Introduction

The Air Assault Brigade is the cutting edge of the Royal Netherlands Army. It is a crack light infantry unit, specialising in spearheading entry into enemy held terrain and the capture of key objectives.

Since its birth just before the twilight war the brigade has had the red beret of airborne troops as its main recognisable feature. The Netherlands have historically had a lack of long-range air transport capability, but this has not stopped the army in rigorously training the men in the brigade to the highest infantry standards.

Although not all units in the brigade are infantry units, all personnel have to gain the red beret. For this the school battalion runs an all arms course called the Advanced Air Assault cadre course. For the Air Defence company this was deemed not to be enough, so the brigade has an air defence (infantry) company instead of a (Lucht Afweer Artillerie) battery.

The brigade is trained for long range air assault operations along the full spectrum of military operations, from OOTW like disaster relief to high intensity warfare.

The infantry battalions operate as battlegroups during operations with attached elements from support units. The brigade thus has four battlegroups to work with, in peacetime however only two are available and two are working up or training. The brigade usually has a battalion in the Caribbean as a standby force and to train in jungle warfare in Surinam or Brazil.

The 11^th Air Assault Brigade is trained in operations from the arctic to equatorial jungles. It can deploy worldwide, but the Netherlands lack the aviation to actually do this. In each battalion one company is fully para trained, this capacity is not used in anger yet, airlanding being the preferred modus. Currently the Netherlands Airforce and Army have the capacity to transport one battlegroup out of area.

The Netherlands Army does not have an off world capacity. The Marines being the only unit in the armed forces with experience in this arena. It is expected that the UK will soon request more Dutch assistance other than the cavalry unit now attached to 7Armd Bde. To develop and independent first entry capability concepts to use the AASLT bde for this are being developed with British assistance. Again; transport capacity is the largest problem in this respect. Still the Netherlands are expected to provide independent units along the French Arm the unit most likely to do this is the Air Assault brigade, possibly with British shipping and interface capacity.

The Brigade uses Hover Rover 500 for ground mobility and the HR 500 LOG for logistics. All AT and Recce units use the WMR+ version, the general service and liaison vehicle is the DAF MT.

The brigade headquarters obviously commands brigade operations and makes sure that everything that goes on does so in a proper military fashion. Given that Air Assault operations are very much ‘Sergeant Wars’ the central command does not so much keep itself busy with fighting as with making sure that all sub-units have what they need to perform well their given task. The infantry battalions do most of the combat command. On the larger plan the command of recce, aviation and fire support is very much a brigade job as are comms and SIGINT. The brigade is also in charge of managing supplies and battle casualty care and replacement over the large distances involved in Air Assault operations. The brigade headquarters and headquarters company are very much part of the Garderegiment Grenadiers.

Dutch Air Assault battalions have seen many forms, some longer and more successful than others. Their current incarnation was established with the view to have the Netherlands Army gain an interstellar capability to make good on the political will and military necessity to actually assist its allies against enemy nations and the Kafer threat.

The form it now takes is the basis for a battlegroup with three rifle companies, a fire support company and an HQ and headquarters company. A Delta, or anti tank company can be formed when all rifle companies cede their antitank platoon and form them up under the tactical command of the OiC OSTCie (supportcompany). In the Grenadier Guards Regiment the Alpha company is known as ‘Koningscompagnie’ or Kings company, since in the nineteenth century Crown prince William, the later King Willem III served as a company- and later battalion commander in the regiment. His son Alexander also served and eventually was OiC 1^st company, which is now ‘A’ company.

The HQ and Headquarters company holds the battalion staff and the operational headquarters. It also has the various support units for the battalion such as there are the supply platoon, medical platoon and the signals section. The HQ and Headquarters company also holds the reconnaissance platoon and the sniper section.

The fire support company, or OSTcie is a mixed batch of units under one command. This is done because all the support weapons in this company are available to all commanders, but function much better when centrally managed. The HQ CS company therefore has a planning cell under his command in which you find functionaries such as the Sergeant Major Heavy mortars. CS company has two 165 mm self loading mortar platoons, one SRAD platoon and one HMG platoon. It also holds the pionier (assault engineer) and CW platoon.

The rifle companies have three rifle platoons and one anti-tank platoon. They also have a light mortar section and a heavy machine gun section under their command. This allows a company commander to have some support weapons under his direct command, although sometimes the mortar sections are pooled and put under direction of the mortar planning cell of CS company. Same as the CC can lose his AT platoon to a Delta company. This makes the Air Assault battalion a very flexible organisation which can be tailored to a lot of missions.

