Brigade Combat Team
Brigade Combat Team (BCT) is the generic term for a modern combat brigade ( large unit ) of the US Army and a conceptual component of the army reform of 1997.
Types
There are three different types:
- Armored Brigade Combat Teams (ABCT, referred to as Heavy Brigade Combat Team (HBCT) before 2012 ) as "heavy" brigades with M1 Abrams main battle tanks and armored personnel carriers of the types M2 and M3 Bradley as well as self-propelled howitzers of the type M109 155 mm
- Infantry Brigade Combat Teams (IBCT) as infantry brigades with High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWV; Humvee)
- Stryker Brigade Combat Teams (SBCT) as Stryker brigades with the Stryker Armored Vehicle , some of which also serves as a cannon platform or as a carrier for 120 mm mortars or is equipped with the TOW anti-tank system, as well as an additional Fires Battalion (artillery battalion) with three batteries each with six M777 155mm howitzers
Existing units
The number of Brigade Combat Teams and their deployment concepts has been modified several times in army reforms since 1997. The United States Army had 31 combat brigades in 2018:
- 14 Infantry Brigade Combat Teams (including airborne brigades)
- 10 Armored Brigade Combat Teams
- 7 Stryker Brigade Combat Teams
The Army National Guard (ARNG) deployed 27 Brigade Combat Teams in 2018:
- 20 Infantry Brigade Combat Teams
- 5 Armored Brigade Combat Teams
- 2 Stryker Brigade Combat Teams
literature
- Patrick Fitschen: The transformation of the US armed forces . Ed .: Institute for Security Policy at Christian-Albrechts-Universität [ISUK], Kiel. Peter Lang Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften, Frankfurt 2007, ISBN 978-3-631-56504-9 ( isuk.org [PDF; 194 kB ]).
- The BCT concept at globalsecurity.org (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Army announces conversion of two brigade combat teams . US Army. 20th September 2018.
