Custom USER data - British forces
Posted: Sun Nov 17, 2013 2:55 am
Made a couple of minor changes to the standard british forces (I'm Ex-british army Infantry and they were bugging me[;)])
Change Log
B1
A. removed the extra 9 81mm mortar tubes (3 per company support), this brings the total down to 8 per battalion as under standard TOE
B. Added 2x handheld SAMs to Battalion HQ to a) compensate for the lost VP/9 tubes in point 1, b) this was standard practice to allocate these from the bde assets
C. redistributed the Milan sections to 1 per company, leaving 1 section and 2 MCT under ATK Plt, this was standard practice and party to compensate for point 1 above
D. 'renamed' Infantry Bn Recce Plt from SHQ to PHQ (has no effect on comms ranges from what I can tell)
B2
A. Added ‘Airmobile Infantry Battalion (83+)’
This is dated from when the concept was first trailed but based on the first formal TOE in 1986 up to 1989 when 2 of the infantry Bn changed their 3rd company to an aviation company of 2 Plt and 1 Atk platoon of 8 Milan Launchers as well as overall increase in ATGM up to 42 or 44 Launchers. The 3rd Bn remained a beefed up Light Role Inf Bn at 24 Launchers.
B. Added: quick selection of 3 different Battlegroups
Armoured Battlegroup
Mechanised Battlegroup
Armoured Infantry Battlegroup
Note, the infantry company in the armoured battlegroup does not have organic mortar support at present while I figure out best of presenting it.
B3
A. Added the following formations;
1.Mechanized Infantry Battalion [wheeled]
2.Infantry Battalion (Light Role/TA)
3.Yeomanry Armoured Recce Regiment (TA)
4.Field Artillery Regiment-105mm (Towed/TA)
5.Field Artillery Regiment-155mm (Towed/TA)
B. Split Batttlegroup quick selection of Armoured Battlegroup into 2 types and infantry coy should now appear ahead of Rgt support coy (sorry tankies but infantry rate higher than support elements!!)
1. 2:1 BG of 2 sqn tanks, 1 coy inf
2. 2:2 BG of 2 sqn tanks, 2 coy inf
C. Updated various naming conventions so that’s they all follow correct British Army naming convention:
1. Tank Rgt – Sqn – Troop
2. Inf Bn – Coy – Platoon
3. Arty Rgt – Bty – Troop
D. Arty Bty HQ elements changed from 2x Inf recce to 1 Inf HQ & 1 Inf recce to better reflect the HQ element (<Divisional Assets> only, <BAOR Corps Assets> unchanged)
E. Changed Tank & Armoured Recce Sqn from ‘Battalion(II)’ to ‘Sqn(I)’ in “Is HQ Of” column G on formation tab
F. Updated Bde HQ with the following to better reflect actual TOE and higher command HQ status
1. Removed the lone Tank
2. Reduced the APCT from 6 down to 2
3. Added COMV*4
G. Div. Arm. Recce Regiment – B – reduced to 3 Recce Sqn with 4th Sqn now SP-ATGW Sqn (original version was 4 recce sqn the same as Div. Arm. Recce Regiment – A)
B4
A. Added Anti-Tank (Airmobile) Infantry Battalion (89+)
B. Revised Airmobile Infantry Battalion (83+) by reducing the number of LAW80 teams (down from 12 to 3 per platoon)
C. Revised a number of ‘crew’ numbers in the units tab (key ones listed below)
1. Harrier reduced to single crew (2 seated variations were training aircraft)
2. MAW/LAW-80 reduced to 2 man teams
3. Milan reduced to 3 man teams
4. HMG reduced to 4 man teams
5. LMG reduced to 2 man teams
6. 2 inch mortar reduced to 2 man team
7. Blowpipe and Javelin teams reduced to 3 man teams
8. Towed & Static Rapier increased to 8 man section
9. 155mm FH-70 How reduced to 8 man
10. 175mm Gun Towed Artillery Gun reduced from 48 down to 12
B5
a. Added INF-HQP (UK112A & UK113A) as a rifle platoon HQ - 4 man ‘crew’ with SLR/SA80, grenades, L9 51mm mortar.
