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Message no. 1
From: Patrick A Dow <pdow@****.COM>
Subject: Military
Date: Wed, 18 Dec 1996 22:25:41 EST
What does the UCAS keep for a regular military force?
Message no. 2
From: "Paul J. Adam" <shadowtk@********.DEMON.CO.UK>
Subject: Re: Military
Date: Thu, 19 Dec 1996 20:12:49 +0000
In message <19961218.092753.4559.0.pdow@****.com>, Patrick A Dow
<pdow@****.COM> writes
>What does the UCAS keep for a regular military force?

Okay, here we have a major unresolved issue.

The following are almost off the top of my head and are only my opinion.
The rule of thumb is that the UCAS possesses about a third of the forces
of the current US, some forces being even further reduced to protect the
most necessary: the Army and Air Force suffered worst.



ARMY
I'd figure the Army still has two regular divisions, (down from ten
today). Each division represents about 5,000 infantrymen, plus
considerable supporting firepower (self-propelled tube and rocket
artillery). Some units will be airmobile in, and supported by,
helicopters or Banshee-class LAVs. Other units will be mechanised in
armoured personnel carriers and supported by main battle tanks.

Additional units provide air defence, battlefield surveillance, combat
engineering, maintenance, support, et cetera and are attached as
necessary.

AIR FORCE
The USAF operates about 1,200 fixed-wing aircraft, of which
approximately 600 are tactical fighters of various ages and capabilities
(from elderly F-22s to the latest combat designs), 40 are strategic
bombers, 400 are transports (some do double-duty as tankers) and the
remainder are used for training, reconnaisance, electronic warfare et
cetera.

The UCAS retains no land-based ICBM capability.

NAVY
The Navy remains centred on the carrier battle group and the fast-attack
submarine, since little exists to challenge the domination of either:
surface warships require capable escort (including defences against
orbital weapons: the lessons from the Hawai'ian secession were learned)
and so tend to operate in sizeable groups around vessels equipped with
such defences (just as they do around Aegis-equipped vessels today): the
carrier, with integral air support and superb C3I capability, remains
the best centrepiece for such a force.

The UCAS Navy still operates a force of nine aircraft carriers, though
only two - _Harry S. Truman_ and _Ronald Reagan_ - are the 90,000-ton
behemoths familiar today. The remainder are little more than half that
size, operating smaller complements of aircraft: typically forty to
fifty, instead of the eighty or ninety that could fly from the old
_Nimitz_-class.

The other "carriers" appear under the Marine Corps.

To escort the carriers and carry out the other naval missions, the Navy
maintains a fleet of twelve cruisers, forty destroyers and around fifty
frigates. The cruisers are paired with carriers, and are the carrier's
main defence against missile attack that leaks past the air group, or
descends from space.

Destroyers tend to accompany the carrier groups as additional escorts,
to provide anti-aircraft and - to a lesser extent - antisubmarine and
antiship defence. Frigates, the least-capable and also the cheapest, are
used for commerce protection, as outer group escort, et cetera, where
the presence of a naval vessel is more important than its capability.

The Navy retains twelve minehunting vessels, and a substantial
minelaying capability.

Auxiliary vessels include six AORs, large "one stop shops" able to
transfer fuel, food, spare parts and munitions to ships at sea and
underway.

The submarine service has been retained for two reasons: one, because it
is a unique strength shared only by a handful of nations, and two
because half of the UCAS nuclear dyad is based there. The strategic
nuclear forces consist of eight ballistic missile submarines: rumours
that their missiles can reach orbital targets remain unconfirmed. The
tactical submarine force consists of twenty-four nuclear-powered fast-
attack boats.

Naval aviation consists of the carrier air wings, specialised TACAMO
aircraft, and about seventy maritime patrol aircraft (converted
airliners equipped for sea surveillance duties).


MARINE CORPS
The Marine Corps retains six regular MEUs, Marine Expeditionary Units.
Each MEU consists of approximately 450 infantry supported by armour,
artillery, combat engineers, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft, and
typically deploys from one of four LHVs, a vessel often mistaken for an
aircraft carrier due to its superficial similarity and its ability to
operate STOVL aircraft.

Though associated with amphibious assaults and thus apparently obsolete,
the Marine Corps remains a major military asset for the UCAS simply
because - unlike the Army, which assembles units to meet a role and
deploys them - a MEU is able to deploy a mobile, powerful and balanced
force at very short notice, to hold the line in any situation until the
larger, tailored-for-the-role Army units can arrive.

