SOF

Ghostriders In the Sky… Air Force Gets Updated AC-130 Gunships

The United States Air Force just took delivery of their first upgraded “Ghostrider” AC-130 gunships, a valuable tool for Special Operations troops in the ground support role for many years.

The 4th Special Operations Squadron, 1st Special Operations Wing, at Hurlburt Field, Florida, received its first of a reported 37 of the AC-130J Ghostrider Block 30 gunship this week during a ceremony at Bob Sikes Airport in Crestview, Florida, Air Force Special Operations Command said in a statement last week.

The current inventory of AC-130 gunships, known as “Spooky” are in the inventory of the 4th SO Squadron. The Air Force in an official statement said that the Block 30 model marks “a major improvement in software and avionics technology” over the original Block 20 software AC-130J.

“The Ghostrider is the newest and most modernized gunship in existence, fulfilling the same mission sets as the Spooky but with upgraded avionics, navigation systems, and a precision strike package that includes trainable 30mm and 105mm weapons,” the statement added.

But don’t be looking for any battlefield footage anytime soon, the Ghostrider is expected to be in testing for the next year before being cleared for any combat operations.

Besides having upgraded turboprop engines which will reduce operational costs for the airframe, the AF estimates it will consume about 25-30 percent less gas than the AC-130U and fly 416 miles per hour, about 100 mph faster than the predecessor, the Ghostrider will come with the palletized Precision-Strike Package (PSP), which includes a single 30 mm Mk44 Bushmaster cannon, that was characterized by the Air Force as having “sniper-like” precision, precision-guided munitions, and a 105 mm cannon that the AC-130U already has carried. Precision-guided munitions such as the GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) and Raytheon’s AGM-176A Griffin missile will also be employed, while AGM-114 Hellfire missiles are among armament options.

However, the Air Force has not released any exact armament configurations yet. It will, however, once cleared for combat operations be the most heavily armed gunship in history. When the aircraft was still in the earlier stages of development in 2015, LTG Bradley Heithold, former head of Air Force Special Operations Command, called it “a bomb truck with guns” and “the ultimate battle plane.”

AC-130s have been around since the Vietnam War and have been one of the Air Force’s best, most reliable ground support aircraft providing troops on the ground a massive amount of firepower, loitering right above the battlefield.

The 30mm Chain gun fires a Coke-can sized projectile at a rate of 200 rounds per minute. The weapon carries two different types of ammo and flipping from one chain to another if the target changes is an easy switch for the crew.

The 105mm howitzer, fired from the sky, directly overhead of the target, launches a 2-3 foot, a 50-lb warhead with about 32 pounds worth of explosives. The aircraft carries 80 rounds for the 105mm. The aircraft can fire up to 10 rounds per minute, which is a huge firepower advantage for Special Operations troops that can call on the Air Force to eliminate or subdue threats on the ground.

Between the two weapons systems on the Ghostrider is the Mission Operator Pallet. There are two stations, one for a weapons systems officer and one for an enlisted sensor operator, each having multiple video screens and instruments controlling the array of cameras and sensors that help the crew target, and control the fire of the weapons systems.

What makes the Ghostrider unique is the AGM-176A Griffin missiles. Now the aircraft can unleash 10 Griffins which is essentially a half-sized Hellfire missile. The Griffins are laser-guided with fragmentation warheads and GPS sensors to ensure target hits. Ghostrider will also carry Hellfire missiles and GBU-39 (250-lb glide munitions) Small Diameter Bombs. Eventually, the Air Force plans to field lasers on the Ghostrider.

Last year, Col. Tom Palenske, then-commander of 1st Special Operations Wing, told the media that “It’s our big gun truck.”

“It’s going to have more powerful engines, a more efficient fuel rate. … You can keep the sensors on the bad guys longer … [and] it’s also going to have AGM-176 [Griffin] missiles on the back, so you can put 10 missiles on the back of them.

“It’s going to be awesome,” he added.

