An Cosantóir

22 CAVALRY SCOUTS The Cavalry Corp will provide Armoured Reconnaissance, Mounted Direct Fire Support, and Surveillance Capabilities, in order to deliver Force Protection and Situational Awareness for the Defence Forces in both conventional and Peace Support Operations. Introduction Tales of scouts on horseback date back to the Gupta Dynasty of Ancient India (circa 400 CE). Cavalry horsemen and Scouts would prove invaluable in battles until the early 20th Century, when the vulnerability of horses to modern machine gun, mortar, and artillery fire reduced their utility on the battlefield. After the First World War, Cavalry units were mostly converted from horses to either armoured car or tank units. These became known as mechanised Cavalry and used to enable manoeuvre through for example, break -through of enemy defences, exploitation or to fulfil a reconnaissance role, thus bringing about the advent of "Multi-Purpose Cavalry". As societies and technology advanced, warfare transitioned from attrition to manoeuvre. Militaries developed tactics to gain information on their adversaries, and strike in depth at their centre of gravity or at lines of logistics, whilst minimising the risk to their own force. The need emerged for highly mobile and protected information gatherers who could work with minimal logistical support ahead of the main force and report on enemy movements, allowing commanders to take advantage of time and space. In the post 9/11 world, military technologies have taken yet another leap forward, debunking many of the Tactics, Techniques and Procedures (TTP's) of the past. We only need look to the current conflict in Eastern Europe to see how rudimentary "off the shelf" drones are providing almost instant sensor to shooter information. Technology is fast replacing the operations once carried out by boots on the ground. "Manned" Close Target Reconnaissance (CTR) for example, will conceivably become an alien concept outside of the SOF domain due to the rapid advances in unmanned technology. Timely and Accurate Information gathering from distance is now key; high powered Ther - mal Optics, Ground Radars, Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV), and Drones, now provide a large swath of the Intelligence Surveillance Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) sphere. With this is mind, Equipment capabilities being researched for the Cavalry Corps concept of employment, includes Tethered and Close Combat Drones, Unmanned Ground Vehicles, and Light Armoured Vehicles specifically designed for Reconnaissance tasks. Furthermore, as cavalry is much more than reconnaissance, mounted direct fire capability integration enables greater effects and capability when acting on the information that has been gathered. The 'human-in-the-loop' (Scout) needs the ability to employ this technology coupled with a high level of soldiering skills, in order to provide close to real time information, to contribute to Information Fusion, to collaborate with other Arms, thus assisting with the Commanders Decision Making Process. This need, when aligned with international practice, led to the development of the Cavalry School's 'Scout Concept'. The team (Comdt Tynan, Comdt Carrigy, Capt Kirby, Lt Doyle, RSM Caffrey, Sgt Havens & Cpl Phelan) refined the concept over 16 months to produce the first draft syllabi submitted to the DF Academic Council. The Scouts' relationship with their vehicles must be one of mutual support; they augment the vehicles capabilities and offset its limitations. They do this by deploying covertly, utilising sensors and optics to gain information, and transferring real-time data via in-service communications systems, back to their vehicles. This capability is essential to a commander across the full spectrum of conflict. Understanding the commander's intent and decentralising the execution of a plan was never more applicable than in today's 3-dimensional battlespace, where units will need to be dispersed and reduce their communication emissions. The Scout's function is to an - swer the commander's information requirements, confirm or deny their assumptions and therefore assist in COA development. We endeavour to empower our Junior Leaders and Scouts to make decisions in a change intensive environment, whilst always respecting the latest time the information is of value (LTIOV). Cavalry Scouts endeavour to organise, train and equip to fulfil this multidimensional role. The 8-week Scout Course is as follows. Optics and Sensors The Cavalry Scout Optics and Sensor course provides students with a refresher on current optical sensors (LUCIE, SOPHIE, MONO) and qualifies students as operators on the FLIR Recon Thermal Binoculars, which provides a Surveillance and Target Acquisition capabil- ity by day or night >10Km. Students also receive training on the Elbit FOXTRACK Ground CAVALRY SCOUTS Article & Photos by Lt Stephen Doyle, Cavalry School Scouts conducting Reconnaissance Operations Scouts conducting Reconnaissance Operations Students performing Data Transmission via HF Platform

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