Exercise Warfighter-23 in UK involving 3(UK) Division and US Army III Armored Corps.

Major General James Martin, the General Officer Commanding 3(UK) Division, the ‘Iron Division’, and his deputy, Brigadier General Matt Brown of the US Army, open up as to what Exercise Warfighter was all about, its aims, significance and beyond all else, its sheer scale. The British Army reports.
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US Army Chief of Staff, General James McConville (third left), pays a visit to the British exercising troops taking part in Exercise Warfighter-23. He is pictured here with the General Officer Commanding 3 (UK) Division, Major General James Martin (third right) (Picture source: British Army)

Be under no illusion whatsoever, Warfighter is a behemoth of an exercise when it comes to figures; so much so that it can only be war-gamed through on paper, keyboards, and map tables. If it were to be played out in for real, it would see hundreds of thousands of troops moving around the globe with millions of tons of equipment and munitions being shipped, and that’s not to mention the air, space and cyber assets that would be called into action, all vital components of today’s modern war.

Even so, as a ‘virtual’ exercise Warfighter involved upwards of 10,000 personnel with some 1,500 British troops from the UK’s Iron Division joining forces with the US Army’s III Armored (sic) Corps who regale in the title of ‘America’s Hammer’, at their base Fort Hood in Texas.

Maj. Gen. James Martin explained, “This is the US Army’s principal methodology for testing its higher tactical echelon headquarters. The 3(UK) Division has been participating in it since 2017 and this is the fifth iteration of this exercise.”

Exercise Warfighter is all about training to go toe-to-toe with a peer adversary and although being conducted way out west in Texas, as you can imagine, the focus, comparisons, detailing, and scenario were very much in Eastern Europe. This is not about confronting an insurgency somewhere or effecting change in a fractured state – this is full-on war with an enemy whose capabilities may be equal or perhaps numerically superior. As the General pointed out, “We are looking at a situation whereby there has been a violation of NATO Article 5.” The principle is that an attack on one member state of NATO is an attack on all and once Article 5 has been declared it would mobilise the whole of NATO in defence of that country.”

The exercise was based on an expeditionary scenario, so away from the home base and throughout elements changed as it progressed. Although fictitious, they were realistic and accurate scenarios centred around large-scale operations on the European continent against a peer threat and focused on a land-based operation; not too dissimilar in the case of Russia’s Ukrainian ‘special operation’ tipping over into any NATO territory.

The primary training audience for the exercise was a combination of the US Army III Armored (sic) Corps– America’s Hammer, the superior headquarters along with the 3(UK) Division, 1st US Armored (sic) Division and the 1st US Cavalry Division. One notch down and there are the Brigade Combat Teams, formations and the units who effectively fought inside a computer-generated simulated world. They turned the orders and plans into tactical reality on the virtual ground and that was the acid test, or to quote the General “Where the rubber hits the road.” It is these combat teams and lower echelon units that enable the divisional and corps level to be tested and then validated.

In the exercise scenario, the earlier a win or the establishment of a positive resolution clearly the better, but you must be prepared to fight as long as it takes and that is certainly into the months and potentially the years. However, from a tactical, conceptual, and moral component of the force the General said, “We’re in it for as long as it takes, and I know our US counterparts are in exactly the same space.”

Other NATO allies sent their observers as there is potential for their armies to participate in a US Warfighter exercise further down the line. Last time the UK’s Iron Division were in Fort Hood they were joined by the 3rd French Division, but this time it was purely a bilateral event. Speaking as the 3 (UK) Division’s Deputy Commander, Brig Gen Matt Brown said, “This Division has got the experience, the procedures, the capability and the leadership to integrate into an exercise of this scale and this pace to fight with all of the other headquarters that are there.” There are other nations’ army headquarters with ambitions to step up to take part in such exercises, but it is the British Army’s Iron Division a known quantity able to show up to Fort Hood, Texas and through the trust, interoperable procedures, and systems the division reinforced its success.

“Winning is learning and learning is winning” They are one of the same according to Brig Gen Matt Brown. The size and the number of challenges thrown at the division HQ coupled with the array of military leaders and their experience coming together for Warfighter meant that the Division’s staff could not help but improve their level of expertise both individually and collectively as a unit.

The underlying tone of Warfighter was based around what is unfolding in Ukraine and although data and intelligence gathered since Russia’s actions was fed into the exercise scenario, it didn’t fundamentally shape the US/UK military’s response, for as Maj Gen James put it “We were always preparing for the threat that has manifested itself since 24 February last year.” The only real difference now is that it is much more obvious to the world.

The overarching threat was and remains the same; however, from the data and intelligence gained from the Ukrainian war the Ex-Warfighter HQs have been able to refine how they respond to any given development on the understanding they are better informed of how their peer adversary will react. Some of that detail was new, but for the large part, it simply confirmed lessons previously learnt.

Brig Gen Matt Brown articulated it quite succinctly when explaining the principal rationale behind Warfighter, “War is the most horrific human endeavour, but it’s been with us forever and it’s not going away.” Ex Warfighter is there to help prevent any such war by preparing the NATO alliance to fight in it to the point whereby it deters those adversaries from contemplating it. The Brig Gen went on to say, “The situation in Ukraine has reminded the whole of the West we are not at the point where war is behind us and there is a reason for organisations like 3 (UK) Division to continue to prepare, train and hone our craft.”

So, what would success look like when end ex was called? There were three broad areas that would answer that. Firstly, as mentioned previously, the Division needed to be tested and then validated – combat-ready to conduct large-scale operations in any scenario including warfighting very much at the far right of the conflict spectrum. Secondly, to have fully exploited the opportunity to optimise the force.

New structures implemented under the ‘Future Soldier’ transformation programme meant that brigade combat teams, still very much in their infancy, were being trialled. All part of the Field Army’s ‘Project Lewis’ a blueprint of how the British Army will fight in the brave new world of ‘Future Soldier’. Lastly to have further developed our interoperability with the UK’s principal ally, the United States, and the US Army across all facets: human, technical and procedural so that the Division can slot into any scenario.

What the Russian government has done not only threatens the stability of the Euro-Atlantic area and the security of Europe but also destabilises the rules-based international order and the global economy. Our ability to deliver operational capabilities at the scale required to deal with a peer enemy threat is not a mere fantasy anymore or something considered we will never have to do. It has brought some perspective and clarity to just what jeopardy we are all in at any given moment.

Defense News May 2023