Commission on the Defence Forces Public Consultation Response Template • Capabilities – In this regard, you may wish to consider future integrated capability development and the planning and delivery requirements to support a joint force approach in terms of new equipment, professional military education and training, maintenance and development of infrastructure, developments in military doctrine, and transformative concepts, including specialist capabilities, that prepare and support the Defence Forces for future operations. The Defence Forces need the military capabilities to successfully carry out its operational taskings both within the State and while deployed on international missions. Army Force protection Force protection on overseas deployments must be paramount. Force protection equipment, both personal issue and unit equipment must be of the highest standard and in significant quantity. Insignificant funding has caused a slow introduction of some essential force protection items, such as flame-resistant clothing, with some items, for example, flame-resistant facemasks and gloves for Armoured Personnel Carrier crew, individual first aid kits and ballistic glasses being none existent. Other militaries have learned hard lessons in recent conflicts when it comes to personal force protection, the results of which must be examined and adapted. A minimum quantity level of equipment needs to be put into policy. For example, the insignificant number of Armoured Personnel Carriers for overseas operational requirements has resulted in the Army having to take a loan of old substandard SISU 6x6 Armoured Personnel Carriers from the United Nations to fill the gap. This should not have to happen. The minimum number of Armoured Personnel Carriers required for overseas operations and training at home needs to be put into policy. The National Development Plan has earmarked the Army's problematic fleet of Light Tactical Armoured Vehicles for replacement. This should be used as an opportunity to increase the number of Armoured Personnel Carriers to the minimum quantity level needed, as well as other types of armoured vehicles, such as armoured ambulances, which there are currently insignificant numbers of in service. A single-family of 4x4 and 6x6 armoured vehicles, using the same chassis, powerpack and drive train, in a number of different variants for specific mission roles should be procured. Examples being, 4x4 Infantry Patrol Vehicle, 4x4 Special Operations Forces Reconnaissance Vehicle, 4x4 Artillery Surveillance Target Acquisition Vehicle, 4x4 Communications Information Services Vehicle, 6x6 Armoured Personnel Carrier and 6x6 Armoured Ambulance. Such a family of armoured vehicles would provide ballistic, mine and improvised explosive device protection to supplement the Mowag 8x8 Armoured Personnel Carrier fleet. The threat posed by low-cost mini and micro unmanned aerial systems, both armed and unarmed has greatly increased in the current mission areas where the Army is deployed overseas. A Counter Unmanned Aerial System capability needs to be developed and deployed. The Cavalry Corps currently operates three different types of armoured reconnaissance vehicles. For such a small corps, a single variant armoured vehicle would be more efficient for their formation-level intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance role and should be considered when the current fleet is due for replacement. Unmanned aerial systems There is currently no reconnaissance unmanned aerial systems used by infantry battalions or cavalry squadrons. These units must have organic beyond visible line of sight unmanned aerial systems for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance as well as for mortar fire control. Infrastructure The Defence Forces infrastructure consists of barracks, camps, an airbase, a naval base, training lands, rifle ranges, an artillery range, medical hospital and Reserve Defence Forces premises. A number of these permanently occupied locations are of strategic defence importance, being located near the border, airports, seaports, government buildings and other vital installations. The closure of a number of barracks in the border region has left a 140 km distance between the two remaining permanently occupied bases along the border, Finner Camp on the west coast and Aiken Barracks on the east, a travelling time of four hours on regional roads. A commitment needs to be made to maintain these and all other strategically important permanently occupied bases. Investment in barracks and training areas has improved and modernised many locations with various other projects ongoing and in planning. However, many buildings have fallen into disrepair due to a lack of funding being available. Temporary facilities such as containers and tentage are being used for storage in a number of locations. Funding in infrastructure needs to increase to continue the modernisation and maintenance of facilities. Legislation must be put into place to protect military training areas from encroachment by civilian building developments. Tall structures such as wind turbines and stacks can pose a dangerous hazard to aircraft flight training in the Low Flying Training Areas. Legislation should also protect the usage of traditional training areas not owned by the Defence Forces such as mountains and lakes. Cyber and electronic attack While cyber and electronic warfare are separate entities, both methods can have equivalent effects. In a cyber attack, hackers using the internet and information systems could attack the State or companies located within the State for military or other strategic purposes. The same threat of attack could also be used against the Defence Forces on overseas missions. An electronic attack would result in the jamming and overpowering of computer systems, communications systems, electronics, telecommunications, radars and navigation systems. Again this form of attack is a threat to the State and the Defence Forces on overseas missions. A dedicated unit must be established to defend against these forms of attack. Rapid Deployment The Army should develop its own rapid deployment capability, built around an infantry battalions Support Company, to be able to deploy troops overseas at short notice. An infantry battalions Support Company would be best suited for such a role as its personnel are trained in the use of mortars, anti-armour missiles, heavy machine guns, as well as reconnaissance and sniping, but still being able to operate in the conventional infantry role. A rapid deployment standby unit should be rotated between battalions after a fixed period of time, ie every six months. This capability would require a tactical airlift aircraft to support any deployment. Army Ranger Wing The Army Ranger Wing in order to carry out its elite capabilities needs the support from other units in the Defence Forces particularly in the form of Air Corps aircraft. It is vital that all the assets needed for the Army Ranger Wing to carry out its roles both within the State and on overseas missions is made available and obtained. Air Corps Air mobility There are significant gaps in the Defence Forces air mobility capabilities which have drawn special attention a number of times over the last decade. The Air Corps has never had a strategic or tactical airlift aircraft to support Army and Army Ranger Wing operations overseas. A tactical turboprop airlift aircraft capable of troop transport, equipment transport, medical evacuation and airdrop operations is needed to support operations overseas, having the advantage of speed and also the ability to reach areas that are inaccessible by land or sea. Priority should be given to the procurement of an airlift aircraft over the "freight carrying" ship mentioned in the 2015 White Paper on Defence. The 2015 White Paper on Defence also mentions that the Learjet 45 is due for replacement in 2024. While primarily used for the Ministerial Air Transport Service, it has also been used to support Army missions overseas carrying out a small number of medical evacuation, equipment transport and troop transport flights. The Learjet 45 has the advantage of being able to fly at twice the speed of the Air Corps turboprop aircraft and having a longer range. When the Learjet 45 is due for replacement it should be replaced by a larger multi-role business jet, with a longer range and capable of having more utility to support Army operations overseas. The Air Corps EC135 and AW139 utility helicopters have significantly improved the Defence Forces air mobility capabilities since they were introduced into service. However, they are not without their limitations due to their size and that there are only being eight helicopters in total. Islamic terrorist attacks in other European countries in recent years has proven the need for helicopters to insert Special Operations Forces, Army support troops, specialist police and for medical evacuation, when time is critical. For such operations within the State, in addition to the current helicopter fleet, a number of medium-lift helicopters need to be obtained. Medium-lift helicopters can carry more than double the number of troops as the AW139 helicopter, while still only requiring the same number of pilots and crew to operate the aircraft. Overseas missions While the Air Corps has deployed personnel on overseas operations and Air Corps aircraft have been used to transport troops, equipment and carried out medical evacuations to and from mission areas in support of the Army, no Air Corps aircraft