b. Removed 2” mortar as a tem/group, the 2” mortar was ‘upgraded’ to the L9 51mm mortar and only issued to rifle platoon HQ’s (see above)
c. Corrected typo in ‘Scout Helicopter Flight’
d. Reduced helo sections to 2 helo of each type
e. Increased helo sqn to 3 flights (total 12 helo per sqn)
f. GPMG in sustained fire role (GPMG-SF)
1. Created UK117A & UK118A using MG5 and classed it as MMG (SU Type)
2. Changed UK119 & UK120 to LMG (SU Type) – should show as GPMG in unit selection screen
3. Changed infantry battalion references from HMG to MMG so that they use GPMG-SF rather than .50 HMG (.50 cal was not general issue to infantry battalions whereas the GPMG-SF was)
4. Atk sections within ‘Anti-Tank (Airmobile) Infantry Battalion (89+)’ reworked so they now have LMG (GPMG in standard role)
5. Replaced MG team in INF squads (under Low level units) with HMG, MMG, LMG squads
g. Removed ‘BV 202 Mortar’ from armoured and mech inf orbats
1. Created a SPMTRA in low level units for scenario designers to select if required (excluding 5 vehicle platoon)
2. When I get around to creating Royal Marine units they will be present (elevation 10 & snow weather/ground conditions available in game will be my drivers to create these so don’t expect them too soon).
h. Deleted UK172 – Ferret Mk 2/4 – this was being classed as a Self-Propelled Gun with a .30cal MG????, there is however UK129 – Ferret Mk 2/4 which is classed as a recce unit (its true purpose) so deleted UK172 to avoid duplication.
I. Rapier changes:
1.Deleted UK140 & UK141 (Static Rapier & Static Rapier FSB) as the ‘static’ version of Rapier was the towed version.
2.Edited the Towed Rapier (both versions) to SU Type SAM to reflect their setup times when compared against Tracked Rapier (remains as SPSAM)
3.Reworked BAOR Corps Assets to reflect above changes, Corp AD regiments now have 4 bty (2 tracker & 2 towed rapier
4.Renamed crewed weapons from ‘Fixed SAM’ to ‘SAM’
j. Deleted UK166 – Chieftain Mk10 due to duplicate of UK165 but with different dates
k. Reworked Chieftain MBT/versions dates
1.Mk5 1974 – 1980
2.Mk9 1978 – 1985
3.Mk10 1983 – 1988
4.Mk11 1986 – 1990
l. Reworked Centurion MBT dates (see notes below)
m. Updated Armoured Infantry Battlegroup to reflect its general availability date the same as armoured INF BN (88+)
B5a file attached to this post
Corrected typo in UK91 weapon loadout - infantry unit lost its WT70 nuke warhead.....
B5 Notes:
B5A - Unit is flagged as infantry unit so has no command radius or subject to EW locating. Also added unit under ‘low level units’ ‘INF squads’
B5C - this listed the ‘Composition’ as 2HS which did not correspond to anything resulting in scenario designers not able to select a flight or sqn of scout helo (now listed correctly as 3HS)
B5E - although some AAC regiments operated between 12 & 18 helo of each type but need to do more research into each AAC regiment to confirm what the standard ORBAT is and don’t want to cause more headaches for MR/Capt Darwin with the ‘mess’ that is the BAOR orbat  just yet
B5F - Various sources differ between 2 and 3 GPMG-SF teams allocated to companies, to avoid making coy HQ units too strong I elected to remain at 2 per Coy HQ totalling 6 per INF BN
B5G - , these were used exclusively on NATO northern flank (i.e. Norway) within Royal Marine units. Some logistics units saw limited distribution of the BV202/BV206 during the two Gulf wars and other theatres due to their excellent ability to handle sandy terrain (low PSI pressure and wider tracks saw similar mobility to use in snow/hilly conditions)
B5H - The standard armament on the ferret was a .30 cal other than the 2 ATGW armed versions – 1 with Vigilant the other with Swingfire
B5J - UK165 UK166 are nearly identical apart from UK165 dates 1980 – 1983, while UK166 dates 1984-1989. I suspect this may have been to cover off the Stillbrew armour upgrade yet there is no difference in stats other than the dates. Stillbrew armour was applied to the Mk9 and up-versioned to Mk10, details of upgrade versions in B5K notes below.
B5K – dates now more logical showing a common 2 year overlap for each upgrade programme, exact dates are different depending on which sources looked at but common theme is a 2 year overlap.
a. Mk 5 - Final production variant, with upgrades to the engine and NBC protection system.
b. Mk 9 – this covers Mk6 – Mk9) Incremental upgrades to earlier Marks of tanks, including addition of Clansman radios.
c. Mk10 - addition of Stillbrew Crew Protection Package to the turret front and turret ring.
d. Mk11 - Mark 10 upgrade, searchlight replaced with the Thermal Observation and Gunnery System (TOGS)
The early versions of the chieftain (i.e. Mk2 – Mk4, Mk1 was a training version and only 40 were produced) are not present so there is nearly a 7 year gap where British forces have no MBT, hopefully this will be corrected by the time the date range is expanded.
