Tasks

• General
• Mobility
• Counter-mobility
• Enhancing survivability
• Engineering support
• Geomatics
• Infantry

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General

MILITARY ENGINEERS' SUPPORT TO OPERATIONS

Task Forces (TFs) at all levels require the support of military engineers. Military engineers provide support to intelligence, operations, logistics and civilian military cooperation (CIMIC) activities. In a Canadian Forces (CF) operation, the environmental elements of the TF include organic engineer elements to provide close support to tactical operations. The potential and the resources of military engineers at the operational level are required to provide general support to the TF. The support of military engineers throughout the entire area of operations is coordinated by TF Engineering and its staff.

ROLE OF MILITARY ENGINEERS IN CF OPERATIONS

The role of military engineers in operations is to help friendly forces to survive, to live, move and fight on the battlefield and to prevent the enemy from doing the same. Land Force engineers have a secondary role of fighting as infantry when required.

Overall, the support of military engineers covers the entire spectrum of these functions of combat engineering, airfield engineering, geomatics and firefighting services. The application of the principles of employment will orient any of these three component types of engineers in the type of engineering support given to any operation.

Mobility

Mobility includes actions to support the capability of air, ground and naval forces to move and conduct operations at will throughout the theatre. It may include mobility support to land formations, the construction and repair of installations and services in support of air operations such as the repairing of damage sustained by an airfield and the provision of port facilities to support maritime operations.

The mobility tasks are as follows:

• Reconnaissance of obstacles and roads
• Filling craters, cleaning up ruins, breaches of fortifications and anti-tank trenches
• Minefield breaches
• Clean-up of debris and breaches of barricades in towns in support of urban warfare operations (FIBUA)
• Construction and preparation of river crossing sites.
• Maintenance and improvement of roads, fords and bridges

Counter-mobility

Counter-mobility includes actions to prevent the use of land, air space, navigable waterways, infrastructure or services to the enemy in order to hinder their mobility. Counter-mobility aims to slow down the enemy's advance.

Counter-mobility tactics are the following:

• Creating and improving such obstacles as minefields and anti-tank trenches
• Bridge demolition
• Road craters
• Clearings
• Demolition of factories, facilities or any other strategic objectives

Enhancing survivability (survival)

Survivability includes the combination of hardening, dispersing, camouflaging, concealing and physically protecting human resources and equipment from the effects of sabotage, conventional munitions and nuclear, biological and chemical attack. The suppression of the dangers associated with enemy weapons systems such as mines, traps and unexploded ordnance (UXO) are survivability tasks that require the skills of experts, equipment and human resources. That also includes construction support to deception operations. Survivability must be carefully planned, coordinated and executed to enhance the security of the plan of operations.

The survival tasks are as follows:

• Help and assistance in digging trenches
• Strengthening observation points and fortifications
• Providing expertise and assistance in camouflage, counter-surveillance and deception plans
• Providing expertise and assistance in building barbed-wire obstacles.
• Demolition of factories, installations and any other strategic objectives
• Detection, neutralization and clearance of anti-personnel mines and booby traps
• Reinforcing of defensive positions in urban areas and in the countryside through improving arcs of fire and building passive obstacles

Engineering support

Engineering support includes the building of infrastructure and maintenance, and the provision of engineering advice, technical expertise and other engineering support to provide the TF with the capability to maintain, reconstitute and regenerate itself. This also includes the provision of services and water, CIMIC tasks, emergency intervention services (EIS), fire protection services (FPS) and ship mooring/services. While engineering support tasks are normally performed in rear areas, they are also performed in theatre and as a part of any operation.

Engineering support tasks are the following:

• Water purification and drinking water supply
• Support to decontamination operation sites
• Provision of engineering expertise and information

Geomatics

Geomatics is a scientific engineering activity involving the capture, storage, analysis, processing, presentation, dissemination and management of geospatial data. Since any environmental element of a TF will require some kind of military geographic information in order to conduct operations, coordinated geomatic support is essential. 

Secondary role as infantry

Infantry is the pillar of every fighting force. Its role is to make contact with the enemy and destroy them. Infantry is capable of taking part in such special operations as airborne, amphibious and environmental operations, including those in the Arctic, in mountainous regions, in the jungle and in the desert.