In 2301, IMS announced a major revision in the Table of Organization and Equipment (TO&E) for all of its ground military forces. This change was necessary due to changes in military doctrine and the renewed Kafer war offensive up the French Arm.
A HSR exists primarily as a skeletal framework, providing structure, resources, and support for other units, typically Hover Combat Regiments. For example, the additional command and control vehicles necessary for all the staff of a HCR come from a HSR. Hover Service Regiments also act as rear-area bases for front-line units as required. In these cases, the HSR acts as a depot for men and material, detaching and assigning units to the front-line as required.
Hover Combat Regiments are classified by the standard three digit numerical designation with an HSR suffix.
xxx HSR
Where xxx is a numerical designation for the composite regiment, and indicates the chronological order of formation, commencing from 100. All HCRs, HSRs, and ACRs are numbered sequentially as a group.
An HSR is composes of two primary types of units-combat and support. The combat units consist of an armor company, mechanized company, infantry company, reconnaissance company, combat walker company and fire support battalion. The support units consist of a number of squadrons- two supply, one command and control, one medical, and one maintenance.
The armor company contains either M-9 or LkPz-VIII hover main battle tanks. The mechanized company contains M24A3 hover APCs and is used as transportation for the infantry company. The fire support battalion consists of three platoons-air defense, anti-vehicle, and MRL. Reconnaissance capabilities for the HSR are provided by the reconnaissance company.
The armor and mechanized infantry companies are tasked to provide security for the HSR as well as act as reserves for the units that the HSR is deployed to support. The reconnaissance company contains the headquarters elements of its parent recon battalion and performs both tactical recon for the HSR and battlefield strategic recon when deployed as part of a HCB. The latest addition is the combat walker company. Intended to provide highly mobile and rapid response, the company is carried by specially modified M760 hovercraft until the walkers are deployed.
The two supply troops (I to V) each contain five troops of three M760 utility APCs each. The command and control squadron (E) has five identical command and control troops (I, to V). Each troop consists of one M24A3 Tactical Operations Center hovercraft and two M241 Communications hovercraft. The medical squadron has been expanded to five troops. The surgical troops (I, II) each contains three M248 Surgery hovercraft, while the casualty evac troops (III, IV, V) contain three M247 Casualty Evac hovercraft each. The maintenance squadron has been expanded from three troops to five. The recovery troops (I, II) now contain three BgLkPz-VIII each for hover vehicle recovery. The maintenance troops (III, IV, V) each contain three M760 utility hovercraft, and act as a mobile warehouse and repair shop.
Due to the recent Kafer offensive up the French Arm, HCRs have increased training fighting as a single battle group as the likelihood of deployments increase. As well, Hover Combat Brigades (HCB), comprised of two HCRs and one HSR, have also begun training exercises and maneuvers. Until recently, HCBs have only existed on paper, due to the logistical problems inherent to such large sized forces. However, with the potential for Kafer advancement up the French Arm increasing, it is likely that such units could be deployed in the defense of a world.
As of 2301, IMS has four Hover Service Regiments as full operational strength. They are equipped with the M-9 hover tank. Two more HSRs were expected to be formed in 2301, but with the shortage of men and the restructuring of all ground units, those forces have been re-allocated to existing units.
These web pages developed and maintained by Terry A. Kuchta