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Здравствуйте, уважаемый Алекс Антонов!
МОжно уточнить, что в свете начавшейся очередной реорганизации дивизий армии США Ваши аргументы во многом теряют смысл (кстати, в ТБ 1980-1990-х гг у америкосов все-таки по 58 танков). А сейчас речь, как Вы можете прочитать ниже, идет уже о ликвидации чисто танковых батальонов и формировании смешанных частей. Поэтому можно сказать, что в США "золотое сечение" достигнуто не было :-)) Они его потеряли типа :-)) А сейчас снова ищут.
JANE'S DEFENCE WEEKLY - JUNE 16, 2004
US Army division regrouped into four brigades
JOSHUA KUCERA JDW Staff Reporter
Washington, DC
The US Army's 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) (3ID) has almost completed its reorganisation into brigades capable of being deployed for independent operations.
The move is part of the army transformation that will culminate with the fielding of the Future Combat Systems (FCS) from 2010.
The division's three ground manoeuvre brigades have now been regrouped into four identical brigades with an expanded reconnaissance capability and integral artillery. Each brigade now has its own battalion-strength reconnaissance squadron, whereas under the previous structure each brigade had a company-strength reconnaissance troop with a squadron under divisional command.
"The added reconnaissance to each brigade is a huge plus," said Lt Col Michael Johnson, who is overseeing the reorganisation of the division. "Now you have added a whole squadron with a battalion headquarters and the ability to sustain itself and do a lot more operations," he said.
The brigades will have two combat battalions, which will each consist of two mechanised infantry companies, two tank companies, an engineer company and a headquarters company. The move to four combat companies is a significant one, said Maj Gen Julian Burns, chief of staff of US Army Forces Command. "When you're in a combat situation that fourth company gives you operational flexibility to influence and exploit a success in the attack. Typically it's two up and one back. Well, that means you're committed. It's that fourth company that allows you to weight the main effort and/or to exploit the tactical success into a decisive event."
The divisional artillery has been reorganised so that each brigade now has an integral artillery battalion, which has been regrouped from three batteries of six guns each to two batteries with eight guns.
The fourth manoeuvre brigade was activated on 26 May at the division's base at Fort Stewart, Georgia.
The division's short-range air-defence battalion has been redesignated as an armoured reconnaissance squadron and its personnel are being retrained as scouts. "We've not been challenged since 1944 in the air, so for 60 years we've dominated the air, so that's an example of a joint interdependency that allows us to take some air-defence structure and roll that into the ground-gaining arms," said Gen Burns.
The first brigade to be reorganised undertook a training rotation at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, in April and the structure has been slightly adjusted as a result, particularly in communications, Gen Burns said. The remaining brigades will also train under the new structure at Fort Irwin before the division returns to Iraq.
The army has been calling the reorganised brigades "units of action" but that name is not final, Gen Burns said. "We haven't decided what to call this thing yet, but if you call it a battalion or brigade or division, you limit the debate and people conjure up something that is limiting the creativity we want to apply to this," he said.
Not all of the changes that have been planned are implemented in the division. There will eventually be more unmanned aerial vehicles, better communications and an aviation battalion will be included in every brigade rather than grouped as now into a separate brigade.
Nevertheless the 3ID is now organised very close to how it will be when the process is complete and the army is equipped with FCS.
"This is an interim step, but it's so significant as to make the final step to the FCS a matter of fielding more than reorganisation," Gen Burns said.
The next divisions to be reorganised will be the 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) and the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) this year, followed by the 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized) next year and then the 25th Infantry Division (Light), the 1st Cavalry Division and the 82nd Airborne Division.
Army National Guard divisions are also being reorganised. However, given that they are only active for 39 days a year and because many will need a rest after being deployed to Iraq, that process is expected to take much longer, Gen Burns added.
С уважением, Exeter