The Van Heutsz Regiment carries the traditions of the old KNIL, the Royal Netherlands Indian Army. Because of this and because of the fact that the regiment also has the Infantry Security companies under its command it is known as something of a rough regiment. There are few public school officers here. The IBC’s take a lot of their men out of ‘Alternative Sentences’ and as such have the need for tight discipline. It also creates a tough fighting unit.

The battalion is known for its exceptional NCO’s most whom have done stints in the IBC’s.

Few of the men in the SRAD company come from the IBC’s because of the highly technical aspect of modern air defence.

The battalion has some of the best AT platoons in the brigade and is currently testing a new plasma AT weapon to supplement the Green Hunter missiles.

The Stoottroepen were created after WWII from armed resistance fighters and were personally founded by the legendary Prince Bernhardt. The regiment holds both the 13^th AASLT battalion and the brigade recce company. Because of this the battalions recce platoon is on a very high standard.

One of the more prestigious regiments in the Royal Netherlands Army it has no support unit in the brigade under its name like other regiments do. It does however have a battalion in the new Light brigade. The ‘Jagers’ are historically light infantry, jager translating as ‘Ranger.’

The regiment was founded together with its sister regiment the Garde Grenadiers in the nineteenth century by a personal decree by King William the 2^nd.

The 15^th Light Battalion has benefited a great deal from the transposting of some subalterns and NCO’s from her Air Assault sister battalion, though this has been a bit of a bloodletting to the 14^th.

11 Logistics Battalion

Has close support companies for each battalion, it also has a central coordination cell which is attached to either a battlegroup or to the brigade HQ. The men in the close support logistic companies are trained to load supplies into assault aviation and transport them through enemy held ground from LZ’s to fighting units.

Since it might be difficult to get back to an LZ and equally difficult to get fresh men forward all supply soldiers and cadre are trained battle casualty replacements.

The battalion uses a logistics version of the HR500, the HR500-LOG which is stretched and can carry a large payload at the cost of a diminished jumpjet capacity.

About half the men in the battalion are trained to –when possible- use their vehicles to bring casualties back to an LZ for treatment or extraction. All personnel off course is red hatted.

Has three ‘tube batteries’ and one battery with forward observers. These FOO cells are also trained to do FAC and NGFS. They are in the process of training to be able to call in fire support from orbiting spacecraft. This is a slow process since most available training slots are taken up by either the KCT Special Forces or the Marines of W-INFCIE.

The 12^th Artillery used to be the mortar company of the brigade until it became clear that in order to have a chance light infantry units needed to be able to call on massive dedicated fire support. It was then decided to have move the mortars of the old mortar company under battalion command and have the infantrists in it re-role into the Air Assault Artillery mission.

The men of the 12^th Field Artillery are the only red hatted artillerists in the Dutch Army.

The 11^th Engineer battalion has two combat engineer companies, one construction company and one LZ control company. The two combat engineer companies are meant for general engineering support of the infantry. They have less equipment than standard engineer companies and use only that what they can fit in their Hover Rovers. Because of this they tend to use explosives where other engineers would use heavy earthmoving equipment. Amongst engineers they’re known as being too fond of blowing stuff up!

The construction company is used to repair facilities in the airhead like runways, shelter and infiltration routes. In this role they work together with the LZ control company which works on the LZ proper, paving and expanding it to hold all units, equipment and facilitating traffic.

Provides Pathfinder and long range recce capability. 11 Recce company has both the long range recce role and a pathfinder task for airlanding operations. The company has a limited direct action capacity, but lacks the organic support for this. When this support is available there generally is also a –heavier armed- rifle company available which is better suited for the job. This company is part of the Stoottroepen Prins Bernhardt regiment.

Provides medium range air defence for brigade positions and units. Battalions have their own SRAD platoons, so 11 AD Coy also provides a central air defence control and know-how. This company is part of the Van Heutsz regiment, not of the Lucht Afweer Artillerie because it carries only light systems and has to operate in a forward role. Because of the demands this places on the men, it was deemed better to train red berets to use SRAD weapons than to train AD specialists to become red beret infantrists.

