"Megacities" seen as US Army's future battlefields
Seems all that experience in MOUT from Baghdad and Fallujah in Iraq came in handy... (Or FIBUA if you were with the British forces in Basra)...Defense NewsUS Army Sees 'Megacities' As the Future...
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Surgical strikes. After that, it just goes down hill, with carpet bombing, cutting off utilities, escape routes and communication lines. And finding militia who know the topography to go and root out...
View ArticleRe: "Megacities" seen as US Army's future battlefields
Yep. Cut off a city from its supporting economy, and you have it, even if the siege is long and bloody.
View ArticleRe: "Megacities" seen as US Army's future battlefields
You barbaric brunts! How dare you advocate such a cruel, harsh and practical strategy!
View ArticleRe: "Megacities" seen as US Army's future battlefields
It's unlikely the besiegers are going to suffer the traditional maladies, like disease and malnutrition. Boredom and complacency may become issues, but if they set up an internet connection, that...
View ArticleRe: "Megacities" seen as US Army's future battlefields
Nothing new, I read similar ideas long before we were crashing around in Basra to no avail. The problem there, and anywhere else with similar circumstances, was that British forces could go anywhere...
View ArticleRe: "Megacities" seen as US Army's future battlefields
I think we're looking for pressure points to force the opposition to our will, or as close as they're willing to go. There's no doubt that we could destroy cities wholesale, even without going...
View ArticleRe: "Megacities" seen as US Army's future battlefields
Yup. Same problem as ever, the values we (claim to) defend preclude some methods of defending them. For defeating an enemy in cities have a look at Op Banner or Brazil, Argentina and several other...
View ArticleRe: "Megacities" seen as US Army's future battlefields
If you define them as city-states, you'd have to find local collaborationists to act as the actual neighbourhood occupying force, who are controllable and pragmatic enough to operate within the rules...
View ArticleRe: "Megacities" seen as US Army's future battlefields
Plan? You mean our battles are directed?
View ArticleRe: "Megacities" seen as US Army's future battlefields
If there's isn't, the guys in the Pentagon may need to reconsider whether they are in the right profession, or occupy the correct Military Specialty. Putin seems to think he has a plan, and his urban...
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Your suggested alternatives are, IMO, wrong, It's repeated short term occupations or a very long term one. By all means seize some criminal (by our definition of crime), free hostages, evacuate own /...
View ArticleRe: "Megacities" seen as US Army's future battlefields
It depends on whatever political objectives were supposedly involved. Minimizing contact should ensure that an effective resistance hasn't time to form, and if it does, they won't have a target....
View ArticleRe: "Megacities" seen as US Army's future battlefields
An effective resistance is probably already there and in operation, most of the world we're likely to fight in has operated conscript armies and has a gun culture anyway. The "resistance" doesn't...
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I believe the phrase 'you have the watches but we have the time' comes from Mogadishu days. The locals aren't going anywhere and most of the serious bloodletting in World has been going on since at...
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