Army (Telkevan Union)

The Army is the ground and oceanic service branch of the Telkevan Armed Forces. It is by far the largest of the four service branches, boasting many billions of troops and millions of armored vehicles across the empire. Though its immense size can make it unwieldy and slow to adapt, the Army can leverage its manpower for the siege-styled attrition warfare that has come to epitomize the branch.

The army is the oldest branch, its earliest iteration forming as a part of the Kalrian military. Like the other branches, it was reformed by High Marshal Tagara following the founding of the Telkevan Union. With the Solar Navy and the Legions having received priority during rearmament, the Army played a predominantly supportive role for much of its early history. As the population climbed, the Army took on its modern role as the empire's premier terrestrial fighting force.

The Army is administered by the High Marshal of the Army, who holds a seat on the High Chamber. The current High Marshal is Zurar Azakeia.

Founding
The Army is the oldest branch of the modern AFRE, tracing its origins to the foundation of the Telkevan Union. It spent much of its time engaged in sporadic warfare with the neighboring Nolsarian Empire. This continued up until the development of nuclear weapons put an end to outright fighting. Nevertheless, it remained in a continuous arms race with its competitor right up until the Wars of Unification. Out of all the branches, the Army performed best; due partly to the subterranean nature of most Telkevan cities, the Nolsarian invaders were forced to fight the Telkevon on equal fitting without any air support and minimal artillery. As a result, the Army inflicted grievous losses on the Nolsarians; however, the Nolsarians dominated the skies and the stars, meaning that many army units were stranded as the war progressed. By the time of the Second Exodus, the Army had been almost entirely wiped out, reduced to a small fraction of its former strength.

During Tagara's reforms the Army and Navy were merged into one branch, the High Marshal citing that the role of the Navy had been superseded by the Star Navy. Due partly to a combination of the Army's severely depleted state and the small population of the new Telkevan Union, Tagara focused much of her available resources on rebuilding the Star Navy and Marines, leaving the Army to gradually regain its strength. During this period, the Army's role was primarily to protect the empire's settlements from invasion; they were only sent on offensive operations once the enemy had already been weakened by the Navy and Marines. The Army reclaimed its role as the empire's premier terrestrial combat force as the empire expanded outward and the population climbed exponentially, allowing the Army to field vastly more troops than the Marines.

Nepharian Cold War
In 3457, Zurar Azakeia was appointed to the position of High Marshal of the Army. Unlike some of his compatriots, namely Ilivaris Kindasi, who would be appointed High Marshal of the Navy later in 3465, High Marshal Zurar had no ambitions of dramatically reforming his branch, instead continuing the projects of his predecessors and relying on tried & true methods of combat. The High Marshal maintained this mindset even as tensions between the Telkevon and Nepharians rose, the High Marshal believing the Army to be more than ready for a fight with the Nepharians. His attitude began to shift following the Nepharian Escalation, which saw Nepharian forces receive upgraded equipment. Before the High Marshal could weigh his options however, the Great War began, drawing his attention away from the contested zone.

Naval Officer Ranks
Naval forces are organized with their own officer corps. They are subservient to their army counterparts and operate in conjunction with them.

Departments
Departments support the missions of the Army. Some are branches of the Department of Military Research & Development. Notable departments are as follows: Notable departments are as follows:


 * Armored Fighting Vehicle Design Department: Develops new vehicles and walkers.


 * Infantry Studies Department: Develops infantry equipment ranging from powered armor to weapons.


 * Combat Robotics & A.I Department: The CRAID is responsible for both developing new machines and military artificial intelligence constructs and developing doctrines on how to best implement them within the Army.


 * Supply & Logistics Department: The SLD primarily acts as a liaison between the Army and the Star Navy to coordinate the movement of supplies.

Battle Doctrine
Main page: Telkevan Battle Doctrine

Army offensive doctrine aims to render an enemy incapable of mounting a proper defense by the complete destruction both of their front line forces and of their logistics network. To achieve this, the Army engages its foes across a wide front in sequential waves. The first 'wave' is generally a prolonged barrage of artillery fire, aerial bombardment, subterranean sappers, and when possible, orbital fire. Spearheads consisting of armor and veteran troops are then deployed across a wide front, focusing their attacks where the enemy's defenses have already suffered substantial damage. In ideal conditions, the enemy's front line will be breached at multiple points, allowing the vanguard to charge deep into enemy territory, with continued artillery support, and destroy the enemy's logistics as subsequent waves move in to eliminate or capture remaining hostile troops. If the enemy proves resilient, the Army will switch to siege tactics and encamp around the target. Artillery will continually pummel enemy positions as saboteurs and subterranean vehicles move in to sabotage and breach their defenses.

Defensive doctrine relies on 'defense in depth', with the Army utilizing multiple layers of increasingly resilient fortifications. The outermost layers are not designed to halt an enemy but to instead bleed their numbers and rob their momentum. Once a line is breached, the Telkevon will withdraw to the next layer, repeating the process right up until the final line, by which point the Telkevon will launch a counterattack to repel the remaining attackers. If this fails, they will then withdraw to their positions and hold out for reinforcements. This strategy has proven vital against aggressive and mobile adversaries such as the Diabs; at the same time, the expansive network of fortifications requires time to establish, leaving positions vulnerable until they are fully built.

