Echelon (redirected from Echelon system)

echelon

Physics a type of diffraction grating used in spectroscopy consisting of a series of plates of equal thickness arranged stepwise with a constant offset

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echelon [′esh·ə‚län]

(ordnance)

A formation of troops; the units are parallel but unaligned, in a steplike manner.

A similar arrangement of planes or ships, as planes flying in a V formation.

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Echelon 

(Russian, eshelon), in Soviet military usage:

(1) A unit within the battle or operational arrangement of a body of troops. A battle formation or the operational arrangement of a front’s or any army’s forces may consist of one echelon or of several echelons arranged one behind another.

(2) A distinct grouping of personnel being moved by rail, water, or air. In this sense, an echelon may be a troop train, a motor-vehicle convoy, or a group of aircraft or surface ships.

(3) In military strategy, the part of a country’s armed forces that is deployed while mobilization is taking place in a critical period, at the very outset of a war, or in the course of military actions.