Blitzkrieg, the lightning war of Nazi Germany, was the beginning of the modern day vision of Combined Arms, were tanks, artillery, air power, and mounted infantry pushed with overwhelming firepower and speed at their enemy. This is similar to the concept of traditional English fox hunting, keeping your enemy on the run, with your own forces being organized to be on the chase with all elements being mobile. The result, is a broken, disorganized enemy, that is more focused on retreating, than attacking. However, this concept runs out of steam when your army is no longer on the offensive, like Russia in the winter, or being be chased itself. For the most part, the limits of battlefield communications, close air support, and supply lines forced most much of WWII to be an "soldier's war".
The war that the US was preparing to fight was not the hellish terrain of Vietnam, with its dense jungles, poor roads, lack of urban development and fluid battle lines. This forced the US military to abandon their concepts of conventional ground warfare with the Warsaw Pact across Europe with armored elements. These heavily armored mechanized units could not operate in the dense jungles and mud. Instead, Vietnam was a war waged between soldiers, special forces, frontline artillery positions, and airpower. While during the Nazi campaigns, air power was one element normally used to soften up the enemy for the armor, in Vietnam, close air support was the critical element to counter the VC/NVA guerrilla warfare tactics. To lessen the advantages of the VC/NVA, and disadvantages of the dense jungles, the United States developed air mobility using helicopters to evac/insert troops and provide close air support, however this made the US forces very dependant on those chopper pilots and their green machines.
Then in 2003, we returned to the desert to finish the job, and changed the theory of combined arms. The Iraqi Army was no where near the strength it was during the 1991 Gulf War, instead the coalition forces faced the Fedayeen and their unconventional warfare tactics in urban enviorments. Armor and artillery were lessened, the need for air mobility, gunship helicopters, and mixed units of special forces increased greatly, and forced military planners to redesign their combined arms strategy for a fluid battlespace.
In comparison, when the US armed response came to A-stan after the attacks of September 11th, it was launched with a very small CIA SAD team armed with AKs and Browning Hi-Powers, and loaded down with millions in cash. There were no tanks or massive rolling armies, instead there were warriors and fighters on horseback, Special Forces team directing F-15s with lasers-guided bombs, and M4's getting dirty. The combined arms of the war in Afghanistan is a blend of the low-tech and high-tech. While Special Forces were going back to their roots of guerrilla warfare, they used spy satillites, UAVs, laser designators, gunships, and close air support, to pound the Taliban/AQ forces.
Elements of Combined Arms
-Close Air Support
The role of close air support (CAS) is primarily fulfilled by fighters, fighter-bombers, attack helicopters, and/or gunships. In the realm of modern warfare, CAS is one of the most critical elements for a battle either being a victory or defeat.
In order for CAS to be effective, there several factors, one being the troops in the shit are able to communicate the location of where the munitions are needed, and where friendly forces are location in relationship to the enemy. This were GPS, laser designators, and combat controllers come in. Next, is distance, CAS aerocraft need to be close enough to the warzone to arrive within ten to fifteen minutes of the call, or else the point may be moot. One factor, that is often overlooked, is trained and skilled pilots to preform these bombing runs without killing the good guys. The last factor is that skies above the battlespace are firmly controlled, or else the CAS mission could be air combat mission or even SAR...
-Attack Aircraft
Attack helicopters, and soon, attack Tilt-rotors, do fulfill CAS roles on the battlefield, however, the attack helicopter is also used in other roles important to the combined arms unit. Aircraft, like the AH-64 Apache were envisioned by NATO to be used in anti-tank roles, softening up the numeral advantage held by the old Warsaw Pact. During the Gulf War and The War in Iraq, attack helicopters were used in CAS operations in urban environments and anit-armor. Then during the operations in Afghanistan, attack choppers used their abilities to attack Taliban and AQ fighters in the dense mountain regions, were friend or foe are often burred.
-Infantry
The task of taking and holding ground as gone to the footsoldier since the beginning of warfare, and in the combined arms theory of warfare, it is still their primary role. Unlike heavy armored vehicles, Infantry units are able to operate conditions that trap or disable armored vehicles, like urban and jungle. During combined arms operation, infantry often are used to sweep-and-clear areas for any anti-tank mines or infantry wielding TOW missiles, then securing the frontline. When mankind does wage wars off-world, you can beat the infantry will be there.
