Infantry based anti tank for USMC and EFTF?

[Proteus454]

Well, remember that all a Land Warrior suite is is a set of electronics, sensors and things. Might improve long-range accuracy and such, but it's not going to make your average assault rifle intrinsically more effective against, say, a tank.

 

[lastbesthope]

Good to know Matt. How far out do you have the various waves planned? Any chance of dropping some more hints of what we can expect?

Matt gave me a copy of the planned releases, though that was before the recent announcement about some delays. If Matt doesn't mind I'll post the list uip here.

LBH

 

[Helstrom]

I think the USMC currently(and possibly in 10 years) has a weapons platoon attached to each Company. This is where the mortars, anti tank, and HMGs are. These teams are then delegated where they are needed.

So, not having AT capabilities in the USMC squads IS realistic. If weapon teams that can be delegated to squads come out later, that would be realistic as well.

Maybe someone with more "authority" could speak better to the actual USMC Company/Platoon organization? This info is based on a web search...

Sorry, but you're a bit off.

Yes, USMC companies consist of three rifle platoons and a weapons platoon. The weapons platoon - on paper anyway - has a mortar squad (three tubes), MG squad (three M204s) and an "assault weapon" squad with three TOWs, Javelins, or SMAWs. These are usually attached to patrols on a team basis, rather than fielded as coherent squads, let alone the whole weapons platoon at once.

The "assault weapons" provide the rifle company with some pretty serious anti-tank and bunker-busting firepower - the marines particularly love their SMAWs because they can fire a wide range of ammo, making them useful against a wide range of targets under different circumstances. That said, USMC patrols rarely go out without some AT-4s on them. These are carried in addition to a marine's regular equipment, the new CS versions can fairly safely be fired in an enclosed environment (very little backblast) and they seriously increase their options in combat without having to drag a dedicated weapons team around. One or two AT-4s per fire team are the rule rather than the exception.

I don't see that changing in the next few decades either - although the exact implement may change, they will want to keep that firepower at the fire team level, especially in MOUT and counter-insurgency operaitons where engagements often involve no more than a platoon (and often less) of troops with a fair deal of dispersement.

You can find some really good TO&E documents here:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/policy/usmc/to/ground/index.html

They are in "military speak" so you have to figure them out a little, once you do it's OK. The USMC rifle company is at the bottom of that page.