The Red Diamond newsletter presents professional information but the views expressed herein are those of the authors, not the Department of Defense or its elements. The content does not necessarily reflect the official US Army position and does not change or superseded any information in other official US Army publications. Authors are responsible for the accuracy and source documentation of the material that they reference. The Red Diamond staff reserves the right to edit material. Appearance of external hyperlinks does not constitute endorsement by the US Army for information contained therein.
This issue of Red Diamond opens with part two of an article series on the Russian Snow Dome. Starting in the days of the Tsarist Empire, Russian Ground Forces were built around their artillery. This doctrine extended throughout the Cold War, explaining the consistent investment the Red Army made in its artillery corps. This article reviews several Russian artillery systems and how they are typically used by the Russian military.
Integrated attack is a tactic that applies massed effects and rapid actions of threat forces to achieve of a mission objective. Aspects of threat brigade-echelon capabilities observed in recent and current tactical real-world operations include substantial integrated air defense, indirect fires, electronic warfare, and other combat power enablers in conjunction with ground and aerial maneuver. These types of capabilities are typically present in the brigade tactical group (BTG) task organization. An article and associated vignette describe significant actions of an integrated attack conducted by an opposing force (OPFOR) in US Army learning events.
In the days leading up to Ramadan, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and selected members of his cabinet traveled to Russia on a diplomatic mission. Only days later, a storm of violence erupted in Marawi City, on President Duterte’s home island of Mindanao. There, on 23 May 2017, elements of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine National Police raided a safe house to arrest an Islamist extremist and take him into federal custody. The authorities got more than they bargained for: a firefight erupted that ended in a standoff by nightfall, leaving three members of the government security force dead and eleven others wounded. The first article in a two-part series discusses the operational environment during this time, what led up to the raid, and the events that happened immediately afterward.
The purpose of the Decisive Action Training Environment (DATE) is to provide the US Army training community with a detailed description of the operational environments of five fictitious countries in the Caucasus region: Ariana, Atropia, Donovia, Gorgas, and Limaria. The DATE applies to all US Army units that participate in an Army or joint training exercise. This past July, the latest update to this document—DATE 3.0—was published, and includes many revisions, both substantial and minor. The final article in this issue of the Red Diamond highlights major changes made to this newest edition of the DATE.