Rick's Napkin Forces Challenge

[FJAG]

... 1. The Multi Domain Task Force which is a Colonel's Command that can be housed within a Division as is apparently the case with the 3rd MDTF and the 7th Inf Div. It is functionally related to the Air Defense Artillery Brigades.

Are you sure about 3 MCTF and 7 Div?

MDTFs are created as theatre-level resources which synchronize precision fires and effects against adversary A2/AD networks in all domains enabling joint forces to execute oplans. In effect, MDTFs facilitate our own offensive manoeuvre operations. They are not a national defence shield such as those created by the US Strategic Ballistic Missile Defence.

AFAIK, 3 MDTF is tasked to US Indo-Pacific Command, is headquartered in Hawaii and has elements at Fort Lewis-McChord and won't be fully operational until 2026.

What purpose does a Canadian MDTF serve within your mind?

Removing conventional artillery from the Infantry Brigades on the grounds that the enemy will be small and require company and battalion intervention at most. Further the battalions will have integral strike capabilities (mortars and LAMs) and will operate with air support. The battalions will also have suitable integral C-RAM/C-UAS capabilities.

That's not a ground but a presumption and a bad one at that with an underlying misunderstanding of artillery's role at all levels. While I agree with moving arty battalions from under the command of brigades to a div arty bde, that div artillery will always be available to be reassigned in an appropriate amount in support of manoeuvre bn and bde ops.

The second portion about the reliance on air support is a myth that had a brief fling around the turn of the century and has been proven overly optimistic in Ukraine. Do not conflate arty doctrine with indirect fire support weapons systems that may or may not make it into the market place. (Leave that to the retired infantry GO consultants in NDHQ to screw up)

The 5 RALC and 4 Fd (GS) would be tasked to the MDTF for Air Defence and Strategic Fires.

You do realize that HIMARS is the junior member of the Strategic Fires Battalion? The senior members are the mid-range capability battery and the long-range hypersonic weapons battery. Good luck getting anyone to shell out even for a moderate war stock of those.

 

[Kirkhill]

What purpose do the Americans envisage an MDTF fulfilling in the Arctic?

Multi-Domain Task Forces: A Glimpse at the Army of 2035​

by Charles McEnany
Spotlight 22-2, March 2022

MDTFs: The Centerpiece of the Multi-Domain Modernization Effort​

The MDTFs are the organizational centerpiece in the Army’s operationalization of MDO. MDTFs are theater-level, multi-domain maneuver elements that synchronize long-range precision effects (LRPE)—such as electronic warfare, space, cyber and information—with long-range precision fires (LRPF).15 MDTFs integrate these capabilities under one commander while the unit’s components conduct distributed operations to enhance survivability.

The role of the MDTFs is to persistently compete to gain positions of advantage that it can leverage in crisis or conflict. By integrating non-kinetic effects and kinetic fires across all domains, MDTFs provide combatant commanders with an enhanced menu of counter-A2/AD capabilities.16

The first MDTF—established in 2017 as an experimental unit at Joint Base Lewis-McChord—is focused on the Indo-Pacific. The Army’s second MDTF was activated on 16 September 2021 at U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden in Germany and is aligned to Europe. The Army plans to create three more MDTFs: a second for the Indo-Pacific theater, one for the Arctic and one for global response.17

Multi-Domain Task Forces: A Glimpse at the Army of 2035

*/ /*-->*/ /*-->*/ /*-->*/ */

www.ausa.org

It is not so much an issue of what I want a Canadian MDTF to do but what do the Americans want to do with an MDTF in Canada's Arctic backyard.

The MDTF has some pretty long-ranged and heavy weight fires to chuck around. I would prefer that Canadians had their fingers on the triggers, along with the Americans if we must.

....

Or we can do the Canadian thing and say the Alaskans, Danes, Norwegians, Swedes and Finns can do the job. No need for a Canadian contribution. See you at the next convention. Write if you get work.

...

The Yanks appear to have repurposed their planned Arctic MDTF to duplicate the Indo-Pacific MDTF but until 2023 they were still talking about establishing a dedicated MDTF for the Arctic Theater. Presumably they didn't want to allow the Russians a free hand in the area so they could establish an A2AD capability uncontested.

But hey, as I said, we can always do the Canadian thing.

...

And WRT the HIMARS - you under-estimate the aspirations for the PrSM missiles. The anticipated ranges are comparable to the current Mid Range Capability supplied by Tomahawk and SM6. The Tomahawk and SM6 are also undergoing range enhancement programmes. And if the LRHW prospect is too Un-Canadian for you then add another MRC battery and let the Yanks bring the LRHW to the party.

