combatreform.org/AIRBORNEMUSEUM/nlmb.htm

1. NON-LINEAR MANEUVER BRIGADE
"In war the chief incalculable is the human will, which manifests
itself in resistance, which in turn lies in the province of tactics.
Strategy has not to overcome resistance, except from nature. Its
purpose is to diminish the possibility of resistance, and it seeks to
fulfil this purpose by exploiting the elements of movement and
surprise."
--Sir Basil H. Liddell-Hart
Air
Land
Sea
2004 1st Tactical Studies Group (Airborne) dynmicpara@aol.com

2. The Two Basic Battles
1. The Battle Against the Earth: Hart’s “Nature”
"We have severely underestimated the Russians, the extent of the country and the
treachery of the climate. This is the revenge of reality."
- German General Heinz Guderian, letter to his wife 1941
Open terrain
Observation Closed terrain
Closed terrain: mobile forces automatically lighter and 3D air transportable linkage; note
world is URBANIZING rapidly
Open terrain: roads, rural areas where we grow food, prairies require GROUND
FORCES TO CONTROL---we must be able to control these areas...requires 2D
optimization Future Land Forces must FIRST be “powerful against the earth” in terms
of mobility, firepower, survivability, and sustainability--if the earth itself easily smothers
their combat power how can they even begin to think of overwhelming the human
enemy?

3. “Amateurs talk tactics; experts talk logistics”
Training, Equipping, Feeding and Supplying armed men on the
earth to get a military effect is an un-natural act; destructive violence doesn’t
grow food or build things
To create and sustain military force on the earth is a constant battle against
the earth itself; not only are friendly forces under this vise of need, so are
enemy forces---if you can strengthen the resiliency of your forces vis-à-vis the
earth you can focus more efforts against the human enemy for decisive effects
A corollary to this is if you can weaken the enemy’s hold against the earth by cutting
his supply lines and/or denying him supplies then he will be struck down by terrain,
weather, hunger, disease and lack of ammunition if not defeating him outright at least
preparing him for collapse at the hand of your own human attack
Examples of exploiting the Battle Against the Earth
* Sherman’s March to the sea in U.S. Civil War destroying Southern infrastructure
he got rid of camp furniture for high 4-7 mph foot mobility
* VC/NVA caches of supplies fed by Ho Chi Minh Trail to fight faster on their feet
* Phyrrus fighting over-extended Hannibal in losing battles to save Rome
* 11th ACR in Vietnam packing M113 Gavin light tracked AFVs with supplies for
bold, x-country, independent operations w/o depending on supply lines

4. A Land Force that can inter-changeably MANEUVER
at will over the earth has a powerful superiority: it can
PHYSICALLY exploit opportunities as they arise and
fight faster than the enemy can think/react as per the
Boyd Cycle “OODA Loop” tactic
4-7 MPH on Foot, SERE skills
gear to live off-land
5-30 MPH aided by ATACS carts
and pedal eBikes
5-600 MPH by air/land/sea vehicles
with 30+ days of ammo, food
Air Land
Sea

5. 2. The Battle Against Man
"Natural hazards, however formidable, are inherently less dangerous and less
uncertain than fighting hazards. All conditions are more calculable, all obstacles
more surmountable than those of human resistance".
--Sir Basil H. Liddell-Hart
The Two competing 21st Century War Thought-Forms in the West
RMA: 4GW:
Firepower Maneuver
VS.
RMA/TOFFLERIANS 4GW/VAN CREVALD/FEHRENBACHIANS

6. RMA is a failure in Iraq and Afghanistan!
RMA: Physicality vs. Earth (that’s “2nd Wave”)
NOT Important! We will mouse-click firepower!
We will “cherry pick” and avoid problems
Defeat on the Battlefield:
no boots-on-the-ground, tracked
Wheeled Truck Madness: easily blown up decisive, encircling MANEUVER
can’t MANEUVER x-country, swim, airdrop or fight;
infantry will suffer bloody WWI stalemates in cities: USMC in Fallujah
IRAQ Afghanistan: Taliban/al Queda
escape by C3D2
SOMALIA
Kosovo: Serb Army unscathed
FCS LAV3STRYKER