The brigades dedicated has a field hospital and two evac platoons. The evac platoons are supplemented by the battalions own medical platoons and the supply battalion which has a limited CASEVAC capability. During deployment the 11^th medical company takes operational command of the infantry battalion’s medical platoons to generate an integrated system of medical care and evacuation. The field hospital is generally located at a forward military base outside the deployment area. On the LZ or in the deployment area the evac platoons place a forward holding area and dressing station. The company has a second role in providing limited medical training for the brigades units.

To enable unified command and control the 11^th communications company provides long range communications for the brigade and battalions. This enables the brigade headquarters to remain in command of far flung units from a forward military base. The company has sitcom and low frequency systems for datacommunications and radio links. The company can detach sub-units to Battlegroup headquarters as well. The unit also has an intel (ELINT) and electronic recce capability.

The mechanical engineers for the brigade, the repair company have one repair platoon for each battalion. The company also has a central workshop platoon and its own specialised supply platoon to provide parts and spares. This company maintains and repairs all technical equipment for the brigade, it does everything from weapons to vehicles and power grids. Communications equipment is the domain of the comms coy.

Though not formally part of the AASLT brigade the school battalion is very much part of the ‘red beret’ realm within the Netherlands Army. Located at the Oranjekazerne in Schaarsbergen the battalion gives all training needed by the brigade.

A, B and C companies train recruits to the standard of a budding air assault soldier and delivers them to the rifle companies of the brigade's battalions. They take in ‘jeans’ from outside the army, give them basic training, then continue with advanced air assault, combat and advanced training.

The D Company trains soldiers from elsewhere in the army who take functions in the brigade’s support units.

Further, there is an aircraft instruction group that trains units and men to operate with and around the brigade’s tiltwings. This unit also trains riggers and marshallers and, when mobilised the AIG as it is known functions as a CSAR unit.

The school battalion has separate wing that trains officers and NCO’s in the intricacies of air assault operations. This wing, known as the Air Assault development group trains both young officers and junior NCO’s and more experienced personnel on their entry into the brigade. Posting into this development group is a sign of a career developing very well.

The development group is currently working on ideas and plans on how to get the brigade or its sub-units ready for orbital operations. The development group usually has some officers and NCO’s from the KLu’s tactical transport group on secondment.

Formally the school battalion is part of the army’s Opleidings Commando, training command. Within this command the 11^th functions as a separate OC since it has an independent mission to develop and teach doctrine, knowledge and procedures. For all intents and purposes it is a mini-OC.

The squadrons of the Koninklijke Luchtmacht’s tactical transport group are the brigades strategic and to some extent tactical mobility and punch. The transport group is part of the Airforce but under operational command of the CO 11st Air Assault Brigade.

There are two attack squadrons, 301 and 302, these provide close support for the brigades ground units and can also perform independent missions. They are supported by one recce squadron also equipped with tiltwings, 304 squadron.

301 and 302 squadrons have 18 attack Fox S4 tiltrotors each; 304 squadron operates 12 Peregrine SR16 recce tiltrotors and six older utility tiltrotors that have been adapted for reconnaissance (Lynx CR3).

The single heavy transport squadron is 298 squadron, two medium transport and general service squadrons are 299 and 300 squadrons. The main duties of the transport squadrons are:

• Transport of troops and material and wounded
• Support of tactical operations
• Combat support
• Combat search and rescue

The emphasis in in 298 squadron is more on the logistic part of the tasks, the emphasis in the medium squadrons is more on the combat support side.

To perform their duties 298 squadron uses 13 large transport tilt rotors. The 299^th has 16 medium Stallion C4 and four light (Lynx C3) tiltrotors, the 300^th has 18 Stallion C4 tiltrotors.

For operational support the tactical transport group has two ground squadrons. These squadrons perform several support functions in the field. The 932^nd squadron performs support during operations. The 932^nd handles supply, fuel, armament and general logistics for the flying squadrons. The 933^rd performs all sorts of security operations, this squadron handles air traffic control (Though not FAC) and ground security in the field. It also has a small deployable firefighting section.

The air forces 303 squadron is not part of the Tactical transport group, but since it has a CSAR tasking and often operates with the AASLT brigade it does train with both the TTG and the 11^th brigade. One or more of their aircraft usually deploys with the TTG. 303 squadron uses a mix of Peregrines and Ospreys.

The other tiltwing and transport squadrons of the KLu are concentrated in the General Transport group. They are normally slated to support the rest of the armed forces and the army in particular.