The bear facts: Russians appraise the Stryker brigade concept

Infantry Magazine,  Nov-Dec, 2004  by Lester W. Grau,  Elena Stoyanov

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The Stryker brigade concept is a matter of some interest the Russian Army, which has inherited a long tradition of using wheeled personnel carriers in concert with tracked personnel carriers. In Soviet times, Motorized Rifle Divisions normally had three motorized rifle regiments, a tank regiment and an artillery regiment. Two of the motorized rifle regiments were mounted on wheeled armored personnel carriers (BTRs), while the third was mounted on tracked armored personnel carriers (BMPs). BMPs were recognized as the tougher, more effective combat vehicle, but even the Soviet Army occasionally had to watch its rubles. The wheeled BTRs were used on secondary attack routes or as a follow-and support force while tracked BMPs were used for the main break-thorough attack in conjunction with the tank regiment. The cheaper wheeled carriers were a cost-cutting measure.

After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the Russian Army continued this TO&E (table of organization and equipment), but formed a special "peace keeping" division. The 27th Guard Motorized Rifle Division kept their BTRs and BMPs, but stored their artillery and tanks. They used their BTRs primarily for "peace keeping" roles. The Russians saw the "peace keeping" division as a patrolling and stability unit, not a combat unit, so the prominence of the more road-bound wheeled carriers made sense.

When the Russians joined NATO in Bosnia-Herzegovina, they contributed an airborne regiment. The regiment was mounted on the cramped, air-droppable BMD tracked armored personnel carrier. Once the ground situation settled, the Russian regiment was augmented with a number of BTRs.

The BMD is just too cramped and uncomfortable for long-term patrolling missions. Russian troops in Chechnya use a combination of BMPs and BTRs. The BMPs are employed for anticipated combat, while the BTRs are used more for patrolling and administrative movements where a truck or jeep would be at risk.

The Russians are interested in how other countries employ tracked and wheeled troop carriers. The June 2004 issue of the Russian Foreign Military Review carried the following article, which was titled "The Formation of the Mechanized 'Stryker' Brigade in the U.S. Army:"

In 2003, the U.S. Army formed its first "Stryker" Mechanized Brigade, the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division based at Fort Lewis, Washington. It is part of the transition to a new type of army.

The documents and regulations governing this force, its tactics, TOE, armaments and equipment were developed in 1999. The mission was to form, in the first decade of the 21st Century, a combined arms unit capable of rapid deployment and decisive action in any part of the world during combat or peacetime.

The Stryker Brigade has a headquarters element, a HHC, three infantry battalions, a reconnaissance battalion, an artillery battalion, a support battalion and four separate companies-anti-tank, military intelligence, engineer and signal.

The TOE strength is 3,614 personnel. The brigade has 308 Stryker armored vehicles, 12 towed M198 155mm howitzers, 66 mortars (120mm, 81mm and 60mm), 10 TOW-2 ATGM launchers, 121 "Javelin" ATGM launchers, and three "Shadow 200" UAVs. (See Organization chart and Personnel and Key Equipment Chart).

There are 121 personnel in the HHC and brigade staff The headquarters supports the brigade commander in directing the subordinate units in peace and war. It is organized into a command group and seven sections-intelligence, training, command and control, air movement, fire control nonlethal weapons employment, communications and computers. The HHC supports the brigade staff It has two groups of liaison officers and five sections: command, personnel, support, signal and medical.

The mechanized infantry battalions have 691 personnel each. They are the primary combat units of the brigade, capable of conducting all types of combat as well as peace-support missions. Each battalion has a headquarters, a HHC and three mechanized infantry companies.

The HHC has a reconnaissance, mortar and medical platoon as well as a sniper squad. The reconnaissance platoon is mounted on four reconnaissance Strykers. The mortar platoon has four M286 120mm and four M224 60mm mortars.

Every mechanized infantry company has three mechanized infantry platoons and a fire support platoon with a mortar and a sniper section. The mechanized infantry platoon has four Stryker vehicles and three "Javelin" ATGM launchers. The fire support platoon has three Mobile Gun System Stryker vehicles and its mortar section has two M286 120mm and two M224 60mm mortars.

The cavalry squadron (reconnaissance, surveillance and targeting battalion) has 428 personnel to support the commander and brigade units with intelligence, targeting combined arms fires and assessing the results in near-real time. The battalion is organized into a headquarters, HHC, three reconnaissance troops and a one electronic surveillance troop.