7. ITS 2D/3D MANEUVER AND FIREPOWER:
WAR PHILOSOPHIES WE SHOULD BE STUDYING FOR
21st CENTURY VICTORY THRU 2D/3D OPTIMIZATION--IF WE
WERE OVER THE FIREPOWER VERSUS MANEUVER
CONUNDRUM!
SUN TZU
War is about whose ideas dominate
HART/FULLER
Defeat the mind of the enemy
VAN CREVALD
4th Generation War is mind warfare
BIBLE
Make enemy your friend
MAN HAS ALWAYS BEEN TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED, BUT
HE’S A KILLER ANGEL; AS TIME GOES ON DANGERS INCREASE

8. NON-LINEAR MANEUVER BRIGADE
A
COMMAND B CW
300
PATH
60
STRIKE 3D 2D ARB
12 50 24
22
6 22
24
12
6
12 500 192
200
48 355

9. PURPOSE
The NLMB is composed of primarily existing equipment innovatively
organized as a self-contained, self-sufficient air/ground combined-arms
multi-dimensional force manned by non-narcissistic thinker/doers with an
accurate view of who they are and the world around them to render
appropriate military actions. In today’s 4th Generation Warfare (4GW)
world the center of gravity is the will of the people; whose ideas dominate
requires persuasion as well as coercion. The NLMB is designed and sized
to control and influence large areas for independent or operations in
conjunction with Special Operations Forces (SOF) while preserving
OPSEC and a zero or minimalist presence deep in contested ground and
territory to avoid alienating civilians into the enemy’s camp. Today’s non-
linear battlefield requires combined 2D/3D air/ground maneuver
synergism to locate, encircle and kill/capture sub-national terror groups
and asymmetric advantage seeking nation-state armies. The NLMB is able
to operate without massive logistics yet provides SOF agile, stealthy
armored air/ground decisive maneuver to finish the job against stubborn
and fleeting enemies--a capability it sorely lacks. The NLMB has the
muscle and cultural warfare (CW) expertise to keep supply lines and
civilian commerce flowing, and be Quick-Reaction Forces (QRFs) in the
absence of friendly nation-state security.

10. THE THREAT: FROM ALL DIRECTIONS
The enemy of freedom-based nation-states realizes that the western way
of war using lots of machines to “send a bullet and not a man”
(Firepower) is not able to MANEUVER into difficult closed terrain or
separate civilians from their fighters. The enemy realizes at close range
under 1000 meters, we are weaker than them with our M16 bullet
shooters versus their AKM bullets, Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs)
and roadbombs. Furthermore, our ponderously large ground forces
require vast amounts of fuel, ammo, food, water resupply ground
vulnerable wheeled truck convoys that are easily ambushed/destroyed.
As a large U.S. presence not gaining decisive results by maneuver,
patrols in vulnerable wheeled trucks that are easily destroyed, we
alienate the civil population by our presence and earn their contempt
because we cannot defend ourselves much less keep them secure to
have peaceful civilian lives. The enemy has learned his number #1
weapon is the bomb be it
projected in a grenade or set off when U.S. forces pass by. To evade our
unmanned aircraft sensor detection and separation walls/barriers
designed to encourage belligerents to stop terror attacks and face their
own problems, the enemy is going underground with tunnels and
sapping. The enemy without any moral restraints can attack in any
direction at any time; the 21st century battlefield is non-linear (NLB).

