Belgian Land Component

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Land Component of the Belgian Armed Forces
A detachment of the 2nd/4th Regiment Mounted Rifles
A detachment of the 2nd/4th Regiment Mounted Rifles
Active 1830-2002: Belgian Army
2002-present: Land Component
Country Flag of Belgium Belgium
Size 26,400 personnel
Commanders
Commander Major-General Eddy Testelmans

The Land Component (French: Composante Terre, Dutch: Landcomponent), formerly the Belgian Army, is the land-based service of the Belgian Armed Forces. The current chief of staff of the Land Component is Major-General Eddy Testelmans.

Contents

[edit] Structure

The Land Component is organised using the concept of capacities, whereby units are gathered together according to their function and material. Within this framework, there are five capacities: the command capacity, the combat capacity, the support capacity, the services capacity and the training capacity.

The command capacity groups the following levels of command: COMOPSLAND (Operational Command of the Land Component), Immediate Reaction Cell Command (the Para-Commando units), 1st Brigade (the operational staff of the Dutch-speaking Brigade at Leopoldsburg) and 7th Brigade (the operational staff of the French-speaking Brigade at Marche-en-Famenne).

The combat capacity comprises the main fighting units of the Land Component. It consists of three Para-Commando battalions, four infantry battalions and two tank battalions. The infantry battalions are the Regiment Liberation - 5th of the Line, the Regiment Carabiniers Prince Baudouin - Grenadiers, the Regiment of Ardennian Rifles and the Regiment 12th of the Line Prince Leopold - 13th of the Line. The tank battalions are the 1st/3rd Lancers Regiment and the 2nd/4th Lancers Regiment.

The support capacity is, as its name suggests, the support arm of the Land Component and comprises two reconnaissance units, a unit for information analysis, civilian-military cooperation and operational communication unit (known as the Information Operations Group or 17 Recce, based at Heverlee), the Special Forces Group, three artillery units and two engineer battalions. The reconnaissance units are the 1st Regiment Mounted Rifles - Guides and the 2nd/4th Regiment Mounted Rifles. The artillery units are the 1st Field Artillery Regiment, the 2nd Field Artillery Regiment/Field Artillery Battery ParaCommando and the 14th Air Defence Artillery Regiment. The engineer battalions are the 4th and the 11th Engineer Battalion.

The service capacity comprises communication and information systems (CIS) groups, six logistics battalions, the Military Police Group and the Military Detachment Palace of the Nation, the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (known as DOVO in Dutch and SEDEE in French, the Movement Control Group and the training centres and camps. The five CIS groups are: the 2nd, the 4th, the 5th, the 6th and the 10th Group CIS. The logistics battalions are: the 4th, the 8th, the 18th, the 20th, the 29th and the 51st Logistics Battalion. The Belgian Military Police Group (Groupe Police Militaire / Groep Militaire Politie - Gp MP) is a joint force made up of about 200 personnel assigned to five detachments located around the country. The Military Police Group staff is located in the Queen Elizabeth Barracks in the Brussels suburb of Evere. Alpha Detachment located at Evere covers the province of Flemish Brabant and the capital, Brussels. Bravo Detachment covers Walloon Brabant, Hainaut and Namur areas and is located at Nivelles. Charlie Detachment located at Marche-en-Famenne covers the Liege and Luxembourg areas. Delta Detachment covers the Limburg and Antwerp areas and is located at Leopoldsburg. Echo Detachment located at Lombardsijde covers West and East Flanders.

The training capacity comprises four departments: the Training Department Infantry at Arlon, the Training Department Armour-Cavalry at Leopoldsburg, the Training Department Artillery at Brasschaat and the Training Department Engineers at Namur.

Some of the regiments in the Land Component, such as the Regiment 12th of the Line Prince Leopold - 13th of the Line, have names consisting of multiple elements. This is the result of a series of amalgamations which took place over the years. The Regiment 12th of the Line Prince Leopold - 13th of the Line was created in 1993 as a result of the merger of the 12th Regiment of the Line Prince Leopold and the 13th Regiment of the Line.

Structure of the Belgian Land Forces
Structure of the Belgian Land Forces


There are two Brigades and one Immediate Reaction Cell, the successor of the Para-Commando Brigade. They are organised as follows:

1 Brigade 7 Brigade Immediate Reaction Cell
HQ Company "8/9 Linie" HQ Company "2 Chasseurs à Pied" HQ Company "Rgt. ParaCommando"
Armored Regiment "2/4 Lansiers" Armored Regiment "1/3 Lanciers" 1st Paratroopers Battalion
Armored Recon Rgt. "1 Jagers te Paard/Gidsen" Armored Recon Rgt. "2/4 de Chasseurs à Cheval" 2nd Commando Battalion
Mech. Inf. Rgt. "Carabiniers Prins Boudewijn- Grenadiers" Mech. Inf. Rgt. "12 Ligne Prince Léopold- 13 Ligne" 3rd Paratroopers Battalion
Mechanized Inf. Rgt. "Bevrijding- 5 Linie" Mechanized Inf. Rgt. "Chasseurs Ardennais"
2nd Field Artillery Regiment 1st Field Artillery Regiment

[edit] Equipment

[edit] Weapons

  • FN GP - 9mm pistol
  • FN P90 - 5.7mm submachine gun (used by special forces, paracommandos and secondary troops)
  • FN FNC - 5.56mm assault rifle (standard service rifle)
  • FN F2000 - 5.56mm assault rifle (currently only used by special forces, but is likely to replace the FN FNC)
  • Accuracy International Arctic Warfare - 7.62mm sniper rifle
  • FN MINIMI - 5.56mm light machinegun
  • FN MAG - 7.62mm medium machinegun
  • FN M2HB - 12.7mm heavy machinegun
  • M72 LAW - 66mm anti-tank rocket
  • MILAN - guided anti-tank missile
  • MISTRAL - infrared surface-to-air missile
  • LG1 Mark II - 105mm towed howitzer

[edit] Vehicles

The Belgian Army is currently undergoing a major re-equipment programme of most of its vehicles. The aim is to phase out all tracked vehicles in favour of wheeled equivalents. Consequently, both types of vehicles are in service at present:

In addition a number of miscellaneous utility vehicles are used.

[edit] Ranks

Ranks in use by the Belgian Army are listed at Military of Belgium.

[edit] External links

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  Military of Belgium
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