Strike hard, strike fast: 3rd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment, enhancing lethality on the battlefield

July 14, 2023 – Defence Stories

By: Lieutenant James Shrubb, 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group

On May 31, 2023, soldiers from 3rd Battalion, The Royal Canadian Regiment (3 RCR) conducted Exercise LETHAL WEAPON, a vertical envelopment raid, with the Royal Canadian Air Force’s (RCAF) 436 Transport Squadron and 450 and 438 Tactical Helicopter Squadrons in Petawawa, Ontario.

After a year working with technical specialists to prove the concept of mounting heavy weapons onto MRZR tactical vehicles, 3 RCR was ready to take the next step. Integrating support from the RCAF for inserting and extracting vehicles and their crews, 3 RCR’s Direct Fire Support (DFS) platoon increases the tactical and operational reach of 2 Canadian Mechanized Brigade Group (2 CMBG).

Aboard a pair of CC-130J Hercules aircraft, four MRZRs and their crews were dispatched via parachute drop in Petawawa. Equipped to operate for 48-96 hours without resupply, the MRZRs armaments included the M2 Browning heavy machine gun, the C16 Automatic Grenade Launcher System, and TOW missile system.

Hitting the drop-zone, the platoon moved to their attack position and engaged a variety of targets with their HMG, C16, and TOW systems. With their targets destroyed and mission complete, the platoon moved to their pick-up zone to be extracted by CH-147s and returned to home base.

When asked what it all means for commanders on the ground, Captain Choquette, a platoon commander with 3 RCR, explained, “commanders will now have the flexibility to deploy light forces across hundreds of kilometers of battlespace. With this capability, a small team can be inserted deep behind the forward edge of the battle area with a CC-130J Hercules, be self-sustaining for 96 hours, and then be extracted via CH-147 Chinook or resupplied for follow-on missions.”

Exercises like LETHAL WEAPON help the soldiers of 2 CMBG develop the skills and procedures they need to stay relevant and ready to respond to the uncertainty of today’s modern battlefield. “Light forces like 3 RCR must constantly train to fight and win tonight with what they have today. Mounting heavy weapons onto light, air transportable vehicles is not a new concept, but integrating this specific configuration of weapons onto MRZRs and then dropping them by CC-130J and recovering them via CH-147 is a first.

We can now insert and extract teams with significant amounts of firepower, mobility, and endurance hundreds of kilometers into the enemy’s deep area,” says Lieutenant-Colonel Mark Sheppard, Commanding Officer, 3 RCR. “This gives us the ability to strike high payoff targets like logistics, artillery, aviation and command and control elements: a dozen DFS soldiers with four properly equipped TOW MRZRs can destroy up to a squadron of main battle tanks at long range. I’m proud of the 3rd Battalion’s hard work and look forward to seeing their continued development of this capability.”