Force Protection - Air Defence in Line of March

[Ex-Dragoon]

A question for you guys in green....is a mobile air defence capability even considered these days? I know we have the ADATS but I understood we got rid of a lot of them. Has the threat diminished this much that our commanders just dismiss it? Thanks.

 

[Ex-Dragoon]

Thanks George.

 

[George Wallace]

I cut this out of the previous topic, as it is worthy of its own topic.


Mobile Air Defence is a capability that Canada should have, but has never been able to afford.  It would consist of several systems, with varying ranges.  If you look at the Cold War Doctrinal Templates for a MRR or MRD you will see an example of a very effective use of Air Defence assets and also see that there is not "one end all/be all" system

 

[dapaterson]

there is not "one end all/be all" system

Except for MMEV.  Just ask the manufacturer about it.  Becasue we all know Photoshop doesn't lie...

 

[George Wallace]

Having had the opportunity to have German Gepards attached to our Sqn in Germany, with basically one Gepard per Troop, was an eyeopener and great experience.  From that I wished that we could restructure and employ Gepards as on 4 C/S Tp per Sqn being a minimum.  This would give the Armour Tank troop a lot of protection as well as any Cbt Team formation that it may become a part of, without an increase in requirements for more Gepards.  Gepards are also very effective in the Ground role, if necessary. 

This would be a system that would give Tank Troops and Cbt Teams Close Air Defence.  Medium and Long Range Air Defence would have to consist of other types of systems, most likely mobile Radar and rocket/missile systems similar to Snow Drift and Gauntlet and longer range Gadfly, etc.

 

[ironduke57]

I already posted this once in the MMEV Thread.
Maybe something like the Wildcat turret put on your LAV´s would be an option:

Krauss-Maffei project- initially based on Transport Panzer-1: 5 different fire control options available from V1 clear weather to V5 all-weather-fire-control & auto tracking. Fitted with 2x30mm Mauser Mk30-F cannons each with 250 rounds - fires 800 rounds per minute. range approx 3000m - S.Korea's Flying Tiger K-30 was based on the Wildcat. 4 Stinger, Mistral or Igla could added at the sides (2x2)

Not an Gepard class vehicle, but it should be able to do the job quite nicely.

Regards,
ironduke57

 

[a_majoor]

An entire arsenal of weapons, equipment and processors would be needed. A SPAAG like the Gepard, or Wildcat, or LAV Blazer etc is really the last line of defense.

Certainly this sort of multi layer defense is going to be needed in the near future, we have seen groups like Hezbollah issued UAV's and technical support by the Iranian Revolutionary guard, and being attacked by a ballistic missile is becoming more and more likely as the technology is mastered by nations like the DPRK and exported to all interested parties. And of course we also need to consider everything that flies in between small UAVs and IRBMs as well.......

I might offer a somewhat heretical view of things, in the future let the zoomies take care of aerial threats using tools like AWACS and airborne lasers; airspace management, coordination and so on are made much simpler and sensors on airborne platforms have much better fields of view anyway. As long as "we" get equal access to what these sensors see, we are better served with improved SA and the zoomies get some love from us as well...(that crackling and popping noise as the zoomies burn incoming mortar shells out of the air would be nice as well)