B5L – Centurion MBT was phased out by mid-late 1960’s as the Chieftain MBT entered service, this means the tank is out of the date range as currently set in game.
That said the Centurion is still used in various engineering guises (FV 4003 Centurion Mk 5 AVRE with 165mm ‘demolition gun’ was used during the 1991 gulf war)
B4 Notes:
A. A number of sources cite this TOE as ranging from 1990 until 1999 when 24th airmobile was merged with the parachute regiment group into 16th air assult bde. All sources agree TOE consisted of 42 Milan Launchers but no confirm where 2 launchers sit (2 coy with 10 each, 1 aviation coy with 8, FS coy with 14 but only list Atk Plt as HQ (2 launchers) and 5 sections (2 launchers each) which totals 40 not 42. I have elected to leave the 2 missing launchers out of the TOE)
B. The airmobile infantry bn were to be supplied with 100 LAW-80, in game each INF section is equipped with LAW-80 with 4 shots. However to better reflect the additional LAW80 provided to the airmobile bn extra LAW-80 teams per platoon have been added but reduced form 12 down to 3 per platoon
C. (10) very little info about the British use of the 175mm towed gun could be found, compared the crew numbers of the 5.5 inch and 7.2 inch gun that were in service until 1950's
B3 Notes:
A1. This represents a number of regular army units ear-marked to reinforce 1 British Corp in the event of war. Only BOAR units received FV432 and later the Warrior, these units used Saxon Wheeled APC as their battletaxi.
A2. A number of BOAR units were held to this TOE as were some UK based units in 2 Inf Div and the early 24th airmobile bde units.
A2. The TA Battalion has 4 Milian launchers (12 v.s. 16) less, so rather than spam formations with minor differences I kept these identical as it’s entirely possible that the TA units would get the extra launchers in wartime.
A3. 2 UK based units were ear-marked as BOAR reinforcements (1 under 2 Inf Div, the other under Corp command.
A4 & A5. There were a number of UK based Arty Rgt both regular and TA that were earmarked for BOAR reinforcements either as independent units or part of Inf Bdes.
Sources
British Orders of Battle & TO&Es 1980-1989 v3.5 By R Mark Davies for Battlefront: Modern
MODERN BRITISH TOE’S © Richard A. Rinaldi 2002 (www.orbat.com)
British Armoured Battle Group by Tim Matzold, Daniel Nowak
Change Log
B1
A. removed the extra 9 81mm mortar tubes (3 per company support), this brings the total down to 8 per battalion as under standard TOE
B. Added 2x handheld SAMs to Battalion HQ to a) compensate for the lost VP/9 tubes in point 1, b) this was standard practice to allocate these from the bde assets
C. redistributed the Milan sections to 1 per company, leaving 1 section and 2 MCT under ATK Plt, this was standard practice and party to compensate for point 1 above
D. 'renamed' Infantry Bn Recce Plt from SHQ to PHQ (has no effect on comms ranges from what I can tell)
B2
A. Added ‘Airmobile Infantry Battalion (83+)’
This is dated from when the concept was first trailed but based on the first formal TOE in 1986 up to 1989 when 2 of the infantry Bn changed their 3rd company to an aviation company of 2 Plt and 1 Atk platoon of 8 Milan Launchers as well as overall increase in ATGM up to 42 or 44 Launchers. The 3rd Bn remained a beefed up Light Role Inf Bn at 24 Launchers.
B. Added: quick selection of 3 different Battlegroups
Armoured Battlegroup
Mechanised Battlegroup
Armoured Infantry Battlegroup
Note, the infantry company in the armoured battlegroup does not have organic mortar support at present while I figure out best of presenting it.
B3
A. Added the following formations;
1.Mechanized Infantry Battalion [wheeled]
2.Infantry Battalion (Light Role/TA)
3.Yeomanry Armoured Recce Regiment (TA)
4.Field Artillery Regiment-105mm (Towed/TA)
5.Field Artillery Regiment-155mm (Towed/TA)
B. Split Batttlegroup quick selection of Armoured Battlegroup into 2 types and infantry coy should now appear ahead of Rgt support coy (sorry tankies but infantry rate higher than support elements!!)
