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."[1][2][3] 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 a equivalent to an infantry squad:[4]
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.
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.[9]
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.[10]