S. BAGHDANYAN, Colonel, PhD in Military Sciences, Senior Lecturer, Center for Research on Operational Art, NDRU, MOD, RA

SUMMARY

The extent of manning levels of artillery units (subsystem elements) has a direct influence on the efficiency of their employment. Consequently, one of the ways to increase the effectiveness of combat actions of an artillery regiment (AR) in case of its being undermanned is the appropriate distribution of available personnel among its sub-units. In this regard, a task arises to determine the minimum critical strength of personnel subsystem elements of reconnaissance, control, fire and support for ensuring the maximum possible implementation of their combat capabilities.

An approach to solving this task is proposed, based on assessing the extent to which the AR realizes its combat capabilities, and calculations are made to determine the most optimal options for distributing available personnel among the specified sub-units of the AR.

Based on the results of the research and calculations carried out by the author, it was concluded that the minimum acceptable level of manning for the bodies belonging to the AR hierarchies is 80 %, and for divisions and batteries – 40-45 %. It follows from this that, in case of the AR being undermanned (casualties), it is incumbent on its commander to first of all ensure minimum manning at the regimental, and then at the divisional and battery levels. In addition, it was ascertained that the AR is capable of successfully performing combat missions in the case when the manning of the elements of the reconnaissance subsystem is at the average regimental level, the control subsystem is 10-20 % above this level, and the fire subsystem is 5-10 % below this level, and it is appropriate to man the elements of the support subsystem to approximately 100 %.