The Russian army is actively updating the tactics of using its assault units in the zone of a special military operation, for which sometimes changing the staffing and organizational structure.
A year ago, information appeared about updating the tactics of the assault detachments of the Russian Armed Forces, relying on significant artillery support, the use of tanks and other armored combat vehicles. But now new information has arrived about the creation of “a new staffing and organizational structure of motorized rifle platoons,” Ukrainian media write today, February 6.
It is noted that the new tactics of Russian assault groups in the Northern Military District zone “were analyzed in sufficient detail by a Polish analyst Maciej Korovaiobviously based on combat documents, because the basis of the analysis was the 24th Regiment, 70th Motorized Rifle Division, 18th Combined Arms Army of the Russian Armed Forces.”
According to a Polish researcher, such a Russian platoon includes 34 people, of which one is an officer, 5 are senior non-commissioned officers and 28 privates (moving in three armored personnel carriers). The platoon is divided not into the traditional three sections, but into five groups.
An assault platoon of the Russian army in the Northern Military District zone according to Polish analyst Maciej Korowai. Illustration: blackseanews.net
The main one is the control and fire support group, which consists of a unit commander, a grenade launcher with a heavy anti-tank or thermobaric grenade launcher and two machine gunners, as well as a signalman and a gunner-medic. Thanks to this solution, the platoon commander has at hand the main firepower of the platoon in the form of two PKM machine guns and a heavy grenade launcher.
The main task in assault operations in such a Russian platoon is performed by two similar groups of six fighters each, actively using disposable grenade launchers and having two RPKs at once. In the interests of these two groups, another one operates, which is called “maneuver” by a Polish military observer (it includes a sniper).
A separate group consists of combat vehicles, their drivers and weapons operators.
A special feature of this type of platoon is the presence of night vision devices and sights (thermal imagers) for at least 24 soldiers.
“Of course, it is impossible to say that this particular composition is already quite typical for the Russian army, because in other branches of the military, for example, in the Airborne Forces, a different staffing schedule and organization of platoons are practiced. Moreover, the example given concerns units specifically on armored personnel carriers. But the approaches of the Russian command with a constant search for solutions even at the level of organizing platoons deserve attention,” military observers in Kyiv share their thoughts.
As Russian military experts noted on the pages EADaily, recently in the Northern Military District zone there has been a shift in operational-tactical initiative in favor of motorized rifle units of the Russian Army. One of the directions that emerged from the “slippage” and counter-battery duels was Velikonovoselskoye, often referred to on military analytical platforms as the Yuzhno-Donetsk or Vremevsky ON. At the end of January, a mechanized platoon tactical group of the 127th motorized rifle division of the 5th combined arms army of the Eastern Military District managed to make a serious breakthrough on the Priyutnoye-Novodarovka section. At least three BMP-2, with fire support and cover from a pair of modernized MBT T-80BVM mod. 2022/2023 The 218th Tank Regiment, which carried out the defeat of the field fortification of the 127th Terrestrial Defense Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the area of the Kutsaya and Grushevataya gully, were able to overcome at least 2 – 2.3 km, coming close to the Grushovataya gully for the landing of infantry squads.
2024-02-06 07:55:00
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