SOF News Update 20170731 – 5 myths of future wars, contractors to fill SF role in Africa, 181st SOWT parachute jump, 30th anniversary of SF NCO Academy, Ukraine SOF, B-52s and psychological warfare, SF and Chevy Suburbans, SilentHawk motorbike, Army SOF officer promoted to LTG, and more.
Gen Milley on Future Wars. The Army Chief of Staff has listed five myths of future war: 1 – wars are short, 2 – you can win wars from afar, 3 – special forces can do it all, 4 – armies are easy to create, and 5 – armies fight wars. Read “Milley: Future wars will be long, they’ll be fought on the ground, and spec ops won’t save us”, Army Times, July 28, 2017.
SOF Contractors for Africa? One observer – John Siko, head of business intelligence for the Risk Advisory Group – believes that SOF contractors (retired SF, SEALs, MARSOC, etc.) can fill a role that over-stretched military SOF teams are doing now in Africa. He is referring – not to combat missions – but training missions to build the capacity and capability of host nation military forces in Africa. Read more in “U.S. Military Should Not Be the Only Foreign Policy Tool in Africa”, The Cipher Brief, July 26, 2017.
181st SOWT. The members of the 181st Special Operations Weather Team recently conducted a static line parachute drop into Corpus Bay, Texas on Friday, July 28, 2017. (Caller-Times, July 28, 2017).
30th Anniversary of SF NCO Academy. The 30th anniversary of the John F. Kennedy’s Special Warfare Center and School’s Non-commissioned Officer Academy was recently observed. (Fayetteville Observer, July 28, 2017).
Ukraine SOF Development. Exercise Sea Breeze was recently held in Ukraine. The exercise was co-organized by U.S. Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR) and the Ukraine Ministry of Defence (MoD). See “Ukraine special ops development continues”, Shepard Media, July 28, 2017.
SF and Chevy Suburbans. U.S. SOF is well known for having best personnel, best missions and best equipment. This includes some pretty good non-standard vehicles. One of those vehicles is the Chevy Suburban. Read more in “Ever wondered why US Special Forces love the Chevy Suburban so much?”, ARS Technica, July 29, 2017.
SilentHawk. A science and technology firm based in Virginia – Logos Technologies – is developing a prototype militarized hybrid off-road motorcycle under a DARPA program that will be used by SOF. See “Stealthy Motorbike Prototype Moving Forward”, National Defense, July 27, 2017.
MG Ostrowski Now a LTG. Paul Ostrowski has been promoted to LTG. An Army officer with several SOF tours, he will now serve as the senior military advisor to Steffanie Easter, the acting assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics, and technology. See “Promoted Arkansan gets new Army post”, Arkansas Online, July 28, 2017.
B-52’s and Psychological Warfare. The USAF oldest bombers – the B-52 – may be pressed into service to drop leaflets using the PDU-5/B. This ‘bomb’ is a dispenser that hold tens of thousands of paper leaflets. Read more in “The B-52 Is About to Become a Much More Effective Psychological Operations Tool”, The WarZone, July 28, 2017.
