A Vision of a New Combined Arms Philosophy & Doctrine

[The Accountant]

Why not mass produce cheap drones? Drones are much easier to produce cheap and are diaposable in case of war can cover much bigger area. Diployable at short notice and requires less man power than tanks and CAS aircrafts. Replishment of ammunition is also easier in case of drones than armour and CAS as they can land at less prepared airfield due to piston engine as compared to jet engines which are sensitive to foreign objects.

Armour role should be limited for defence or to consolidate gains of drone baaed air attacks.

For the CAS aircraft you will need three types of armament on it, to start with:
1. A 30mm gun for strafing runs.
2. An air to surface missile, like AGM-65, KH-29 etc for taking out armoured vehicles. Carrying capacity 4-6.
3. General purpose bombs for bombing runs against bunkers, bridges, C4I structures and command HQ's.
Optional could be rocket pods.

F-7 can suit this role, otherwise A-5 wasn't bad too. I cant find my post on F-7 for ground role.

The main gun is a debatable topic. Gun length(48-52 cal), ammunition used(AP,HE,MPAT), muzzle speed, range etc but mostly the targets that a 76mm gun and 125mm gun could be facing. After expending all ATGM's, the 76mm main gun of tank wouldn't be able to take on heavy targets like other MBT's, armored veh's, bunkers etc.

If new launchers are made for firing ATGM's like M2 Bradley or will ATGM get fired from main gun like T-80 ? Modern ATGM's are above 120mm in caliber, so the main gun has to be atleast 125mm e.g. Refleks is 125mm, TOW is 152mm, SPIKE is 170mm etc.

Coming to engine, 500 HP engine will have two limitations;

1. Up-armouring the MBT or putting more ERA on MBT will slow down the tank. As a reference, 40 Ton MBT using 700 HP engine is acceptable by PA.
2. Desert requires lots of travelling in high speeds over a vast area especially for flanking maneuvers, a slow tank wont be able to sustain itself properly even when negotiating obstacles or if it gets stuck in sand or mud.

 

[Armchair]

Why not mass produce cheap drones? Drones are much easier to produce cheap and are diaposable in case of war can cover much bigger area. Diployable at short notice and requires less man power than tanks and CAS aircrafts. Replishment of ammunition is also easier in case of drones than armour and CAS as they can land at less prepared airfield due to piston engine as compared to jet engines which are sensitive to foreign objects.

Armour role should be limited for defence or to consolidate gains of drone baaed air attacks.

Yes, drones are pretty much included in most plans on this thread and otherwise for combined arms modernization, doctrine and strategy. You'd have to go a few pages and look at other stuff written by myself to see our view on drone usage. I've advocated drone usage even for air-to-air and strike missions for the air force.

However, at the same time drone usage has to be understood for its limitations in a peer-vs-peer conflict, with powerful air forces and layered air defenses on both sides.

 

[arjunk]

How about a MLRS type weapon but with cluster munitions..

Smerch does this.

 

[Bahaadur Shaah]

At which unit level should a combine arms units established? I suggest Division with 10 specialists regiments. Composition of the regiments may altered as per need.

 

[PanzerKiel]

At which unit level should a combine arms units established? I suggest Division with 10 specialists regiments. Composition of the regiments may altered as per need.

They are normally made and employed at company or squadron level. We already have mixed combined arms battle groups upto division level.