Laos is very heavily influenced by Vietnam, and follows a similar force structure. Set back by low economic output and internal counter-insurfgency problems, Laos has remained fairly quiet in military terms since the 1980s. Indeed, after the Vietnam war ended, Laos has only seen conflict with Thailand in the 1980s, in a series of border incidents. Successors to the Pathet Lao, the current Laos People's Army (LPA) is a very infantry heavy force, tasked for counter-insurgency work, and trained by the Vietnamese. It currently has 5 infantry Divisions, 7 Independent Infantry Regiments, 5 Corps Artillery Battalions, 9 AAA Battalions, 65 Independent Infantry Companies, and only one Tank Battalion. An Infantry Regiment has the following units: Regiment HQ: about 80 men with AK47 and SKS Carbines, telephones and radios 4 Infantry Battalions@ Bttn HQ: 30 men with AK47, SKS, up to 2 attached Sa-7 3 Infantry Companies@ 150 men or less, organised as a CHQ squad, 3 platoons each of 30 men with 3 LMG and 3x RPG-7, 1 platoon of 2x 57mm M18 recoilless rifles, 2 LMG 1 Support Company of 1 battery of 6x 82mm M37 mortars, 1 MG platoon of 3 tripod mounted MMG, and 1 A/T platoon of 4x 75mm M20 recoilless rifles 1 AA Battery: 6x 12.7mm AAHMG 1 Recce Company: 75 men in 3 platoons, armed with AK47 1 Sapper Platoon: about 20-30 men in 3 squads with 3 LMG, demolition charges, mines, shovels, axes, etc 1 A/T Battery: 6x 107mm B11 or 106mm M40 recoilless rifles, back packed. 1 Regimental Mortar Battery: 6x 82mm M37 or 107mm M2A1 or 120mm M43 mortars, carried by porters or horses At Divisional level there would be: 1 AA Battery: 6x 37mm M39 AA, horse limbers 2 AA Batteries@ 6x 14.5mm ZPU-1 or Quad 14.5mm ZPU-4, pack horses 1 Recce Company: 100 men in 3 platoons with AK47 and LMG 1-3 Engineer Companies@ about 70 men in 3 platoons with LMG, RPG-7, demo charges, flamethrowers, tools, etc, light bridging equipment 1 Artillery Regiment: 1-3 Battalions@ 3 batteries@ 6x 120mm M43 or 82mm M37 mortars 1 MG Battalion: 3 Batteries@ 6x 12.7mm AAHMG 1 Battalion: 3 batteries@ 4-6x 75mm M116 pack howitzers, pack horses There is no organic motorised transport, although in theory they can be motorised in Corps and civilian lorries. There are enough BTR-152 and BTR-60P armoured personnel carriers to mechanise one battalion or 4 independent companies, and enough BTR-40 to mechanise one divisional recce company. Corps Level Assets Support units that could be attached down to support an Infantry Regiment include: 1 Armoured Battalion: Bttn HQ: 1x T-55, 2x ZSU-23-4 1 Company: 10x T-34/85 (1 CHQ and 3 platoons each of 3 tanks) 2 Companies@ 10x T-55 or T-54 1 Recce Platoon: 3x PT-76 2 Independent Recce Companies@ 10x PT-76 light tanks 9 AAA Battalions@ 3 batteries@ 6x 57mm S60 with radar or 6x twin 23mm ZU-23-2 or 6x 37mm M1939 AA, 6 trucks 1 Artillery Battalion: 3 batteries@ 6x 105mm M101 howitzers, lorries 1 Artillery Battalion: 2 batteries@ 4x 130mm M46 guns, lorries 1 battery: 6x 155mm M114 howitzers, lorries 2 Artillery Battalions@ 3 batteries@ 6x 122mm M38 or D30 howitzers, lorries 1 Engineer Regiment: 3 Bttns@ 3 Companies@ 100 men 2 Construction Regiments@ 3 Bttns@ 3 Pioneer Companies@ 75-100 men 1 AA Battalion: 3 batteries each of 6x Sa-3 Goa surface-to air missiles, static 100,000 border/village militia armed with spears, SKS carbines, AK47 and left overs from Vietnam war - PPsh41 SMG, M1 Carbines, etc, organised into homeguard units of 10-30 men, very poor quality. Air Force assets are very poor, being 2 fighter squadrons each of 14x Mig-21 and 1x Mig-21U trainer. Weapons include AA-2 Atoll, 57mm rocket pods, napalm and HE bombs. Aircraft serviceability will be low. There is a helicopter squadron with 2x Mil-6 Hook and 10x Mil-8 Hip-C transport helicopters, which between them could shift an Infantry Battalion at a pinch. A sole transport squadron is equipped with 5x An-24, 2x An-26 and 2x Yak-40 jets. Summary In summary very much a third world army, that would not provide much of a match for a European mechanised force with heavy close air support. it's main advantage is that much of the terrain it operates in will be jungle, which limits superior technology a lot. In local terms, the Laos army could handle border incursions. drugs barons, and rebel guerrillas. but it would be hard pressed to fend off a full scale invasion from Thailand, Vietnam or China. In 6mm scale most of the equipment is Soviet bloc or Chinese copies, available from Scotia and Heroics and Ros and Navwar. Scotia now produce separate mortars and recoilless rifles, which are very nice. For infantry I would suggest H&R insurgent infantry in peaked caps, or NVA/Chinese infantry from Irregular Miniatures, or if into 7mm, Scotia's Chinese infantry. Back to MWAN #101 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1999 Hal Thinglum 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