Electric Brigade Combat Team
Harry D. Fair

Continued...

 

Electric aircraft are going to dominate the future battlefield and revolutionize warfighting and sustainment.  To date, all electric aircraft have been powered by electric motors driving thrust-generating propellers or lift-generating rotors.

Electric energy may be supplied by a variety of methods including batteries, ground power cables, solar cells, ultracapacitors, fuel cells and power beaming.

Currently, battery-powered electric aircraft have much more limited payload, range and endurance than those powered by internal combustion engines. But the advantage of electric aircraft using electrical energy compared to aviation fuel and the reduction in noise and exhaust emissions will drive future flight for both manned and unmanned applications.

 

 

The Army leadership has recently established their top modernization priorities - Long-Range Precision Fires, the Next-Generation Combat Vehicle, Future Vertical Lift, the Network, Air and Missile Defense, and Soldier Lethality.

The electric technologies developed for the EBCT would be an advanced testbed for future revolutionary advances in all of these capabilities. 

 

 

These are a few of the almost unbelievable new war-fighting opportunities potentially provided by the development of an “infinite” source of electric power on site at the combat brigade.  Do all of them have to be explored or implemented for the brigade to have viability? No.

The all electric combat brigade provides the land-based analog of the Navy CVBG with the compact power source and the new family of electric weapons systems. It provides deterrence, stability and positions equipment for humanitarian operations when necessary.
Just as reorganizations were required to develop the structure for the CVBG, similar restructuring will be required for the electric combat brigade.  New doctrine and tactics must be developed to exploit the new capabilities, but the impact on National Security will be significant and will add new tools to the National Command Authority for the enhancement of deterrence and global stability.

 

 

We believe it makes sense to evaluate these opportunities now in view of the emergence of commercial all electric vehicles and other electric technologies enable by the amazing opportunities afforded by the development of the Mobile Nuclear Power Plant

We propose the establishment of a small team of individuals with broad understanding of advances in advanced electric weapons and electric power systems and individuals with recent war-fighting experience to flesh out the EBCT concept and establish a priority and timeline for implementation of the EBCT and to guide the path forward to implementation.

The advanced electric technologies discussed above and several others should be evaluated to validate their technical maturity and potential operational utility Funding should be established to develop and exploit electric technologies to immediately validate those advances which are currently available.

Any investment in further developing advanced electrical technology should be balanced by an analysis of its operational utility and funding provided based on its anticipated operational effectiveness.

We also propose the creation of a small Army experimental operational test bed unit (similar to the creation of the National Training Centers) to be equipped with an advanced technical capability as soon as the technology is sufficiently mature. That is, experimental prototypes should be created and placed in the hands of a small Army warfighting element at the earliest possible time. This will enable the validation of the technical maturity of the advanced equipment but more importantly, provide operational experience and operational innovation which is usually not provided as well by paper studies.

An Executive Steering Committee should provide oversight, frequent reviews and ensure priorities for technical development and supervise creation of appropriate operational doctrine as required.