Special Operations troops on the ground are going to have a very upgraded AC-130 at their disposal beginning in late 2019 or 2020. And with the threat around the world ever increasing, the ability to protect them from all threats is always a top priority. And inside of the tried and tested airframe of the AC-130, the lethality of our troops on the ground has just been increased.

Photos: US Air Force

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 2, Day 4

We’re going to do a smoker this morning of pushups, sit-ups, and crunches that you can either do at the gym or on the ground and then head back out on the rucking trails. Let’s pump these out as quickly as possible, understanding that there isn’t a time limit but to build up your endurance.

UBRR Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

100 pushups (no time limit)

100 sit-ups (no time limit)

100 crunches

5-Mile Rucksack march: Go as hard and as fast as possible without running. Log your time in your workout log book and hydrate, during the ruck.

Stretch well after completion

Pentagon To Look Into General Officer’s Retaliation Against Special Forces NCOs?

In one of the most damning pieces of the story that has been on-going for upwards of two years, Kristina Wong of Breitbart News absolutely skewered MG Kurt Sontag of the US Army’s JFK SWC (Special Warfare Center and School) over the case of the now infamous “night letter.”

Many Special Forces NCOs who are assigned as cadre to the schoolhouse at the SWC have been concerned that the standards have been lowering for the Special Forces Qualification Course (SFQC) since Sontag took over command of SWC in May of 2017.

What transpired was a toxic command climate where NCOs who voiced concerns over the decreased standards of the SFQC were singled out for retribution. It began where candidates were given multiple chances to pass especially for not passing a physical standard or test. Before Sontag took command, failing to pass two separate times would have resulted in being relieved from the course. But to the consternation of the cadre members, candidates were being passed by a relief board or the training group commander after the cadre recommended relief from the course.

And when any NCOs spoke out about how they were losing their power to properly evaluate potential SF candidates. Wong quoted one SF cadre member as saying, “It’s like Game of Thrones around here,” he said. “Who’s going to be next?”

Why? Because if any of the Green Beret instructors spoke out about the lowering of standards either officially or thru the “town hall meetings” where there is supposed to be a free clearing of the air for instructors and the command, they were either ridiculed for speaking out or had their names marked down for retribution from Sontag himself.

Things reached a head in late 2017. A Green Beret instructor wrote a 6400-word scathing anonymous email that was addressed to the other soldiers in the command, that one Green Beret forwarded to NEWSREP where it was published.

We wrote our own piece on the standards flap here last fall where the charges by the Special Forces NCOs seemed to strike home. One SF sergeant major admitted that SWC had pushed substandard Green Berets onto the operational groups and that it was up to them (the SF Groups), to weed out the unfit.

“‘We push some of these issues forward [to the Regiment] because we believe that the Groups can succeed in fixing those problem graduates when they arrive. That is an amount of risk we willingly accept because after all, it’s much easier to get a tab removed at Group if he doesn’t pan out, than to risk relieving what’s basically a fully qualified student who might have been able to fix himself and become a solid Green Beret.’”

The resultant firestorm from the piece from Jack Murphy about the email had the opposite effect than to fix what was wrong. The SWC command, under Sontag, didn’t seek to remedy the situation but to find the authors of said email and retaliate against them. He did this even though he promised the command thru a letter that he’d look into the allegations brought forward and attempt to fix them.

Several days later, according to Wong, Sontag called a formation of SFQC instructors, both military and civilian and went off the rails.

According to several witnesses, he took off his Army combat uniform top and challenged those who disagreed with him to step forward and fight him.“He took his top off,” one witness said. “He said, ‘If anybody had any problem with me … my rank just came off, I will fight you guys one-on-one.’”

According to another witness, Sonntag also said the email author could be punishable by “death.”

Such actions are hardly the ones you would expect of a general officer.

After a fruitless search for the author, he began a general officer investigation. After dismissing all students and cadre one day at 1400 hrs, Green Berets watched as Army MPs went into the building and began to confiscate computers.