1. 2:1 BG of 2 sqn tanks, 1 coy inf
2. 2:2 BG of 2 sqn tanks, 2 coy inf
C. Updated various naming conventions so that’s they all follow correct British Army naming convention:
1. Tank Rgt – Sqn – Troop
2. Inf Bn – Coy – Platoon
3. Arty Rgt – Bty – Troop
D. Arty Bty HQ elements changed from 2x Inf recce to 1 Inf HQ & 1 Inf recce to better reflect the HQ element (<Divisional Assets> only, <BAOR Corps Assets> unchanged)
E. Changed Tank & Armoured Recce Sqn from ‘Battalion(II)’ to ‘Sqn(I)’ in “Is HQ Of” column G on formation tab
F. Updated Bde HQ with the following to better reflect actual TOE and higher command HQ status
1. Removed the lone Tank
2. Reduced the APCT from 6 down to 2
3. Added COMV*4
G. Div. Arm. Recce Regiment – B – reduced to 3 Recce Sqn with 4th Sqn now SP-ATGW Sqn (original version was 4 recce sqn the same as Div. Arm. Recce Regiment – A)
B4
A. Added Anti-Tank (Airmobile) Infantry Battalion (89+)
B. Revised Airmobile Infantry Battalion (83+) by reducing the number of LAW80 teams (down from 12 to 3 per platoon)
C. Revised a number of ‘crew’ numbers in the units tab (key ones listed below)
1. Harrier reduced to single crew (2 seated variations were training aircraft)
2. MAW/LAW-80 reduced to 2 man teams
3. Milan reduced to 3 man teams
4. HMG reduced to 4 man teams
5. LMG reduced to 2 man teams
6. 2 inch mortar reduced to 2 man team
7. Blowpipe and Javelin teams reduced to 3 man teams
8. Towed & Static Rapier increased to 8 man section
9. 155mm FH-70 How reduced to 8 man
10. 175mm Gun Towed Artillery Gun reduced from 48 down to 12
B5
a. Added INF-HQP (UK112A & UK113A) as a rifle platoon HQ - 4 man ‘crew’ with SLR/SA80, grenades, L9 51mm mortar.
b. Removed 2” mortar as a tem/group, the 2” mortar was ‘upgraded’ to the L9 51mm mortar and only issued to rifle platoon HQ’s (see above)
c. Corrected typo in ‘Scout Helicopter Flight’
d. Reduced helo sections to 2 helo of each type
e. Increased helo sqn to 3 flights (total 12 helo per sqn)
f. GPMG in sustained fire role (GPMG-SF)
1. Created UK117A & UK118A using MG5 and classed it as MMG (SU Type)
2. Changed UK119 & UK120 to LMG (SU Type) – should show as GPMG in unit selection screen
3. Changed infantry battalion references from HMG to MMG so that they use GPMG-SF rather than .50 HMG (.50 cal was not general issue to infantry battalions whereas the GPMG-SF was)
4. Atk sections within ‘Anti-Tank (Airmobile) Infantry Battalion (89+)’ reworked so they now have LMG (GPMG in standard role)
5. Replaced MG team in INF squads (under Low level units) with HMG, MMG, LMG squads
g. Removed ‘BV 202 Mortar’ from armoured and mech inf orbats
1. Created a SPMTRA in low level units for scenario designers to select if required (excluding 5 vehicle platoon)
2. When I get around to creating Royal Marine units they will be present (elevation 10 & snow weather/ground conditions available in game will be my drivers to create these so don’t expect them too soon).
h. Deleted UK172 – Ferret Mk 2/4 – this was being classed as a Self-Propelled Gun with a .30cal MG????, there is however UK129 – Ferret Mk 2/4 which is classed as a recce unit (its true purpose) so deleted UK172 to avoid duplication.
I. Rapier changes:
1.Deleted UK140 & UK141 (Static Rapier & Static Rapier FSB) as the ‘static’ version of Rapier was the towed version.
2.Edited the Towed Rapier (both versions) to SU Type SAM to reflect their setup times when compared against Tracked Rapier (remains as SPSAM)
3.Reworked BAOR Corps Assets to reflect above changes, Corp AD regiments now have 4 bty (2 tracker & 2 towed rapier
4.Renamed crewed weapons from ‘Fixed SAM’ to ‘SAM’
j. Deleted UK166 – Chieftain Mk10 due to duplicate of UK165 but with different dates
k. Reworked Chieftain MBT/versions dates
1.Mk5 1974 – 1980
2.Mk9 1978 – 1985
3.Mk10 1983 – 1988
4.Mk11 1986 – 1990
l. Reworked Centurion MBT dates (see notes below)
m. Updated Armoured Infantry Battlegroup to reflect its general availability date the same as armoured INF BN (88+)
B5a file attached to this post
Corrected typo in UK91 weapon loadout - infantry unit lost its WT70 nuke warhead.....
