‘Cavalry is useful before, during, and after the battle’

- Napoleon Bonaparte

Cavalry forces provide an extremely lethal, flexible, adaptable, and sustainable contribution to the tempo of combat actions. Cavalry force elements are trained with the principles of mission focus, rat cunning, maskirovka, and operate best within an environment that fosters true mission command. Cavalry forces seek to seize fleeting tactical opportunities and deny the adversary the same in the pursuit of victory. To ensure the aforementioned quote by Napoleon remains true, cavalry forces must continue to operate within optimal structures, training continuums and be afforded the appropriate technology augmentation to contribute to all of the combat functions.

This article is designed to promote discussion on the short to medium term employment of Cavalry forces in the Australian Army. Consequently, it considers the opportunities and challenges of emerging technologies, force design options and career progression models.

CAVOPS 2029 uses fiction to explore the execution of future cavalry operations. The reader is encouraged to immerse themselves in the narrative and to ask whether they would conduct the operation differently from the lead characters.  

To assist the reader, there are a number of supporting resources:

a GLOSSARY

a list of CHARACTERS

the ORDERS & OVERLAYS pertinent to the narrative

an extract from the CT2IC's notebook following receipt of the Warning Order.

What did the author get right? What does the Army need to improve if we are to successfully conduct Cavalry Operations in the future? You can join the debate, and help shape the future of the Australian Army, by posting comments below.