-Tanks
The tank is a combination of the old horse Calvary and artillery that is able to be the main offensive push of the advancing forces, the spearhead. However, like all elements in the combined arms unit, everything as to work together in order to function as a successful military unit...while tanks are dealers in destruction, they have poor visibility, lessened air-defense, and need mechanized infantry to defense them against enemy infantry wielded anti-tanks weapons. In the last twenty years, military planners and governments have been favoring the fielding of main battle tanks only, eliminating the various mixed bag of light and medium tanks.
-IVF/APC
In a mechanized platoon, the Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) and/or the Armored Personnel Carrier (APC), serve as armored battle taxis, allowing infantry units to speed along with the spearheading armor, and the armor and armaments of the IFV/APC protect the soldiers on the way to the objective. During the Gulf War and War in Iraq, the traditional role of hauling infantry around in their hulls seemed to be subjugated by the HUMVEE, and the M2 Bradley seemed to entered into a role as an urban infantry vehicle and light tank.
-Field Artillery
Field artillery comes in two forms on the modern battlefield, self-propelled (like the M109) and more traditional cannons that need a vehicle to move them into position, and these two forms of field artillery can use either rockets or shells. The role of field artillery is to pound enemy positions for retreat, advance, or fire support of in-field units. With the changes in warfare over the last fifteen years, field artillery's role on the battlefield is being filled by CAS.
-Orbital Artillery
Gears of War,
Bubblegum Crisis, Akira, and
Killzone have demonstrated the power of space-based artillery, and unlike ground-based artillery cannons, they much more difficult to destroy, and operation from a superior point-of-view, allowing for command of the battlefield situation. Space-based artillery could be much easier to deploy and unitized than conventional field-artillery or CAS. One can imagine specially trained soldiers with targeting devices similar to the Hammer-of-the-Dawn that access the satellite(s) in GSO, lock in a target, and then destroy them with either DEW or KEW systems. However, without protection from endoatmospheric fighters and/or GSO warships, the enemy could launcher missiles from fighters in the upper atmosphere, or strike from orbiting warships.
UAV/UGV
Unmanned aerial vehicles, like the Predator have changed the face of intelligence gathers, warfare, and wetwork operations. Within the world of combined arms units, UAV can be overhead sending real-time data to the HQ on the battlefield. This allows commanders the ability to adapt to the changing conditions, and eliminates the need for risky flyover or scout missions, added to these eyes-on intel missions, UAVs can hang over the target area for 24 hours, watching, and then when the moment arrives, it strikes with its Hellfire mission, being being watcher and executioner .
With UAVs transforming in size, it soon will be possible for frontline units to deploy "backpack"or even bug-sized UAVs to scout a few miles ahead in all types of conditions, and send back the raw data to the unit on the ground in real-time.
Unlike the successful and battlefield tested UAVs,. their ground-based cousin, the Unmanned ground vehicle (UGV) is waiting to prove its combat role. UGVs could be used to setup patrols while soldiers sleep, scout out terrain, enemy positions, watch the soldiers' backs, and be a cargo hauler. Some of the UGVs that are under developed, mount light machine guns, making them part of the combat team and one step closer to the ED-209 from
Robocop.
Special Operations Forces:
Special Forces Operators are unitized, at times, in combined arms, when the Operators use their skills for special assaults (like Somalia in 1993 or killing Bin Laden), or in the mountains of Tora-Bora, when DELTA and SBS were tagging targets for CAS. SOF units can be the eyes, ears, and claws of a larger combine arms force, like during Operation Anaconda, D-DAY, or even in the deserts of North African with SAS and their modified Jeeps.
-Mecha
In the realm of military sci-fi, one of the most celebrated pieces of futuristic warmachine is Mecha, the walking tank that is about 10-15 meters tall, and weights between 20-100 tons, and according to most sources, powered by a fusion core and mounts impressive weaponry, more than several tanks.
Within combined arms, mechs would served in terrain that does not allow traditional armored vehicles to operate, like jungles, urban (due to Mechas maneuverability), mountains, and mud conditions. Smaller urban combat mecha, similar to the Vietnam-era Ontos tank, could support infantry during street-to-street urban battles. I don't believe that mecha would exist within a spearheading mechanized platoon of armored vehicles.
-Armored Power Suit
In sci-fi, armored power suits (APS), hold the promise of making every soldier an Ubermensch that commands the battlefield, however, when you look at the reality of the APS and within the concept of combined arms, the APS is another part of the complete tactical picture. The role of APS in future warfare will not be the standard tool of the infantry, too expensive and the support staff needed would be massive, but I can envision them for special assault, ship boarding, attached to spaceborne troops for securing drop zones, and urban operations.
