What would a unit purpose built to meet the challenges of an urban battlefield look like? This question has been posed before, but almost always as a thought experiment. Few militaries have directed resources toward experimenting with and building such a specialized unit. But in the British Army, that is changing.
In this episode of the Urban Warfare Project Podcast, John Spencer is joined by Stuart Lyle, the urban operations lead for the UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory. He describes a series of research studies and events that led to the creation of Phalanx, a new type of unit optimized for the unique characteristics of urban warfare. The British Army is currently experimenting with the new unit, incorporating Phalanx platoons into its next generation combat team model. Lyle also explains the historical trends that influenced the form Phalanx has taken and details the specific changes made to company-sized infantry units to enhance their performance on the modern urban battlefield.
You can listen to the discussion below or find the episode on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, TuneIn, or your favorite podcast app. Be sure to subscribe, and if you’re enjoying the Urban Warfare Project Podcast, please take a minute and leave the podcast a review or give it a rating!
Image credit: Defence Imagery