Challenges Faced by the Romanian Land Forces Regarding Training for the Operations in the Urban Environment

Land Forces Academy Review Vol. XXV, No 2(98), 2020 CHALLENGES FACED BY THE ROMANIAN LAND FORCES REGARDING TRAINING FOR THE OPERATIONS IN THE URBAN ENVIRONMENT Daniel SOLESCU “Nicolae Bălcescu” Land Forces Academy, Sibiu, Romania [email protected] ABSTRACT The topic addressed in this article is a current one and modern armies discuss it a lot and many analyses and comments can be made. In the article, the author presents the general framework of operations in the urban environment and starting from the operational requirements mandatory to conduct such operations he analyzes the prospects that such operations have in future military operations and proposes directions for action necessary for the effective training of the subunits within the Romanian Land Forces. KEYWORDS: urban operations, doctrine, training 1. Introduction We believe that these forces must Today we live in a global adapt quickly by acquiring new military environment increasingly full of technologies, throughthe increasingly technological inventions and innovations, complex training of fighters and by training of fast social and demographic change, and future military leaders who can act on where international security is being future non-linear battlefields, without challenged by an increasingly belligerent having reliable radio links between subunits Russia and the display of China’s economic or with higher echelons, but able to make and military power. correct decisions under uncertain and risky Terrestrial military actions are on the situations. verge of fundamental change. The nature of First, our study proposes our own these actions – how and where to fight and vision of the concept of operations in the with what weapons and tactics – will urban environment from the general undergo fundamental, profound and perspective of the operations of the Land significant changes. In order to meet future Forces. The conceptual delimitation of military challenges, NATO forces must be these specific operations, the analysis of the prepared to engage in cyber wars, operate way of action of forces in an extreme without satellite-based communications and hostile environment such as cities or navigation, but above all, be able to fight in localities, becomes relevant topics of a complex urban setting. knowledge for future military operations. DOI: 10.2478/raft-2020-0014 © 2017. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License. 115 The study aims to demonstrate that, in fighting. Army operations in complex and a future conflict, in which there is a wide densely populated urban lands are the range of military missions, it is necessary to hardest and bloodiest form of combat and study the military actions that can be will become the norm, not the exception, in carried out in the urban environment and the future. present the directions of action regarding The Land Forces need new training and equipping the infantry subunits capabilities so that they can work in urban within Land Forces to successfully manage operations. Improvements in intelligence these types of operations. and reconnaissance systems are important for identifying targets in a dense and 2. Conceptual Delimitations confusing urban environment, and combat From ancient times the military forces will need to be able to operate strategist Sun Tzu warned that “the worst independently for long periods of time and policy is to attack cities. Attack cities only will need long-range precision weapons. when there is no alternative” (Tzu, 1982, They will also have to strengthen their p. 67). However, alongside Sun Tzu’s electronic systems to defend themselves maxim, there is another, equally revered in against cyber and electronic warfare attacks military circles, adapted from Carl Von or, worse, be prepared to take action Clausewitz, who argues that at the strategic without them. level, the following can be considered as It is possible that logistic supply lines possible centers of gravity: “an economic be largely made up of autonomous systems, resource or a key locality; a strategic such as robots and remotely controlled transport capacity; vital parts of the convoys, to reduce the risk of loss among national territory.” (Tofan, Mateescu & fighters, and “the ability of units to produce Brumă, 2003, p. 21). or purify their own water and to make their In the current war, military forces own spare parts with 3D printing can prefer not to fight in the cities for good become a necessity” (Milley, 2017). reasons. With endless enemy locations, Future wars in the urban environment vertical and underground closed areas and will no longer include the comfort and spaces, with a massive number of civilians, stability that exists today in well-equipped most of them children or seniors who may military bases located in areas where be injured or killed, with stressful situations stability and support military actions are of operational requirements, it is no wonder taking place, and the lives of soldiers will that urban battles in the past have been almost certainly be extremely austere. described as a battle in hell. Soldiers will also need to be more In the future, it will be difficult for independent and imaginative, capable of military formations to hide on battlefields intuiting the reality of the battlefield and flooded with sensors, which means that even being independent in the circumstances survival might depend on having smaller when they do not have direct connection and more mobile forces, and military and support from the upper echelon in order actions will move into dense urban areas to successfully carry out their missions. with multiple robotic weapons and a large civilian population in the midst of fighting, 3. Courses of Action a situation that makes the enemy extremely Since 2007, the motto of the training elusive and combines conventional warfare center, within the Land Forces, is with actions of terrorism and guerrilla. “Train yourself today, as you fight This requires significant changes in tomorrow!” (Ciolponea, 2017, p. 92), current methods of thinking, training and meant to ensure that they will develop and 116 execute a tough and realistic training. As Land Forces specialists should long as we prepare as we fight, no soldier consider the major implications from a should face a situation or environment in tactical point of view, the advantages and battle for the first time. disadvantages of conducting the whole Unfortunately, this principle is range of urban military operations (especially occasionally ignored. Despite the history offensive and defensive) and why not, even and global trends of urbanization, the Land the fighting of resistance in towns. Forces are not adequately trained for It is necessary to set up a committee operations in urban areas. An approach of experts, officers and non-commissioned aimed at solving our lack of expertise officers to collect and compile all available should include three areas of effort: information on the history of urban a) Defining and developing the operations and to be responsible for the concept of urban operations in an official creation and further development of this doctrine; specific doctrine taking into account that b) Designing and building a training urban warfare is not new. center of a battalion level specifically dedicated to training fighters and subunits b) Designing and building a training in the skills they need to combat and win a center of a battalion level fight in the urban environment; The biggest disruptive factor limiting c) Developing a specialized Kit the development of skills in the field of designed for military actions in urban areas. urban warfare is the lack of special Doing this together with several types polygons for the realistic training of combat of forces involved, has the advantages of skills and the acquisition of specific TTPs. using more resources and experience. Most of the training exercises for operations in the urban environment that a) Defining and developing the the subunits of the Land Forces perform concept of urban operations in an official focus especially on assaulting a small doctrine building and clearing the rooms in teams of Recently, the US military replaced the 2, 3 or 4 soldiers. The training is often term “urban military operations” with performed by improvising a room with “urban operations,” explaining that this panels to represent the walls or even worse, new term, unlike the old one, assumes that with a simple white-red band. urbanized land is populated and that We believe that it is time for this to population must be a major concern. change, and after defining and elaborating The concept of urban operations represents the doctrine of urban warfare, an Urban not only the need to eliminate enemy Operations Training Center must be set up forces, but also the presence and inevitable to prepare soldiers to fight and survive in interaction with civilians in the urban this specific environment and at the same environment. time to offer courses built around the In the particularly complex conditions elaborated doctrine. This would allow of the urban environment we need a new financial resources to be invested in one way of approaching the fight, but the Land place, rather than wasted on inadequate Forces has no doctrine developed for this facilities, within each unit. type of military actions, namely the fight in Training within this center should not the urban environment and no comprehensive be limited to the formation of individual set of TTPs (tactics, techniques and skills; it should also be able to train entire procedures). subunits. Together, individual and subunit 117 training will achieve cohesion and increase challenge the soldiers to use the urban the subunit’s fighting power. facilities in attack and defense. This training center should simulate In order to build this center, we can all the attributes of urban expansion, an take as an example the experience of Israel urban center, buildings with multiple floors, and Germany.

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