The brigade combat team (BCT) is the basic deployable unit of maneuver in the US Army. A brigade combat team consists of one combat arms branch maneuver brigade, and its attached support and fire units. A brigade combat team is generally commanded by a colonel (O-6), but in rare instances it is commanded by a brigadier general. A brigade combat team carries with it support units necessary to sustain its operations separate from its parent division. BCTs contain organic artillery support, formerly received from the division artillery (DIVARTY).
Currently, the U.S. Army is converting its brigades into the new Brigade Combat Team (BCT) Program.[1] In this program, divisions that generally have not deployed individual brigades due to lack of integral support (1st Armored Division, 25th Infantry Division, etc.) have been restructured, giving them the ability to deploy one or more BCTs anywhere in the world. These BCTs will be able to stand on their own, like a division in miniature. The soldiers assigned to a BCT will stay at their assignment for three years; this is intended to bolster readiness and improve unit cohesion.
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The infantry brigade combat team is organized around two battalions of infantry. Each type of brigade (light infantry, air assault, or airborne) have the same basic organization. Each infantry brigade is capable of air assault operations, whether or not it is officially designated as an air assault brigade. Also, most units typically maneuver in HMMWVs when deployed and operate as "motorized infantry" to facilitate speed of movement. The infantry brigade combat team consists of two infantry battalions and one each cavalry (RSTA), field artillery, special troops, and support battalions.
Each infantry brigade combat team consists of two infantry battalions. These two battalions will be the primary maneuver elements of the brigade and will each consist of around 650 personnel.
The brigade special troops battalion (BSTB) is a new formation of the Army. It is designed to provide command and control to the brigade combat support companies (intelligence and signals) and any company-sized attachments (such as air defense artillery or military police).
The Stryker brigade combat team (SBCT) is a mechanized infantry force structured around the Stryker eight-wheeled variant of the General Dynamics LAV III, chosen as "interim armored vehicle" for the US Army. A full Stryker brigade was intended to be C-130 Hercules air transportable into theatre within 96 hours, while a division-sized force is expected to need 120 hours. The Stryker brigade is an organic combined arms unit of light armored vehicles, and is organized differently than the infantry or heavy brigade combat teams. The Stryker brigades are being used to implement network-centric warfare doctrines, and are intended to fill a gap between the United States' highly mobile light infantry and its much heavier armored infantry. The BCT Ground Combat Vehicle Program is the planned successor of the interim armored vehicle.
Each Stryker brigade combat team consists of three infantry battalions, one reconnaissance (cavalry) squadron, one fires (artillery) battalion, one brigade support battalion, one brigade headquarters and headquarters company, one network support company, one military intelligence company, one engineer company, and one anti-tank company. Unlike the infantry and heavy BCTs there is neither a brigade special troops battalion nor forward support companies in the brigade support battalion for the five maneuver elements.
The heavy brigade combat team is the army's primary armored force. It will be designed around combined arms battalions that contain both M1 Abrams tanks and M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs). Other vehicles, such as HMMWVs and variants of the M113 armored personnel carrier, operate in a supporting role. In the future it will also contain vehicles from the BCT Ground Combat Vehicle Program. The heavy brigade combat team consists of two combined arms battalions and one each armed reconnaissance (cavalry), fires (artillery), special troops, and support battalions.
The U.S. Army plans to implement elements of the BCT Modernization program in 2010. This program utilizes elements from the Future Combat Systems Program that was canceled in early 2009.
The program comes in two segments. The first to be implemented would be the Early Infantry Brigade Combat Team Capability Package (Early IBCT Package) which would modernize infantry brigade combat teams. The second to be implemented would be the Follow-on Incremental Capability package which could modernize all brigades.