B5 Notes:
B5A - Unit is flagged as infantry unit so has no command radius or subject to EW locating. Also added unit under ‘low level units’ ‘INF squads’
B5C - this listed the ‘Composition’ as 2HS which did not correspond to anything resulting in scenario designers not able to select a flight or sqn of scout helo (now listed correctly as 3HS)
B5E - although some AAC regiments operated between 12 & 18 helo of each type but need to do more research into each AAC regiment to confirm what the standard ORBAT is and don’t want to cause more headaches for MR/Capt Darwin with the ‘mess’ that is the BAOR orbat  just yet
B5F - Various sources differ between 2 and 3 GPMG-SF teams allocated to companies, to avoid making coy HQ units too strong I elected to remain at 2 per Coy HQ totalling 6 per INF BN
B5G - , these were used exclusively on NATO northern flank (i.e. Norway) within Royal Marine units. Some logistics units saw limited distribution of the BV202/BV206 during the two Gulf wars and other theatres due to their excellent ability to handle sandy terrain (low PSI pressure and wider tracks saw similar mobility to use in snow/hilly conditions)
B5H - The standard armament on the ferret was a .30 cal other than the 2 ATGW armed versions – 1 with Vigilant the other with Swingfire
B5J - UK165 UK166 are nearly identical apart from UK165 dates 1980 – 1983, while UK166 dates 1984-1989. I suspect this may have been to cover off the Stillbrew armour upgrade yet there is no difference in stats other than the dates. Stillbrew armour was applied to the Mk9 and up-versioned to Mk10, details of upgrade versions in B5K notes below.
B5K – dates now more logical showing a common 2 year overlap for each upgrade programme, exact dates are different depending on which sources looked at but common theme is a 2 year overlap.
a. Mk 5 - Final production variant, with upgrades to the engine and NBC protection system.
b. Mk 9 – this covers Mk6 – Mk9) Incremental upgrades to earlier Marks of tanks, including addition of Clansman radios.
c. Mk10 - addition of Stillbrew Crew Protection Package to the turret front and turret ring.
d. Mk11 - Mark 10 upgrade, searchlight replaced with the Thermal Observation and Gunnery System (TOGS)
The early versions of the chieftain (i.e. Mk2 – Mk4, Mk1 was a training version and only 40 were produced) are not present so there is nearly a 7 year gap where British forces have no MBT, hopefully this will be corrected by the time the date range is expanded.
B5L – Centurion MBT was phased out by mid-late 1960’s as the Chieftain MBT entered service, this means the tank is out of the date range as currently set in game.
That said the Centurion is still used in various engineering guises (FV 4003 Centurion Mk 5 AVRE with 165mm ‘demolition gun’ was used during the 1991 gulf war)
B4 Notes:
A. A number of sources cite this TOE as ranging from 1990 until 1999 when 24th airmobile was merged with the parachute regiment group into 16th air assult bde. All sources agree TOE consisted of 42 Milan Launchers but no confirm where 2 launchers sit (2 coy with 10 each, 1 aviation coy with 8, FS coy with 14 but only list Atk Plt as HQ (2 launchers) and 5 sections (2 launchers each) which totals 40 not 42. I have elected to leave the 2 missing launchers out of the TOE)
B. The airmobile infantry bn were to be supplied with 100 LAW-80, in game each INF section is equipped with LAW-80 with 4 shots. However to better reflect the additional LAW80 provided to the airmobile bn extra LAW-80 teams per platoon have been added but reduced form 12 down to 3 per platoon
C. (10) very little info about the British use of the 175mm towed gun could be found, compared the crew numbers of the 5.5 inch and 7.2 inch gun that were in service until 1950's
B3 Notes:
A1. This represents a number of regular army units ear-marked to reinforce 1 British Corp in the event of war. Only BOAR units received FV432 and later the Warrior, these units used Saxon Wheeled APC as their battletaxi.
A2. A number of BOAR units were held to this TOE as were some UK based units in 2 Inf Div and the early 24th airmobile bde units.
A2. The TA Battalion has 4 Milian launchers (12 v.s. 16) less, so rather than spam formations with minor differences I kept these identical as it’s entirely possible that the TA units would get the extra launchers in wartime.
A3. 2 UK based units were ear-marked as BOAR reinforcements (1 under 2 Inf Div, the other under Corp command.
A4 & A5. There were a number of UK based Arty Rgt both regular and TA that were earmarked for BOAR reinforcements either as independent units or part of Inf Bdes.
Sources
British Orders of Battle & TO&Es 1980-1989 v3.5 By R Mark Davies for Battlefront: Modern
MODERN BRITISH TOE’S © Richard A. Rinaldi 2002 (www.orbat.com)
British Armoured Battle Group by Tim Matzold, Daniel Nowak