WIESBADEN, Germany – Bulgaria army and U.S. Army leaders discussed their shared effort to spearhead innovation on NATO’s Eastern Flank at LANDEURO here July 16.
Bulgaria army Maj. Gen. Deyan Deshkov, Bulgarian Land Forces commander, and U.S. Army Col. Donald Neal, commander of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment based in Germany, teamed together to deliver the first Warriors Corner presentation at the Association of the United States Army LANDEURO symposium and exposition in the RheinMain CongessCenter.
Deshkov’s army has recently purchased and is fielding a brigade’s worth of U.S.-made Stryker vehicles, which are also featured in the 2nd Cavalry Regiment.
Deshkov said the training partnership between Bulgarian land forces and U.S. Soldiers has been critical for his troops to integrate the new Strykers into battlefield operations.
“This is a 50-year jump” from Soviet-era tracked tanks Bulgaria has used, he said.
Neal said that partnered training has helped to shrink the learning curve, even beginning training with the Bulgarians before the delivery of the fist Stryker.
“Deterrence on the forward edge comes down to observing and adapting … so if we fight, when we fight, we’ll be ready,” Neal said.
In battle, Neal’s cavalry brigade would ideally be the first to meet the enemy face-to-face.
“We’ve got to figure out how to make contact with machines before humans,” he said.
As part of the solution to that problem, 2nd Cavalry Regiment is testing and validating the use of drones, or unmanned aerial systems (UAS), in its formation.
The U.S. Army selected the 2nd Cavalry Regiment to field and test UAS capabilities as part of the Transformation in Contact (TiC) program. Neal’s brigade is particularly looking at counter-UAS capabilities through a program called “Project Flytrap.” In it, the brigade is developing and testing low-cost equipment and efficient tactics for taking out drone threats.
Another area where Neal said his troops have made a difference is improving the way U.S. and allied forces talk to each other, capitalizing on voice translation software available on smartphones and communication solutions used by emergency responders. The brigade assembled “mission partner kits” with these simple to acquire, inexpensive solutions and shared them with multinational forces in training.
With all the talk about technology, Neal said that winning on the battlefield boiled down to fundamentals
“Survivability and lethality,” he said. “Knowing your weapon system and how to use it and moving under contact” still make the difference in combat.
Deshkov said speed, maneuver and mass are his priorities for Bulgaria land forces.
For U.S. and Bulgaria armies, while the weapon systems are changing, the principles guiding their use have not.
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