements to provide mobility support to mounted-maneuver, dismounted-assault, and urban operations. 2

This focus on mobility support is evident in the company organization. The company is composed of three mobility platoons—each with three squads—and a mobility-support platoon with three sections. Figure 2 shows the objective organization and equipment.


Figure 2. BCT Engineer Company Objective TOE (6-0-112-118)



The company has some limitations that are recognized in the O&O concept and its focus on mobility operations. The company has limited capability to support the brigade in major-theater wars or stability or support operations. In these environments, the IBCT requires additional engineer augmentation from the division or echelons above division.

Equipment

Each mobility squad will have an engineer squad vehicle (ESV), which is a variant of the infantry carrier vehicle. The ESV will be equipped with a remote weapon station M2 .50-caliber machine gun and mounted with obstacle-neutralization kits. The composition of the kits is not finalized, but it should include lightweight mine plows or rollers, a magnetic signature duplicator, and a minefield-marking system. Selection and delivery of the interim armored vehicle (IAV) is a future event. In the meantime, the company received nine light medium tactical vehicles (LMTVs), which are 2 1/2-ton cargo trucks equipped with advanced Single-Channel, Ground-to-Air Radio Systems (SINCGARSs) and situational-awareness systems to serve as surrogate squad vehicles until its ESVs are fielded.

Six of the nine ESVs tow mine-clearing line charges (MICLICs) and three tow Volcanos. To replicate the Volcano systems called for in the objective structure, the company mounted a four-panel Volcano system to a trailer. The Engineer School and Volcano product manager supported this endeavor by coordinating for safety testing and release at Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland. The company is now able to replicate this capability while supporting the IBCT. The future system will be an M200 trailer-mounted Volcano that has recently been type-classified.

The company will eventually receive the Rapidly Emplaced Bridge System (REBS), which will provide responsive military load class (MLC) 30 gap-crossing capability for the brigade. Until the arrival of the REBS, the four common bridge transporters (CBT) in the engineer company are carrying medium-girder bridges, which provide 14.3 meters of MLC 30 bridging. This causes the only difference in personnel authorization between the current and objective structure, adding a military occupational specialty12C3O to provide technical expertise on bridging.

The mobility-support platoon also has six small emplacement excavators (SEEs) and six deployable universal combat earthmovers (DEUCEs). The fielding of the DEUCE to Fort Lewis in July 2000 went very well, but during support to Infantry Company Situational Training Exercises, several of the DEUCEs developed a track problem. The problem was unique to Fort Lewis and was caused by the glacial soil building up between the drive wheel and the track and causing track damage. The DEUCE product manager and Caterpillar® quickly developed track-tension warning sensors and material shields which proved effective at preventing damage. The Engineer School concurrently provided a master operator to Fort Lewis to develop tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTP) to reduce material build up. Personnel in the Brigade Coordination Cell are working with Infantry School personnel to determine the doctrinally appropriate level of survivability support to the IBCT since the primary means of maintaining survivability in the brigade is through maintaining unit mobility and situational understanding.


Soldiers conduct a MOUT demonstration during a training exercise.

Training

The company trains toward a centralized training task list (CTTL) that identifies the company-critical tasks. The platoons, squads, and sections have tasks that support the company CTTL. Currently, these tasks are to—

n Deploy/redeploy by air.
n Provide mobility support.
n Conduct battle-command operations.
n Provide limited survivability/countermobility support.
n Perform CSS operations.

Early in the Transformation process, the Engineer School provided teams of trainers to Fort Lewis to conduct a tactical-leaders course that focused on refreshing and reinforcing the skills that are critical to operation within the construct of the O&O concept.

The school also provided instructors for a course on military operations in urban terrain (MOUT) and demolitions, which gave concentrated instruction on TTP for supporting the force in complex and MOUT environments. The company received and trained on many new items from the major equipment described in previous paragraphs, to digital systems to gain and maintain situational understanding, to simple-but-useful items such as folding ladders that can be used to negotiate damaged stairways.

The maneuver companies and troops in the IBCT have conducted several iterations of situational training exercises. In each of these, the mobility platoons and mobility-support sections have demonstrated their worth as part of the brigade team, providing mobility, reconnaissance, and survivability support in varying environments.

Conclusion

The 18th Engineer Company and the 3d Brigade, 2d Infantry Division, are rapidly moving forward in Transformation. In March 2001, the 18th Engineer Company deployed to Fort Hunter-Liggett, California, for an extended field training exercise that stressed the company’s ability to execute platoon-level combat-engineer missions. Transformation involves more than simply restructuring units and upgrading equipment. Transformation involves a mind-set change in how engineers fight as an essential force within an IBCT. The 18th Engineer Company is leading this effort for the engineer companies that are sure to follow. Engineers at Fort Lewis acknowledge that much has been learned over the past year—but there is still a long way to go. Hopefully, efforts in the 3d Brigade will prepare the second IBCT and its organic engineer company—A Company, 65th Engineer Brigade—for Transformation into another deployable, lethal IBCT.


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Major Wright is the engineer operations officer in the Maneuver Division, Battlespace Training Directorate, Brigade Coordination Cell, Fort Lewis, Washington. Previous assignments include company trainer, Resident Training Detachment, 1457th Engineer Battalion, Utah Army National Guard; G3 war plans officer, aide-de-camp, and engineer plans officer, V Corps Headquarters; S3, 565th Engineer Battalion and 130th Engineer Brigade. MAJ Wright is a graduate of the Oregon Institute of Technology and the Engineer Officer Basic and Advanced Courses.


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Endnotes:

1 Organizational and Operational Concept for the Interim Brigade Combat Team, 30 June 2000, Chapter 1.

2 Ibid, Chapter 9.l.

Figure 1

Figure 2