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Direct fire support weapons have been deployed to bolster anti-armour capability as part of an Australian Army infantry exercise.
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Infantry soldiers from the 3rd Brigade’s 3rd Battalion, the Royal Australian Regiment (3 RAR) conducted live fire anti-armour stalks using direct fire support weapons (DFSW) as part of Exercise Kapyong Warrior.
Held at the Townsville field training area this month, the exercise aimed to develop battalion and company-level skills ahead of a brigade warfighter activity.
Activities included an anti-armour stalk exercise to eliminate enemy targets, designed to move on-foot in small teams, maintaining a low profile within the battlespace.
“Using our small teams on foot makes it harder for the enemy to identify, so we can clandestinely move in, find an area that’s concealed and have an effect upon the enemy to achieve the mission,” Section Commander Lance Corporal Ethan Moulden said.
“We can provide anything from harassment, all the way to completely destroying medium-armoured vehicles and do this without having a very large footprint or signature for the enemy to pick up.”
Personnel operated complex weapons and ammunition, including Javelin missiles, through challenging terrain.
“The terrain is pretty undulating and the weight of small arms, body armour, helmet, and the 84mm itself, which weighs about 20 kilos, makes moving through undetected difficult, but we get it done,” LCPL Moulden said.
Private Jarrod Raines from DFSW Platoon was tasked with keeping a low-profile during infill, scanning for high-value targets, and waiting for H-hour to be called over the radio,
“It’s a great feeling. You get a rush when the missile leaves the tube, and when it hits the target, there’s a lot of adrenaline. Then you just get out of there as quick as possible while the 84mm smoke covers our ex-fill route,” PTE Raines said.
“…It was a fantastic experience and definitely a great feeling to get out and perform our job to a high standard.
“Live fire is a great opportunity to display our lethality on the battlefield and it just goes to show that we’re ready and we can do this anywhere.”
This follows the 8th/9th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment’s recent participation in Exercise Ram Horn, a fortnight-long exercise designed to prepare soldiers for operations in densely populated areas.
Conducted at Wide Bay, the exercise trained soldiers to operate in perplexing urban terrain and culminated in a final assault on an urban environment with civilian role-players, booby traps and multiple access points.
[Related: 8/9 RAR prepares for urban ops]
