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3D ACR to become 3D SCR
Army to switch 2 heavy brigades to Strykers
ARMY TIMES
By Gina Cavallaro and Kris Osborn - Staff writers
Posted : Saturday Oct 3, 2009 14:33:22 EDT
Two heavy brigade combat teams will vanish by 2013 to make way for two new Stryker brigades, bringing the Army’s number of active SBCTs to eight and taking another bite out of its armor formations.
Planning documents obtained by Army Times say 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division at Fort Bliss, Texas, and 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment at Fort Hood, Texas, will be converted to SBCTs beginning in fiscal 2011 and fiscal 2012, respectively, and will take 24 months to become fully operational.
Another combat aviation brigade would be built, with aviation assets reallocated from the 3rd ACR’s Longknife Squadron, mostly AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopters, and tracked equipment and other assets of the heavy units to undergo conversion will be redistributed to the Army’s heavy BCTs as needed.
The move to convert two heavy brigades to Stryker units signals the Army’s shift toward a lighter, more quickly deployable formation that is infantry-focused and proven to be highly mobile in diverse environments.
And it further reduces the Army’s number of heavy brigades. Defense Secretary Robert Gates had announced in April that the Army would hold the total number of brigade combat teams at 45 rather than the planned 48, and the Army nixed a plan to grow three heavy brigades.
The 1st HBCT, which is deploying to Iraq now, will begin its conversion in the first quarter of fiscal 2011, during the reset period after its fall 2010 redeployment.
The 3rd ACR redeployed from its third rotation to Iraq in January and no announcement has been made about its next deployment.
But the Stryker plan calls for the 3rd ACR to begin its conversion in the first quarter of fiscal 2012 during the reset period following deployment.
That would mean the unit will be receiving orders to deploy for a year beginning fall 2010.
ARMY TIMES
By Gina Cavallaro and Kris Osborn - Staff writers
Posted : Saturday Oct 3, 2009 14:33:22 EDT
Two heavy brigade combat teams will vanish by 2013 to make way for two new Stryker brigades, bringing the Army’s number of active SBCTs to eight and taking another bite out of its armor formations.
Planning documents obtained by Army Times say 1st Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division at Fort Bliss, Texas, and 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment at Fort Hood, Texas, will be converted to SBCTs beginning in fiscal 2011 and fiscal 2012, respectively, and will take 24 months to become fully operational.
Another combat aviation brigade would be built, with aviation assets reallocated from the 3rd ACR’s Longknife Squadron, mostly AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopters, and tracked equipment and other assets of the heavy units to undergo conversion will be redistributed to the Army’s heavy BCTs as needed.
The move to convert two heavy brigades to Stryker units signals the Army’s shift toward a lighter, more quickly deployable formation that is infantry-focused and proven to be highly mobile in diverse environments.
And it further reduces the Army’s number of heavy brigades. Defense Secretary Robert Gates had announced in April that the Army would hold the total number of brigade combat teams at 45 rather than the planned 48, and the Army nixed a plan to grow three heavy brigades.
The 1st HBCT, which is deploying to Iraq now, will begin its conversion in the first quarter of fiscal 2011, during the reset period after its fall 2010 redeployment.
The 3rd ACR redeployed from its third rotation to Iraq in January and no announcement has been made about its next deployment.
But the Stryker plan calls for the 3rd ACR to begin its conversion in the first quarter of fiscal 2012 during the reset period following deployment.
That would mean the unit will be receiving orders to deploy for a year beginning fall 2010.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Dave Gettman on
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After they get back from Iraq, you mean. Word just came down that 3ACR is going to Iraq with part of 1st Cav from Ft Hood.
That's it for the Armored Cav in the active Army, isn't it? I think there is still a reserve unit left.
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Permalink Reply by Jason Hastings on -
Dave,
I think the era of the ACR has officially come to a close. The 278th ACR, Tennessee National Guard, reorganized into a Heavy Brigade Combat Team for their last Iraq rotation. I don't know their ultimate fate.
I was on one of the Stryker Transformation Teams, and they are essentially an ACR minus the tanks. They have the Stryker MGS with 105 mm cannon, but they were designed as Infantry Support Vehicles, kind of along the lines of the WWII German Stug III.
The Stryker FM states that the brigade would get augmented with a company of M1s if there was an armor threat in the area, but we all know how well that will work. The BDE will probably be left on its own using their MGS and TOW Strykers to fight that battle
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Permalink Reply by David McGuire (Mac on -
Yep, this will be the end of the ACR as we knew it....change sucks at times doesn't it! The 11th ACR is a ACR in name only (OPFOR at NTC)...Infantry based unit as the 2SCR is today. I miss the old days at times.
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Thanks Jason, 278th was the one I was trying to think of.
MGS, TOW's, bottles & cans, whatever it takes.
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