 

[Kirkhill]

The 7th Infantry Division is an active duty infantry division of the United States Army based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord charged with sustaining the combat readiness of two Stryker brigade combat teams (BCT), a combat aviation brigade, and a Division Artillery Unit, as well as participating in several yearly partnered exercises and operations in support of U.S. Army Pacific and the Indo-Pacific region. The 7th Infantry Division is the only active-duty multi-component division headquarters in the Army. The 7th Infantry Division is also home to two of the Army's newest enabling battlefield capabilities, the Multi Domain Task Force and the Intelligence, Information, Cyber, Electronic Warfare and Space Capabilities, or I2CEWS battalion

7th Infantry Division (United States) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[FJAG]

7th Infantry Division (United States) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I think that quote from Wikipedia is wrong (shocking!)

I followed the two links to the articles cited in support of that and neither corroborates any placement of either the MDTF or the I2CEWS as being part of 7 Div. Instead one mentions I Corps and the other just its location at Lewis-McChord.

If you look at the ORBAT for the division there is no mention of either of those components. More importantly, the US Army website for 7 Div does not include them either. If you go to the Lewis-McChord website the 7 Div link does not include 17 Arty Bde (the bde which the MDTF will be formed around.). The 17th Arty bde link itself describes the brigade as supporting I Corps as the Force Field Arty HQ. Wikipedia's I Corps page shows the 17th Arty Bde as a direct subordinate formation to I Corps and not to 7 Div.

I think that common sense dictates that the 17th Bde as the I Corps arty bde and the evolving MDTF would be a subordinate formation of the theatre headquarters (I Corps) and not one of the corps' three divisions. I've tried to find some information as to whether 7 Div might have some administrative support function over 17 Arty Bde but have been unable to find that and the bde does have its own BSB (the 308th) and there is a corps expeditionary sustainment command at Lewis-McChord (the 593rd) so I'm presuming the 17th's direct administrative support comes through Lewis-McChord and I Corps and not 7 Div.

 

[Kirkhill]

I think that quote from Wikipedia is wrong (shocking!)

I followed the two links to the articles cited in support of that and neither corroborates any placement of either the MDTF or the I2CEWS as being part of 7 Div. Instead one mentions I Corps and the other just its location at Lewis-McChord.

If you look at the ORBAT for the division there is no mention of either of those components. More importantly, the US Army website for 7 Div does not include them either. If you go to the Lewis-McChord website the 7 Div link does not include 17 Arty Bde (the bde which the MDTF will be formed around.). The 17th Arty bde link itself describes the brigade as supporting I Corps as the Force Field Arty HQ. Wikipedia's I Corps page shows the 17th Arty Bde as a direct subordinate formation to I Corps and not to 7 Div.

I think that common sense dictates that the 17th Bde as the I Corps arty bde and the evolving MDTF would be a subordinate formation of the theatre headquarters (I Corps) and not one of the corps' three divisions. I've tried to find some information as to whether 7 Div might have some administrative support function over 17 Arty Bde but have been unable to find that and the bde does have its own BSB (the 308th) and there is a corps expeditionary sustainment command at Lewis-McChord (the 593rd) so I'm presuming the 17th's direct administrative support comes through Lewis-McChord and I Corps and not 7 Div.

Fair enough.

2 MDTF (a colonelcy) is subordinate to 56th Artillery Command in Europe and V Corps

1 and 3 are in the Indo-Pacific with I Corps

4 seems to be tied to III Corps (??) but focused on the Indo-Pacific as well.

5 seems to be affiliated with XVIII Corps

...

Interesting the move to the missile capability - 3 MDTFs focused on the Indo-Pacific along with 3 MLRs and a USMC Tomahawk Battalion

Marines Activate First Tomahawk Battery - USNI News

The Marine Corps stood up its first-ever Tomahawk cruise missile battery at Camp Pendleton, Calif., last week. Alpha Battery, which falls under the 11th Marine Regiment, is the first of three Long-Range Missile (LMSL) batteries that the service plans to procure starting in FY 2024.The Long-Range...

news.usni.org

All predicated on being able to rapidly move into a theater and then deploy within theater from remote site to remote site. The can conduct artillery raids or bite and hold.

U.S. Marines, soldiers, and airmen conduct HIMARS rapid infiltration in Australia

U.S. Forces conduct High Mobility Artillery Rocket System Rapid Infiltration training in Queensland Australia, during Exercise Talisman Sabre 19, July 6, 2019.The U.S. and Australian bi-lateral

www.marines.mil

Those could just as easily be PrSM missiles on board for engaging fixed and mobile targets at ranges up to and over 1000 km from the launch site. The HIMARS truck can also be autonomous.

The Autonomous Multi-Domain Launcher takes a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System — or HIMARS — and modifies it with hardware and software to be controlled remotely and driven autonomously.

US Army Testing Autonomous HIMARS Launcher

REDSTONE ARSENAL, Ala. --- Imagine the possibilities of a self-driving vehicle on the battlefield. Engineers at the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities...

www.defense-aerospace.com

So how many people do you require permanently stationed at a launch site?