NationStates Jolt Archive

This is an overview of the military and paramilitary forces arrayed in defence of the United African Republic of Lusaka, which is a nation state consisting of the eastern half of Zambia, a tiny sliver of Congo-Zaire's southeast, and all but a small southeastern section of Tanzania.

It exists within the confines of A Modern World (AMW), and as such has a realistic population, now estimated at 38,730,000 (revised down from 42million, a figure based on projections that fell victim to a dangerous culture of denial over HIV/AIDS prevalence that was thought absent in relatively liberal Lusaka).

The Lusakan economy is infamously erratic. Having once been close in strength to many Eastern European nations, a gradual decline over many years, punctuated by brief up-surges thanks to the charismatic President Igomo and his frequent flash in the pan schemes, eventually turned into utter collapse following a military coup that co-incided with a costly defensive war against Al Khals and its ambitions on Zanzibar as well as difficult security deployments to the defence of besieged Gabon. The nationalist junta that briefly ruled before Igomo's welcome restoration to power embarked upon populist and nepotistic land reform, which in itself was a disaster but which by extension also hurt many of Lusaka's traditional trade and aid arrangements with the leftist economies of earth. A slight recovery is under way, and significant industrial capacity remains redundant but lacking effective business planning and increasingly falling into obsolescence and disrepair.

Likewise, Lusaka has vast military stockpiles. These come from many sources: abandoned Roycelandian equipment left behind in the confused extraction of imperial authority in the late '70s and early '80s following the independence war; aged Russian equipment supplied during that war and more modern systems acquired after in exchange for raw materials and sustained anti-Roycelandian efforts on Igomo's part; western equipment gained as Igomo's fundamental disinterest in economics and politics other than those of African independence caused a break with the ailing USSR; and more recently equipment from the new progressive bloc within which Igomo's government has become quite popular.

There is also a significant domestic arms manufacture industry initiated years ago with Russian advice and helped along the way since then by other states.

Once the largest in Africa, the Army of Lusaka shrunk slightly in order to make best use of its relatively modern equipments before being torn-apart and purged by the junta of General Tendyala in an effort to secure its loyalty through more nepotistic appointments. The effort failed thanks to the flight and eventual armed return of the elite Lusakan Revolutionary Alliance Corps, to the arrival of Hindustani Paras and Igovian Soviet Marines, and the creation by Igomo just before his overthrow of the African People's Volunteer Army, which armed countless private citizens who later were able to take part in making certain the junta's collapse.

Anyone may comment on the contents of this thread, though it only applies directly in AMW.

Army of Lusaka

Formerly a massive force hundreds of thousands strong raised from peasant farmers and the masses who engaged in bush warfare against the Roycelandian Empire and later against Rhodesia & Nyasaland, the AL is now rated at a strength of 35,400 regular recruits plus 4,000 elite members of the LRAC.

Defence Secretary Colin Olongwe, revolutionary war veteran, is certainly a man of the infantry soldier. Under his watchful eye the army, especially its elite section, received funding through the 1980s and 90s largely at the expense of maritime defence.

A core unit of around 4,000 elite troops from the Army's strength is lucky enough to to be assigned to the Lusakan Revolutionary Alliance Corps, an organisation dating back to the late 1970s and the war for independence.

The regular army is primarily infantry-based, and receives relatively straightforward but useful training. How to aim, fire, load, and maintain a weapon; probably the semi-automatic, bayonet-wielding, grenade-throwing SKS-derivative M66A1L rifle; how to interpret and react to the direct orders of a superior, and how to stay in reasonable physical condition even when fighting a protracted bush-war. These are things given attention at the expense of how to march straight, care for a uniform, or police a crowd, though with down-sizing these things are starting to receive attention in the Army's training schools. The Lusakan army is not pretty and it has operational weaknesses but in the field has proven difficult to put-down even when faced with technically superior opposition.

The LRAC receives better funding, more in-depth and difficult training, enjoys a higher degree of mechanisation, and generally has first refusal on new equipment.

Summary of effectives-

AL- 35,000 or so troops comprising the loosely termed “regulars” of the AoL are reasonably effective bush soldiers with a moderate offensive capability when given time to deploy. Generally a little better trained than the warlord militias with which they have often clashed, and certainly a little better supported, the AL regulars have not really the capacity to go toe to toe for long with well funded 1st world militaries on anything but their own ground.

