Features
January 3, 2023
Soldier modernisation: lessons in lethality
Any new weapon systems that an army wants will add to the loads that its troops are already carrying on the battlefield.
Tim Fish
Efforts to improve the firepower of dismounted infantry units in the past have been slow and incremental, with the ability of individual soldiers to carry heavy equipment for long durations the primary limiting factor.
Soldier modernisation programmes have rarely delivered the kinds of step change in capability that have been touted. Plans for futuristic systems have often entailed too much risk or cost to develop leading to the curtailment and scaling back of many of these initiatives. However, recent combat experience gained by NATO troops in Afghanistan and the arrival of the so-called era of Great Power Competition means there is a renewed urgency to try and increase the offensive power of the infantry.
Mike McCarthy, deputy director of the Close Combat Lethality Task Force (CCLTF) in the US Office of the Secretary of Defense told Army Technology that in the history of close combat formations, dismounted squads “make up about 4% of a total force but they experience about 90% of the casualties and there has hasn’t really been major breakthroughs in the way we can make them more lethal, more effective, more protected, more resilient”.
Outranged and outgunned
The challenges of weight remain but the demand to adopt more lethal weapons are increasing. In the Russo-Ukraine War since in February 2022 and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia in September-November 2020 has seen the use of drones and loitering munitions by frontline infantry units to extend the range of their targeting and attack capability. In Ukraine the use of Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGMs) has been well publicised as one of the important weapons used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces to blunt the initial attack by the Russian Federation Armed Forces.
https://www.army-technology.com/features/soldier-modernisation-lessons-in-lethality/