Equipment
Main pages: Arsenal of the Telkevan Union.

Due to it's immense size, the Army is incapable of providing its forces with the elite training of the Legions nor the bleeding-edge technology of the Navy. To compensate, much of the Army's equipment is designed to be relatively cheap, easy to build & maintain, and conventional, making use of tried-and-true technology, all while retaining a respectable degree of firepower and durability. Top-of-the-line equipment and training is reserved for veteran units.

Infantry
See also: Infantry of the Telkevan Union, Infantry Equipment of the Telkevan Union, Infantry Weapons of the Telkevan Union, Combat Proxies of the Telkevan Union.

All combat personnel don a suit of N25 Powered Plate Armor (PPA), an environmentally-sealed suit of powered armor with an array of features including a heads-up-display with weapon synchronization, energy shielding, and a motion sensor. The current service rifle is the VKR15-C, the carbine variant of the VKR97 used by legionnaires, while the SIS11 is the Army's primary sidearm. Soldiers are also equipped with a number of grenades, often high-explosive concussive grenades, and a melee weapon in the form of an axe or knife utilizing a high-frequency blade. Shock troopers, veteran soldiers who operate as the Army's infantry vanguard, are equipped similarly to legionnaires, donning N80 exoskeletal battle armor (XBA) and wielding either the VKR97 or LLE11 rifles. Common sidearms include the GAR81 railpistol and the HTV30 shotpistol. Battlesuits chiefly consists of the hisla HCS, kuros CCS, and the vali AS.

The infantry's arsenal is supplemented by a variety of specialty weapons. The ITD57 and QAT70 shotguns both provide close-range firepower; shock troopers will instead often utilize the more powerful FLX42 wave gun. Most markemen use the VKR11-RD while snipers and rangers use the RGT80 railrifle. Both the VKR97 and CHRN16 provide suppressive fire. The FTI65 and FLE50 missile launchers serve as the primary anti-armor weapons, though elite units can employ the DHG80 railgun. The lightweight UFL21 grenade launcher provide indirect fire, with the larger and more cumbersome OTN99 often deployed during defensive operations.

Crew-served weapons include the LXA77 and YRT54 heavy machine guns, the FVH37 heavy grenade launcher, QWX18 mortar, and various grav-artillery guns.

Remote-operated drones provide support to infantry by carrying supplies, repairing equipment, scouting, disarming explosives, and/or providing extra firepower depending on the drone. The O2 Spotter is used in conjunction with satellite data to ensure accurate artillery fire. Combat proxies such as the CD-I10 Arkava and CD-I19 Chyr are used primarily to draw fire away from regular troops as most lack the more sophisticated programming found in Star Legion and Naval proxies.

Vehicles
See also: Combat Vehicles of the Telkevan Union.

The Army predominantly employs a vast number of tracked vehicles, with walkers serving various support roles or as siege units. Anti-gravity vehicles, once purpose-built for specific niches, have slowly begun phasing out some tracked vehicles as their superior maneuverability allow them to better navigate the worst battlefields of the Great War, namely the Diab Theatre.

The T-77 Ultrek served as the Army's main battle tank when the Telkevon entered the war, but it has since been supplanted by the T-35 Tagara anti-grav MBT. The TL-17 Kitrana is the standard tank destroyer, while the THL-05 Saertu linebreaker serves as a siege engine. The STV-47 Oltavar and STL-90 Hilfi provide superheavy firepower. The standard infantry-fighting vehicle is the K-33 Nezerai. The standard mobile artillery platforms are the V-11 Hurth and the VR-70 Xzar, which are equipped with a railcannon and missile pods respectively. The V-52 Korzair, equipped with a plasma bolt mortar, operates directly behind the front to support advancing troops, while the VS-15 Taerzagar suppresses enemies with artillery drumfire. Subterranean vehicles, equipped with large drills capable of piercing solid metal walls, are used to breach underground facilities and to plant explosive charges beneath hostile positions, while amphibious vehicles are capable of operating above and below the water. Mobile facilities such as the VD-33 Vaildag operate as mobile bases capable of command & control, manufacturing, garrisoning, and more.

The Army also uses a variety of non-combat vehicles, namely engineering vehicles, which are used for construction, vehicle recovery, and mine clearing. Mobile support vehicles directly support front line troops by enhancing their defenses and hindering the enemy's fighting ability.

Though oceanic vessels have long been superseded by starships and aerospace aircraft, the Army maintains a number of versatile oceanic warships, though most are used exclusively to defend established colonies due to the logistics involved in transporting them in starships. The US-250 Navaz is the standard submarine, which in the modern era serves as the empire's preeminent offensive ocean vessel. Frigates are specialized against certain targets and include the UF-14 Wazari and UF-46 Hilde. The UD-34 Techarg is the current destroyer, while the UAC-13 Zukaliin serves as a battle carrier, a hybrid between an aircraft carrier and battleship.

While the Star Navy provides the Army with aerospace firepower and transportation, the Army nevertheless maintains a small assortment of aircraft for its own use, primarily F-17 Chereg and FV-11 Nefal dropships and the GR-17 Havris and G-19 Galandil gunships.