From the AoL’s wider ranks are drawn the roughly 4,000 recruits of the LRAC, organised in two divisions, one of around 2,250 men plus 1,750 of the elite 17th Division “Vultures”. The LRAC operates a fairly challenging system in recruitment of new personnel, and its training too is more intensive than that of the regulars. Discipline is a little above the level seen in the regular ranks or in many other 3rd world armies, though the typical LRAC recruit is still a fairly laid-back soldier. The smaller organisation enjoys a degree of mechanisation a little closer to that seen in armies of the developed world, and its formations can expect at least some airborne, artillery, and armour support for most major operations. A competent and experienced army, the LRAC may not be the world’s best, but it is a force able to challenge major militaries and is capable of posing a credible threat to most opponents.

The 17th Division represents Lusaka’s best. Only one Lusakan in twenty-two thousand finds his way into the famous ranks of the Vultures, so it is little wonder that these warriors are to be found wherever the UAR absolutely must win the day or secure a vital objective. Part impi, part guerrilla army, part mechanised infantry division, the 17th is by now wrapped in legends and medal ribbons. It has won victories against Roycelandia, Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Al Khals, the Tendyala junta, and other threats.

Beyond this exists the African People's Volunteer Army, an organisation several times larger than the Army of Lusaka and counting amongst its vast numbers many former soldiers discharged during cut-backs and restructuring. It was established by Igomo shortly before the coup that caused his brief absence from Lusaka, and was meant to give legitimacy to the various militia regiments previously relied upon to boost home defence. It is an organisation usually inactive, and one that receives minimal official training, while many officers like to encourage their comrades to join them in drilling or other exercises for the sake of the Republic's defence, sometimes to help-out local police forces, or simply for something to do. Its ranks can be expected to be seen entering combat armed with Mosin-Nagant carbines and Maxim M1910 machineguns supplied to the revolutionaries by the USSR in the late 1970s and with Enfield rifles and Vickers, Lewis, and Bren guns left behind by the Roycelandians in 1980. It would be a logistical nightmare if deployed offensively, and is suitable only for local defence duties, though it is not hard to imagine the APVA providing a good pool from which to draw AL expansion in time of need, economic conditions permitting.

Army Organisation Examples

At the base of the AL are the bushwarrior teams that so many Social Progress Party members once were part of. Lusakan divisions, regiments, battalions, and other formations are likely to resurge as companies, platoons, and sections scattered across the countryside in the event of apparent strategic collapse.

A typical infantry section consists of eight men, and two of these sections may combine to form a platoon. Sections will be comprised and armed as such:

1x Officer Commanding
M66A1L 7.62x39mm semi-automatic carbine w/ folding spike bayonet
Vektor CP1 9x19mm automatic pistol, imported from South Africa and kept in spite of recall citing safety issues
Sagai (assegai) short spear, often decorated in regimental or other unit colours
Cowhide shield, usually painted with unit and personal patterns; often not carried

1x Sniper
Mosin-Nagant M77L 7.62x54mm scoped sniper's rifle
Vektor CP1 9x19mm automatic pistol, supplied to snipers since radical downsizing freed-up thousands of weapons
Military machete
So-called snipers operate in association with but often hundreds of yards apart from their sections, leaving outsiders baffled over how the poorly equipped troops co-ordinate their movements in the deadly fast-moving bush warfare at which Lusakans excel.

1x Rocketeer
RPG-7 anti-tank weapon
Uzi 9x19mm sub-machinegun with wooden buttstock
Number of carried rocket-grenades varies according to supply conditions

1x Mortarbomber
51mm infantry mortar
Uzi 9x19mm sub-machinegun with wooden buttstock
Number of carried mortar bombs varies according to supply conditions

1x Light Machinegunner
Degtyarev DPM 7.62x54mm light-machinegun
Military machete

2x Carbiners
M66A1L 7.62x39mm semi-automatic carbine w/ folding spike bayonet
Rifle grenades

1x Rifleman
Mosin-Nagant M77L 7.62x54mm bolt-action rifle
Spike bayonet
Rifle grenades
Military machete
Supposed to extend the firing range of a typical platoon having six carbines and four sub-machineguns

Platoon-level associations sometimes substitute PKM/PKMS general-purpose machinegun and/or 74mm Type 3 medium mortar and/or Susong-Po anti-tank guided missiles for other arms, especially where some mechanisation is available. Strela MANPADS may also appear in limited quantity at that level. LRAC units, especially those of the 17th, often customise their units and equipment choices, and sometimes carry weapons of none-standard issue, usually unofficially but without rebuke.

Quite good, Lusaka. I can see why Strath is afraid of that army. Its rather large!

At just over 0.1% of... wait, are you being sarcastic? Come back here and... er... well, you'll have to administer your own lashes, we can't afford the rope.