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.
Under the new TO&E, the mechanized units formerly inherent to HCRs and HSRs were formed into Mechanized Battalions.
Battalions are classified by the standard two digit numerical designation with an M suffix.
xxxM Mech Bn (system)
Where xxx is a numerical designation for the regiment, and indicates the chronological order of formation of the battalions,commencing from 10 and system indicates the star system in which the battalion was mustered.
For example, the 11M Mech Bn (Sol) was the first mechanized battalion to enter service with IMS, and was formed in the Sol system.
Each mechanized battalion contains forty armored personnel carriers (APCs) in total. It is controlled by a battalion commander in one APC, and consists of three APC companies of thirteen APCs each. Each APC company contains three tank platoons of four APCs each and a company commander in one APC.
All mechanized battalions consist entirely of one type of APC, usually M24A3s; but they may also contain Kangaroo IVs or ACVI-3s.. Other types of APCs may be found in IMS service, but are generally in independent units, not attached to the standard mechanized battalions.
Effective APC strength is based on the number of APCs in the platoons, and as such is usually given as being thirty-six APCs; which does not include the command APCs. This results in an HCR having one mechanized battalion, and a HSR having a single company.
As of 2301, IMS has eleven mechanized battalions at full operational strength.
These web pages developed and maintained by Terry A. Kuchta