AAR: Operation Iraqi Freedom - Swedish' taskforce

[Taskforce]

In reality, Sweden never took part in Operation Iraqi Freedom, mainly due to the nation lacking a NATO membership and to the nations unwillingness to sacrifice its soldiers in a non-peacekeeping mission lead by the UN.

But in this scenario, Sweden has been asked by the United States to put up an armoured taskforce and take part in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Sweden, with a long history of UN taskforces, sees the chance for its military forces to get vital combat experience by rotating its military personal every six months, thus strengthening its own ability to repel attacks on Sweden by other nations, should it happen.

The Swedish’ taskforce sent to Iraq is an Armoured Battalion 03, a strengthened version of the Armoured Battalion 98, supported by a MRV battalion:

Armoured Battalion 03:
-Battalion Staff:
--Headquarters + Strf 9040B (9 men)
-FO Vehicle:
--EPbv 90 (4 men)
-Heavy Transport Vehicle:
--Tank transport (2 men)
-Armoured Battalion Support 03:
--3 Lvkv 90 + 3 heavy mortars (Bv 206) + 1 arm inf pl* (Strf 9040B) (84 men)
-Armoured Infantry Company 03:
--1 arm inf sec* (Strf 9040B) + 3 arm inf pl* (Strf 9040B) + 3 RBS-56 TI ATGM teams (Strf 9040B) (128 men)
-Armoured Infantry Company 03:
--1 arm inf sec* (Strf 9040B) + 3 arm inf pl* (Strf 9040B) + 3 RBS-56 TI ATGM teams (Strf 9040B) (128 men)
-Main Battle Tank Company:
--1 + 3 + 3 + 3 Strv 122B (40 men)
-Main Battle Tank Company
--1 + 3 + 3 + 3 Strv 122B (40 men)
-Munitions Support:
--2 munitions truck pl (16 men)
-Brigade AA Company:
--3 RBS-70 SAM Pl** (Bv 308) (33 men)
*Includes 1 inf-AT team to increase the AT capability of the arm inf sec
**Includes 1 recon group to provide additional protection for the AA teams

MRV Battalion:
-MRV Company
--1 arm inf sec + 2 recon teams (Sisu XA-180 Pasi) + 6 arm inf sec (Sisu XA-180 Pasi) + 6 arm inf sec (Sisu XA-180 Pasi) + 6 arm inf sec (Sisu XA-180 Pasi) (140 men)
-MRV Company
--1 arm inf sec + 2 recon teams (Sisu XA-180 Pasi) + 6 arm inf sec (Sisu XA-180 Pasi) + 6 arm inf sec (Sisu XA-180 Pasi) + 6 arm inf sec (Sisu XA-180 Pasi) (140 men)

The taskforce totals 764 soldiers and crew members, 1 EPbv 90, 3 Lvkv 90, 20 Strv 122B, 30 Strf 9040B, 10 Sisu XA-180 Pasi, 3 Bv 308, 3 Bv 206, 8 trucks & 1 tank transport.

The rest of the support needed - artillery, aerial recognisance, attack helicopters, close air support and additional main battle tanks and armoured infantry - will be provided by other nations taking part in Operation Iraqi Freedom, mainly the United States and Great Britain.

This AAR will last for 5 battles and after that I don’t know yet if I’m going to follow it up with an additional ”taskforce”, relieving the one seeing ”service” until the end of this AAR. This since I’m also - battle by battle - playing an AAR in SPWW2.

Cheers, Taskforce