Section (military unit)

A section is a military sub-subunit. It usually consists of between 6 and 20 personnel. NATO and U.S. doctrine define a section as an organization "larger than a squad, but smaller than a platoon". As such, two or more sections usually make up an army platoon or an air force flight. In the Australian, British and Canadian Armed Forces section is an equivalent to an infantry squad: the Canadian Army infantry section contains 2 four-Soldier assault group the Australian / British Army infantry section contains 2 four-Soldier fire teams the U.S. Army Infantry squad also contains 2 four-Soldier fire teams In this regard, in a number of Slavic languages the morphological equivalent of the word "section" (a separate part of an organization; Belarusian: аддзяленне, Bulgarian: отделение, Russian: отделение, Rusyn: удділеня, Ukrainian: відділення) in military affairs also means squad. Similarly, the official English versions (Soldier's Guide) of the Finnish military handbook Sotilaan käsikirja have used the word "section" to describe the ryhmä sub-subunit despite said sub-subunit's size and role being closer to that of a NATO squad, with this wording persisting in the edition published after Finland's 2023 accession to NATO. At the same time, in a number of Romance languages the phonetic analogue of the word "section" (French: section, Spanish: sección, Romanian: secţie, Italian: sezione) in military affairs means platoon or a sub-unit similar to a platoon. In some air forces, a section is a unit containing three to four aircraft (if it is a flying unit) and up to 20 personnel. In the U.S. Space Force two or more guardians form a section.