The Marine Corps has experimented with changing the size of some of its 12-member infantry squads to 15 members, an effort former Commandant Gen. Hodne's reference to vehicle design limitations refers to the Next Generation Combat Vehicle, which the Army is designing to carry a nine-soldier squad, to replace the Bradley fighting vehicle. "However, even if experimentation indicates an 11-soldier squad is optimal, this might not result in adjusting the size of the squad, given several factors - (force structure constraints, personnel costs, and even vehicle design limitations)," he wrote. This study will consider the impact of equipping the squad with "next-generation capabilities," such as the Next Generation Squad Weapon, a 6.8mm weapon system being designed to replace the M4A1 carbine and the M249 squad automatic weapon, and the Integrated Visual Augmentation System, a system being developed to equip soldiers with a heads-up display to show maps and other key tactical information, said Hodne, who is also the director of the Soldier Lethality Cross Functional Team. "From our initial results through experimentation, we do know that reducing the squad to less than nine soldiers is not a good idea and will not recommend reducing the size of the current rifle squad," Hodne said in a statement. Hodne said the squad study, which will be run by the Soldier Lethality Cross Functional Team and the Maneuver Capabilities Development and Integration Directorate, "is overdue" but cautioned that the squad is not likely to shrink below nine soldiers. "This is one that I think will gain a lot of interest as we move forward with this," he said, describing how Benning's Live Experimentation Branch will conduct a live experiment in support of the squad study in fiscal 2021.Īrmy Infantry School Commandant Brig.
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