-Air Mobility
During the Vietnam War, the concept of helicopter warfare was pioneered and forever placed into combined arms. Much like the horse Calvary of old, soldiers rode into battle, and rode out, sweeping down on the enemy. This ability of transporting soldiers quickly and directly into the battlespace as changed warfare, and killed off the old-style airborne drops, due to the soldiers are protected by the transports weapon systems and they drop in with ready for combat. It is not just troops and Operators that benefit from air mobility, some tanks, artillery pieces, and Jeeps can be air-lifted. The vehicles of deploying air mobility have gone from the UH-1 of Vietnam, to the UH-60
Blackhawk, now to the MV-22
Osprey, and in the future, it will be vehicles like ducted-fan Hunter-Killer aerial patrol vehicles from
Terminator.
-Light Military 4x4 Vehicles
The original Jeep was developed in 1941 by American Bantam company, it was to be a replacement for the horse/mule, and was delivered from drawing board to prototype in 49 days. The military Jeeps were jack-of-all-trades, due to their off-road abilities, flexiblity, and simply design. In modern warfare, Jeep-like vehicles are a critical element in Combined Arms, preforming all manner of taks, from being a battle-taxi, infantry support vehicle, scout, and workhorse, but these class of vehicles are pretty much ignored by sci-fi writers. The tradition of the military Jeep lives on in J8, and all similar patterned vehicles, like the Russian GAZ, the British Land Ranger, and the Mahindra. As a side note, the most insane military 4x4? The 1980's Rambo-Lambo, the Lamborghini LM002.
Combined Arms in off-world combat
Here are some topics to consider when talking about the reality fielding something like our modern combined arms units in off-world combat situations.
Starlift Capability
Why would an futuristic government that could settle exoplanets not be able to delivery the heavy goods to the front? In a word: Starlift capability. Starlift capability is one most critical elements in any futuristic army, and is how they can get the army from point A (most likely a space station, cargo ship or other planet) to point B. the FTL transport, then onto the battlezone, point C. Once the transport arrives in orbit around the planet, there is the ship-to-shore operation of hauling the vehicles, troops, and supplies down to the surface. This barely discussed in any work of sci-fi, only the
ALIENS: The Colonial Marines Technical Manuel and
Battletech layout the scale of the operation to project combined arms over lightyears.
Here is a quote from
ALIENS: The Colonial Marines Technical Manuel: The deployment of Colonial Marine Armor assets is limited by the availability of heavy starlift capability to transport both the tanks and their considerable logistic and service support.
Please see my older post on the future of armored vehicles:
http://futurewarstories.blogspot.com/2011/04/fws-topics-future-of-armored-vehicles.html
Loss of the orbital high ground
In the ALIENS: Colonial Marines Technical Manuel, author Lee Brimmicombe-Wood states that planets are the only location worth the price of commenting the very expensive FTL ships to combat. Orbital space is the best piece of restate in off-world combat, the side that controls orbital space controls the ability to resupply their troops, reinforce, monitor the enemy's movements, and deploy satellites for C3 purposes...and best of all, orbital artillery. Imagine, if your side of a conflict gets wiped off of the high ground, you're at the mercy of the other's side abilities to rain down artillery from a position you cannot reach, you are watched, and worse off all, the other side as the upper hand at every engagement, no matter if it's dirtside or starside.
Terrain is one of the key elements in warfare, and for the entire history of humanity, we've been fighting on one world, but at some point (hopefully) the human race will get off-world, and commanders of armies will have to deal with fighting on worlds that I've never seen outside of a map. Added to this, these contested worlds could be not atmospheric standard (like Earth), this means that soldiers would be forced to fight in space suits. This factor would raise the casualty rates, complexity of bases, vehicles, and supplies, and morale would dip.
Far-Future Technologies
Star Trek shows us how easy it can be...transporters teleport you instantly from ship-to-shore within a few seconds. Machines seemly construct food, tools, and toys from thin air...why not do that with tanks, gunships, killer robots? That is one element sci-fi creator need to take into account, far-future technology. Teleporting your vehicles from cargo holds onboard ship would be much easier than the other methods discussed here. Hell, why even store those vehicles and weapons? Why not construct them via replicators? One can imagine having a industrial replicator planetside that could build new tanks, guns, and supplies without the need for cargo modules or even ships in orbit....it just seems too easy. These
Star Trek high-tech devices are commonplace with their universe, but are never fully unitized by the writers for creating a far-future military, which is a real shame. Most sci-fi works that feature combined arms are constructed on the basis of near-future technology, even my own, it would have been nice to see something like
Star Trek demonstrate how their far future technology would be used on the planetside battlefield.
