2006-03-27

Moving onto Alberta's Army and Marine Corps

(this is part two of the discussion which started here.

The Royal Alberta Ground Forces (RAGF)

  1. Tanks are really starting to become a 20th century creation, but still are handy to have, along with proper defenses. 12 of these or so should provide an adequate fleet of main battle tanks.
  2. 20-25 FV 432s sound like a nice touch for pure infantry transport
  3. The Canadian Coyote APC is nice, but the M2/M3 Bradley is a more all-round vehicle. 25 M3A3s, 10 M2A3s, and 5 M6s for air defense
  4. Since the Bradley is a tracked machine, there will also be need for wheeled mid-level offensive platforms: 25-30 Mowag Pirahnas seem suitable for the task (the Coyote is derived from it)
  5. Artillery is still applicable in our modern times: no less than 40 PzH2000 German Panzers (partially because you can't go wrong with German Panzers)
  6. 10 G6 Howitzers are also handy to have around
  7. 20 Ukrainian BTR-94 APCs sound like a beautiful idea, they are a little more versatile than the American equivalent, the old LVT-7
  8. The Israeilis make a lovely armoured D9 "battle-dozer", and buying 5 or so of them seems like a wise investment (well, technically we buy a "D9 armour kit" and then attach it to an existing D9)
  9. With a mere 10 Apache attack helicopters planned, air support on the battlefield will be primarily a reconaissance aim (hence all the unmanned vehicles). As a result, a dedicated anti-tank ground weapon will be required in addition to the artillery. May I suggest 25 NM-142 Norwegian tank-killers? Norway is in general a good model for study militarily, as they have the same climate we do (none of this Aussie-following).
  10. Finally a fleet of fast-transport vehicle will be required: The French-made Sarajevo-taxi seems a good fit. I'd suggest 60 "VBL TOURELLE FERMEE", an additional 30 "VBL (à flancs redressés) CANON", with 10 "VBL TOW"s and 5 "VBL ALBI-MISTRAL"s
  11. Finally, a fleet of approximately 400 HMMWVs is appropriate, with the vast majority of them variants of the M1145.

Ground Force Operations would be centred at the primary base of operations of the Royal Albertan Ground Forces (Alberta Army, or RAGF), located at Suffield, Alberta. Additional bases would be at Kamloops and Saskatoon.


The Royal Alberta Marine Corps (RAMC)
The Royal Alberta Marine Corps would not be a traditional marine outfit as 20th century terminology would understand it. The RAMC would encompass emergent-technology warfare, special forces operations, and skunkworks. Sort of SAS-meets-SEALs-meets-JTF2-meets-DeltaForce.
    Vehicle-wise, there wouldn't be much to the RAMC, but what would be included would be:
  1. 25 NH90 helicopters, 15 of them NFH versions with 10 of the TTH versions.
  2. 40 French-made VABs will provide for the urban warfare division.
  3. Three C2 Greyhounds for paratrooping missions
  4. 20 RQ-1 Predator drones, with 5 RQ-1 Mariners, and 15 RQ-4 Global Hawks
  5. Approximately 8 Skjold-class Norwegian cutters for traditional marine purposes
  6. Also for traditional purposes, 10 LCAC hovercraft that can be deployed from Albertan Navy mobile docking platforms
  7. One British Bay-class landing dock ship as well, for dedicated LCAC missions
  8. 10 LCU Mark 10 amphibious assault craft
  9. Two modified Astute-class British attack subs: one rigged with a diving team delivery system (similar to what the USS Polk underwent in the Richard Henrck novel Attack On the Queen; the other rigged for ELINT (electronic warfare and signal aquisition)
  10. 6 Ka-50 Russian gunship helicopters
Again, much of the potential of the RAMC is going to be in its technological tools and devices: specialized rifles and other such weaponry will be key, is will be the ability to deploy well-trained teams quickly into a situation. For this department, the training, not the equipment, is key.

Royal Albertan Marine Corps would be trained solely at their training facility in Canoe Lake, Alberta. Their base of operations would be located there as well, with air resources stored at Cold Lake and naval resources stored at Vancouver.

Update, October 28 2006 4:56pm: I never did add on here that the math for the Navy/Airforce/Army/Specialforces has been redone assuming Alberta annexes much of the NWT and Yukon