11. THE SOLUTION: 2D/3D MANEUVER IN ALL
DIRECTIONS BY NLMB FORCE STRUCTURE
The NLMB solves the riddle of the 4GW NLB by an austere, logistically
light force structure that doesn’t need to resupply itself at all by ground
truck convoys, it resupplies itself economically by air if it chooses to. The
NLMB however, does not use problem avoidance as an excuse for
weakness; its completely tracked and armored and DOES NOT HAVE ANY
VULNERABLE RUBBER-TIRED WHEELED TRUCKS. Everybody works
and everybody fights in the NLMB. The NLMB’s light, medium and heavy
tracked armored fighting vehicles (AFVs) have x-country mobility to avoid
road ambushes and are modified to withstand large roadside bombs and
RPG/ATGM attacks to decisively maneuver against the enemy. The NLMB
has an affordable continuous overhead air combat human presence
“Killer Bees” to deny the enemy the ability to sap roads and combat
engineers with anti-tunneling and urban warfare siege engines to prevail
in urban combats. The NLMB on the ground has swarms of “Army Ants”;
all-terrain, stealthy AFVs and RPG/rifle-hand grenade equipped infantry-
sappers that are optimized for the two basic terrain types on earth; 2D
maneuver forces for open and 3D forces for closed terrains. The NLMB
can go deep anywhere in the world to get the enemy and defeat him up
close without harming civilians.

12. CAPABILITIES
* NLMB does missions that cannot be accomplished by conventional units like the
Army's existing BDEs or recently constructed UoA's or USMC MEUs
* Self-sufficient
* Everyone works, everyone fights
* All teeth, no tail
* No underclass, everyone is a warrior/intel collector
*Everything can move on ground via armored tracks including light aircraft
* No vulnerable rubber-tired wheeled trucks PERIOD
* Can provide continuous air surveillance/attack 24/7/365
* Logistically light; doesn't require huge fuel costs
* Small presence on land does not inflame locals or compromise OPSEC
* No presence on land if operating from RO-RO Commando Carrier
* Low-Cost do-able NOW
* Simple-to-maintain platforms
* Every platform with affordable C4ISR package
* Optimized for non-linear battlefield of weak or subdued nation-state army where
integrated air defenses are not present or suppressed by USAF
* Assumes enemy is all around and no secure Main Supply Routes (MSRs) exist
* Can fight way into a territory and hold a forward operating base for SOF or a
larger force
* Can execute 2D and 3D operational maneuver of brigade-size as spearhead for
larger conventional force or as adjunct to small unit SOFs

13. U.S. must be able to rapidly air-deploy anywhere in the world
to overcome enemy nation-state Surveillance Strike Complex
observation/fires and/or reach hiding by C3D2 sub-national
terror groups without heavy friendly casualties: Tracked
armored vehicles are needed to boldly 2D and 3D decisively
maneuver since surprise is fleeting in media connected age

14. C-27J Spartan: “the Baby Herk”
Can carry baseline NLMB M113 Amphigavin and land on
aircraft carrier if modified with tail hook such that a 12-
aircraft squadron could be seabased. C-130J Hercules can do
the former but not the latter. Can carry NLMB A/MH-6 Little
Bird helicopters. With organic C-27Js, all of NLMB can self-
deploy by air and once in their AO do 3D tactical assaults by
parachute airdrop or STOL airland. C-27Js can bulk resupply
NLMB by “fat cow” or fuel blivet refueling. FOBs build around
2,000 foot landing strip for C-27J airlanding operations.

15. 24 x A/MH-6 Little Bird CLOSE/MANEUVER AIR
SUPPORT ATTACK, OBSERVATION & TRANSPORT
HELICOPTERS
Fireteam Attack
Transport
Long-Range Air Deployment in
C-27Js
Ground mobile by XM1108 Amphigavins
V/TOL from100
foot openings

16. 12 x U-27 CARAVAN CLOSE/MANEUVER AIR
SUPPORT ATTACK, OBSERVATION & TRANSPORT
PLANES
6 underwing hardpoints for gun and rocket pods
and small bombs

17. U-27 CARAVAN can carry
3,000 pounds of cargo or 10
Paratroopers + 2 crew for 1400
miles; 7 hours endurance
@ 200 mph
Small underbelly
cargo pod is
common

