Thursday, 17 March 2022

The Five Reconnaissance Vehicles: Ox,Mule,Pony,Matilda And Charger

 
Royal Air Force Chinook helicopters lifting Spartan vehicles at RAF Lyneham on the 11th of October 2005
 
 
Despite the predictable failure of the Tetrarch,Harry Hopkins,Alecto and Locust air mobile light tanks during the Second World War (bad ideas never die),and despite the fact that the then planned fleet of Hercules aircraft did not have the capacity to rapidly fly a significant armoured force to anywhere outside of Europe,and that there was little need to fly one to anywhere within Europe,shortly after the United States' Army had ordered the M551 Sheridan Armored Reconnaissance/Airborne Assault Vehicle,British generals decided that a new family of,highly fashionable,air mobile reconnaissance tanks called Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance Tracked (which was a remarkably good design considering the constraints placed on it's engineers,being far superior to it's American counterparts) would be absolutely transformational.
 
Scorpions Saracens and a Ferret of the Irish Guards during a summer exercise in Germany
 
 
In true British Army fashion,thousands of these,lightly armed and lightly armoured,air mobile vehicles were then issued to units which had no need for air mobility but which did need heavy armour and heavy armament,because they were sitting in West Germany waiting for the Soviet Army to roll over the Inner German Border,since then generations of British Army cavalry troopers have been taught that reconnaissance is all about sneaking around the battlefield like ninjas (because they were equipped with vehicles which lacked the protection and firepower needed for anything other than sneaking around the battlefield like ninjas),an approach which may be appropriate when screening a defending light infantry division but which is not viable when reconnoitering for an armoured division advancing in to enemy held territory at a rate of tens of miles per hour,in contrast,elements of the proposed An Independent Army For An Independent Nation may use any vehicle they have been trained on which is appropriate to the situation and herein we shall list the vehicles which they shall typically use for reconnaissance.
 
A 2nd Commando Regiment Death Adder and a 6th Aviation Regiment Black Hawk during Exercise Talisman Sabre in Townsville Queensland on the 5th of July 2019
 
 
The Ox vehicle family shall not typically be used by any reconnaissance element but may be used all of them when operating in confined spaces.
 
Royal Marines from Bravo and Delta Company of 40 Commando in Jackal armoured vehicles at the end of Operation Herrick 12 on the 29th of September 2010
 
 
The Mule vehicle family shall typically be used (for sneaking around the battlefield like ninjas) by army reconnaissance regiments.
 
A Foxhound vehicle of 1st Battalion The Royal Irish Regiment during Exercise Trident Juncture 2018 on the 3rd of November 2018
 
 
The Pony vehicle family shall typically be used by army reconnaissance troops,corps reconnaissance regiments,light infantry division reconnaissance battalions and light infantry division reconnaissance platoons and troops.
 
An FV432 Mark 3 Bulldog Armoured Personnel Carrier of the Royal Green Jackets in Basra City Iraq on the 25th of January 2007
 
 
The Matilda vehicle family shall typically be used by infantry division reconnaissance regiments and infantry division reconnaissance platoons and troops.
 
An Israel Defense Forces Merkava Mark 4 of the 188th Armored Brigade on the 4th of December 2017
 
 
The Charger vehicle family shall typically be used by cavalry division reconnaissance regiments and cavalry division reconnaissance troops.
 

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