For Combined Arms, I have come up with an alternate organization for the air defense artillery battalion based on that used by the 1st and 3rd Armored Division in February 1991 Most short-ranged air defense weapons are scattered fairly thinly throughout a division with rarely more than two systems within a few hundred meters of each other. Showing their organization as platoons does not accurately reflect their dispersal. For my divisional organization, I have represented them as sections (two Chapparals or Vulcans and 3-5 Stinger teams per stand). This results in the following organization: Headquarters Battery, with: 1 command stand 1 HMMWV 1 M577 TOC 1 M578 ARV 1 M109 Main van Battery A and B, each with: 1 command stand 1 M113 APC 1 M548 ammo track 6 M163 Vulcan AV vehicles 4 Stinger stands 4 HMMHV Battery C and D, each with: 1 command stand 1 M113 APC 1 M35 medium ammo truck 6 M48A2 Chaparral 4 Stinger stands 4HMMHV Notes 1. Using sections instead of platoons has the following changes in ROF and ammo supply M163 Vulcan ROF 2 x 5 Ammo 24 M48A2 Chaparral ROF 1 Ammo 3 Stinger ROF 2 Ammo 6 2. The Vulcan and Stingers may fire on short halt if moving at Cautious advance. The Chaparrals may not fire if moved, and take one full turn to emplace properly. I suggest that you give it a hitprobabilty of 2 on the first turn after halting movement, and then a 3 on subsequent turns after complete emplacement. 3. With this section organization, all vehicles are considered as destroyed with their second hit, instead of using the vehicles troop quality rating. In my battalion, 6th of the 3rd ADA, 1 st US AD, the batteries were task organized with Batteries A and B each giving a Vulcan platoon (two M163) to C Battery. C Battery in turn gave two Chaparral platoons (four M48A2) to Battery D. In addition, the FAAR Radar Platoon was trained with Stingers (three Stingers and three light trucks) and was also attached to Battery D. This resulted in three Vulcan/Stinger batteries for the direct support of each of the division maneuver brigade, and one large general support battery for the rest of the division. The actual organization ended up with: 6th Battalion, 3rd Air Defense Artillery Headquarters Battery, with: 1 command stand 1HMMWV 1 M577 TOC 1 M578 ARV 1 M109 Main van Batteries A, B and C, each with: 1 command stand 1 M113 APC 1 M548 ammo track or 1 M35 medium ammo truck 4 M163 Vulcan AV vehicles 4 Stinger stands 4 HMMHV Battery D, each with: 1 command stand 1 M113 APC 1 M35 medium ammo truck 12 M48A2 Chaparral 7 Stinger stands 4 HMMHV 3 light trucks Being an air defender I am always ready to argue hit probability for our weapons systems, especially since there have been several different models of the missiles for each system available as they are updated. I would personally give the Stinger a 2 and the Chaparral a 3 hit probability with the newer missiles. I have also used this section concept for the scout platoons of the maneuver battalions and of the cavalry troops, giving each platoon two section stands of M3A2 Bradleys with the following changes: M3A2 Bradley 25mm ROF 3 Ammo 20 TOW II ROF 1 Ammo 3 Again, when using section stands, treat them as patrol stands as per the rules, but allow them one less hit then a full size stands. (This will cause you to use your units as they should be used.) (Note that the 6-3 ADA organization above does not show the additional cross-attachment of one platoon of Chaps toA Battery to provide enhanced AD support to the division's lead brigade, as is shown in the Persian Gulf War OB in CPQ #4. Using MacDonald's system, this would put two stands in A Buy and leave 10 with Delta. Note also that Chaps deployed to the Gulf were given NBC/CBR mods which brought them up to M48A3 standards.) -Dave Nilsen Back to Table of Contents -- Command Post Quarterly # 5 To Command Post Quarterly List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1994 by Greg Novak. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com