18. U-27 CARAVAN can operate from land or sea...
Floats only slightly reduce
flight performance and have
Powerful but fuel wheels for runway landings
miserly PT6 turboprop
engine easy-to-maintain

19. The Squadron
of 12 x U-27
CARAVANs can
surveil hundreds of
square miles 24/7/365
@100 mph faster
speeds than
helicopters and
pounce on detected
enemies immediately
FLIR and image intensifier
360 degree surveillance
balls already in use on
Caravans
Attack Pathfinders laser target mark for guided 2.75” Hydra-70mm rockets

20. Each U-27 CARAVAN can airdrop 10
freefall or static-line Paratroopers or
cargo bundles; an entire rifle squad

21. U-27 CARAVANs
can land on very
short 2,000 foot
or less flat surfaces
delivering troops
and supplies and
operating from
austere forward bases
alongside
ground troops
Attack Pathfinders survey and
mark assault landing zones (AZs),
ABN-AMPHIB Combat Engineers
improve AZs into 2,000 runways
for C-27J and U-27 airlanding
operations

22. U-27 CARAVANs on land can be towed on
trailers by XM1108 cargo-carrying Amphigavins
eliminating handicap to work around their need for
landing strips; increases ground maneuver
force flexibility: NLMB air power always remains
“in its hip pocket”
XM1108s will
need ARIS SPA
Amphigavin noses
and waterjets

23. U-27 CARAVANs can with
floats land on sea and land
as amphibians to link up
with the NLMB RO-RO
Commando Carrier as well
as insert/extract SOF small boat
combat swimmer teams
under earth curvature to hide
from enemy radars
U-27 CARAVAN’s
armament can fight way through
enemy forces if encountered
to include enemy fighters
using Stinger missiles

24. U-27 CARAVANs with floats can be LO-LOed onto
the deck of RO-RO ship decks; wings detach in
under 1 hour to save space so entire 12 plane
squadron can be embarked
Ship’s
cranes
U-27 CARAVANs could shuttle Soldiers
to RO-RO ships as they sail to the
LOTS destination to off-load the vehicles on board

25. RO-RO Commando Aircraft and Ground Vehicle
Carrier Version 1.0
Current T-AKR RO-RO ships have only a
V/TOL flight deck; OK if we operate only
floatplane U-27s and Little Bird helicopters
24 x A/MH-6 Little Birds
12 x U-27 Caravans

26. RO-RO Commando Aircraft and Ground Vehicle
Carrier Version 2.0
Wheel landing gear C-27Js, U-27s with tailhooks in addition
to Little Bird helicopters could operate from the RO-RO
Commando Carrier if a large flight deck were added
12 x C-27Js
LCAC
24 x A/MH-6 Little Birds
12 x U-27 Caravans

27. F-35 JSFs with lift-fan STOVL
capabilities could operate from the RO-
RO Commando Carrier; each can carry
JPODs which can each carry 2 SOF
commandos for 600+ mph fast infil/exfil

28. JPODs: A new capability for Joint Forces
Cargo and personnel carrying pod attaches to underwing hardpoints of attack
aircraft
JSF V/TOL light
STOVL heavy load
AH-64D Apache
AV-8B Harrier II
Vertical Take-Off and Landing strike aircraft can recover Isolated Personnel;
insert/extract SOF personnel

29. JPOD precision glide/parachute delivery of weapons,
supplies and/or Exfiltration Vehicles to Isolated
Personnel Partial and Full Recovery Option

30. JPOD with ammunition/weapons

31. Possible Exfiltration Vehicles
that could be carried by JPODs
to Isolated Personnel & SOF
Powered Parachutes
Folding Mountain Bikes
Small All-Terrain Vehicles

32. M113 Amphigavin
light tracked AFVs
can swim selves to
shore from RO-RO
port/starboard and
stern ramps