With the loss of all UCAS overseas basing, too, the Marines remain the
primary method of forcefully defending UCAS interests overseas.


COAST GUARD
Often neglected, the Coast Guard remain an important force: protecting
life and property in UCAS water, maintaining safe and secure ports, and
waterways, enforcing laws and international agreements (both in UCAS
waters, and on the high seas when authorised). This includes anything
from anti-smuggling patrols to icebreaking to environmental monitoring.

The Coast Guard maintains twenty-two cutters and forty patrol boats,
four icebreakers, thirty patrol aircraft and fifty helicopters.





Whew. And I haven't even _started_ to think about space forces, which
would be significant, or about how (or if) you could integrate magic.

--
There are four kinds of homicide: felonious, excusable, justifiable and
praiseworthy...

Paul J. Adam paul@********.demon.co.uk
Message no. 3
From: Patrick A Dow <pdow@****.COM>
Subject: Re: Military
Date: Thu, 19 Dec 1996 21:43:58 EST
Thanx! Where did you get yer info? And what about the space forces? I
haven't been able to get a copy of the space book. What's up there
besides Zurich Orbital?
Message no. 4
From: "Larry D. Shepard" <bludhawk@**.NET>
Subject: Re: Military
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 1996 01:05:42 -0600
I didn't even know they did a space book. What's it called??
Message no. 5
From: Brian Angliss <angliss@*****.COLORADO.EDU>
Subject: Re: Military
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 1996 01:54:00 -0700
To the best of my knowledge, FASA has not put out a book devoted to
space, much to my continued personal trepidation and relief(yes, both).

The closest thing is the section on Zurich-Orbital in the Corporate
Shadowfiles. Other references exist, scattered throughout the various
sourcebooks, but that's the biggy.

One thing, though, Paul: If the official line is that UCAS sold NASA to
Ares, how do they maintain a significant space presence? Unmanned
launchers put up THOR sattelites and all that, but not a manned
presence. That appears to be exclusively within the domain of the corps,
according to Corp Shadowfiles.

Doesn't make much sense to me, but I don't run FASA's space world anyway,
except here.

Brian
Message no. 6
From: "Paul J. Adam" <shadowtk@********.DEMON.CO.UK>
Subject: Re: Military
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 1996 18:50:51 +0000
In message <Pine.SUN.3.91.961220014958.26422A-
100000@*****.Colorado.EDU>, Brian Angliss <angliss@*****.COLORADO.EDU>
writes
>One thing, though, Paul: If the official line is that UCAS sold NASA to
>Ares, how do they maintain a significant space presence?

The same way the Royal Air Force recovered from the 1957 Defence White
Paper, which declared that "the manned aircraft has been rendered
obsolete by the surface-to-air missile" ;)

I don't personally see any UCAS manned space stations up there, but
recon birds, comsats and assorted military satellites would all be
present. If nothing else, they used up the Minutemans and Peacekeepers
to put them up :)

>Unmanned
>launchers put up THOR sattelites and all that, but not a manned
>presence. That appears to be exclusively within the domain of the corps,
>according to Corp Shadowfiles.

Agreed. Again, what would the UCAS need a manned space station for?
Research? Corp problem. Military? Easier to use salvoes of missiles and
killersats to take out anything you need destroyed.

The UCAS has _a_ space presence, but not a dominant one, in my personal
view.

--
There are four kinds of homicide: felonious, excusable, justifiable and
praiseworthy...

Paul J. Adam paul@********.demon.co.uk
Message no. 7
From: shimeall mark <zzshim@***.WUACC.EDU>
Subject: Re: Military
Date: Fri, 20 Dec 1996 14:56:14 -0600
Currently a Division is around 20,000 men. Each has 3 brigades of around
5-7000 plus supporting units. In 2050+ Divisions may be pared down
because of more powerful equipment/cyber. So the total combat power may
be the same. Mark

********************************************************************************
MAS
zzshim@***.wuacc.edu
"Freiheit stirbt in kleinen Teilen."
---German saying: "Freedom dies in small pieces."
"To disarm the people [is] the best and most effectual way to enslave
them." --George Mason
*******************************************************************************

On Thu, 19 Dec 1996, Paul J. Adam wrote:

>
> ARMY
> I'd figure the Army still has two regular divisions, (down from ten
> today). Each division represents about 5,000 infantrymen, plus
> considerable supporting firepower (self-propelled tube and rocket
> artillery). Some units will be airmobile in, and supported by,
> helicopters or Banshee-class LAVs. Other units will be mechanised in
> armoured personnel carriers and supported by main battle tanks.
>

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