Communications
Nigel and I were discussing the topic associated with futuristic combined arms, and he mentioned that communications between the different battlefield elements is key to victory and avoiding blue-on-blue fire. Just like in surgery or in a kitchen (just watch
Hell's Kitchen), communications is key to coordinating combine arms elements in the local battlespace for maximum lethality against the enemy. That means active and decatied command and control systems, either in orbital, at the FOB, or even riding into battle. This local battlenet would be one of the first targets of an enemy, and besides shelling the hub of their enemy's battlenet, they also could using "soft-kill" systems, in the form of computer viruses and attack programs (see
Ghost in the Shell on this subject). Given the scope of planetary future combat, if that battlenet was brought down, all of those fantastic lethal elements of combined arms is scattered, deaf, and mute, causing the enemy a giant opportunity to swing the conflict in their favor.
Faster-than-Light Travel
Contrary to most works of sci-fi, faster-than-light travel is not as like getting onto an highway on-ramp, and, at the moment, modern science as been unable to locate any hyperspace corridors. This means that FTL in a hard science universe is an commitment in terms of a lifetime. The reality of FTL travel involves massive amount of energy, time dilation, acceleration to light speed, then de-acceleration. All of this means that the supply chain for the combined arms units on-planet would be separated by vast gulfs of space and time, leading to the possibility these journeys to the warzone could be a one-time deal. All of the troops, supplies, warships, and vehicles in an FTL expedition would be the only force sent to the warzone, because reinforcements would a lifetime behind the soldiers on the front. This topic is heavily explored in the 1975 MSF founding classic,
The Forever War...
Secure Drop-Zones
When the armed FTL transports achieve GSO over the planetary battlesite, the process of getting their cargo down the gravity well begins. And the real question becomes where on the vast battlefield on a planetary scale do you drop in the combined arms vehicles and troopers? If you are invading a planet, then the need for secure drop-zones becomes paramount. This would fall to specialized troops and vehicles, like the ODST from the HALO universe, and the spaceborne and SOF APS units from my book Endangered Species. This concept is seen in a few video games, especially in military real-time strategy simulation games.
Endo/Exo Atmospheric Vehicles
Vehicles that can go up-and-down from a planet's surface with the easy of a helicopter, like
HALO's Pelican, the UD-4
Cheyenne From
ALIENS or the
Raptor from
Battlestar Galactica are simply not in keeping with the hard reality of science. The space shuttles fielded by the US and the USSR require booster rockets to be pushed beyond the grip of gravity, which entails massive launch platforms, support staff, and vast amounts of fuel. The idea of vehicles slipping from ship-to-shore and back again with the easy of what as been seen in science-fiction, is exactly that, science fiction. The unsexy truth of delivery vehicles, troops, and supplies from a ship in GSO down planetside would be accomplished via cargo modules. It is possible for there to be a few dual atmospheric fighter, like the SR-71, to move from the air to orbit and back, but not something similar to the attack helicopters. For there to be the futuristic equal to the Hind-D gunship for planetside combat, it would broken down, loading onto drop cargo modules, shipped down, then fully assembled down on the planet....all that means a secure drop zone, technical staff to assembly it and a base to support its operation.
Space Battleship Yamato is a 2010 Japanese military science fiction film based on the 1970's Anime series, Space Cruiser Yamato and known in the west as Starblazers. The film was directed by Takashi Yamazaki and starred Takuya Kimura as Susmu Kodai and model/singer/actor Meisa Kuroki as Yuki Mori, and veteran actor Tstomu Yamazaki as Captain Okita. The flim was a mix of the first two seasons of Yamato, along with two of the OVA films, especially Farewell to the Space Battleship Yamato (1978), however most reviewers have connected the style of the film to the remake of Battlestar Galactica. The film as been released on DVD/Blu-Ray in Japanese, but not for American markets, subtitled verisons for the film have made it on youtube. 
Along with the more fleshed out characters is the excellent level of SFX, music, and production value of Yamato...but I found it was the little things liked the most, the correct sounds, the look of the Yamato and the fighters, the Earth battered by radiation...Bottom line, the first thirty minutes of Space Battleship Yamato is the best portion of the film...then it starts to vear off into left field... 
The biggest changes from the original beloved Anime series is the main enemy, the Gamilus (Gamilons) are now some sort of insect-like species that are linked via some sort of group-think, their ships and fighters are nothing like the originals, in fact their fighter looks like a fat tick. 