He narrowed down the search to seven possible suspects and had them all flagged for investigation which suspended their security clearances. What followed was a plethora of non-judicial punishments, administrative and reassignment moves and the move to revoke Special Forces tabs from those who, in his mind had crossed the line.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, before his resignation, was behind the cadre members in this flap which has damaged the school’s reputation. The Deputy Army Secretary made a visit to Ft. Bragg over this fiasco and spoke to the cadre of SWC but thus far, nothing more has been heard over this.

Morale is low at the schoolhouse with nearly 43 percent of the cadre saying they were dissatisfied with their job. Wong captured the climate of the schoolhouse with the following comments during her investigation.

One current instructor told Breitbart News that Sonntag was “one of the most toxic commanders I’ve ever had.”

“He keeps order by threats. He’s a hundred percent toxic. He leads by threats and intimidation. He’s ruining people’s careers because he can. He needs to retire out of this job,” the instructor said.

One former instructor said, “Guys — they’re getting out [of the Army] at eight, 10, 12 years. They’re like, ‘Screw this, I’m getting out.’ Why? Because they don’t care about us. And it shows.”

Several Green Beret NCOs and officers have had their careers ended in this purge over at SWC. And things aren’t getting any better it appears. The case of the standards being lowered is one that has been going on since Special Forces has begun its courses of instruction. But in this case, the command and instructors aren’t working together to solve the problem.

Again, what I wrote last year still applies, I don’t know whether what the charges that the NCOs wrote last year were absolutely true or not. I don’t work there anymore and haven’t been there for some time. But if so many of them feel that way, then I trust their judgment as fellow SF brothers that there was an issue that needed fixing.

They are guys on the ground doing the heavy lifting and see the students every day, unlike the command who looks at things from afar and are too occupied with meeting number quotas than turning out qualified Green Berets. The command shouldn’t ever punish those instructors who are only looking to maintain the high standards of the Regiment.

Photo: US Army

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 2, Day 3

Tuesday is our leg day at the gym. These exercises build strength and explosion in your lower body and you’ll need both in Selection. These will also help your times with both running and carrying a rucksack. We’re going to go for heavier squats today with fewer reps, at other times we’ll go lighter and more reps.

Make sure you are hydrating enough during the workout and do a good stretch before and after. No one likes Leg Day but learn to embrace it and drive through. Eventually, it will become one of your favorite days.

Training – Prep for UBRR:

3 x Pullups 10 reps

3 x Squats 10-8-6 reps (Heavyweight barbell)

3 x Deadlifts 10-10-10 reps (Heavyweight)

3 x 10 Leg Extensions

3 x Sled Push or Fireman’s Carry

30 x “V” Ups

3-mile run (24 minutes minimum)

Stretch well after completion

Canada Tinkering With Allowing Candidates Off the Street into SF

Canada’s armed forces are considering whether to allow the military to recruit Special Forces soldiers straight off the street rather than the traditional method of having soldiers spend at least two years in the conventional military.

With Canada’s armed forces trying to bring in, what they characterize as a more diverse, better-rounded candidate that can fight and win in the modern battlefield, the debate continues if this is the correct way to go.

MG Peter Dawe, the Commander of the Canadian Special Operational Forces Command gave an interview last week and seems sold on the idea. “This is not about achieving set quotas or anything else,” he said.

“From a hard-operational perspective, do we have the right mix of people with the right sort of background, education, language, ethnicity, gender … that will allow us to do what our government expects us to do and will expect us to do in the future?”

Having special operators that are native to and/or can speak the language of targeted host nation countries in which they will operate is a huge advantage that American Special Forces units have traditionally enjoyed. The U.S. 7th Special Forces Group which operates in Central and South America as its main operational area tries to fill their ranks with soldiers of Hispanic descent. Having troops that know the culture, the language and can relate to the host nation troops goes a long way in establishing rapport, the hallmark of any successful SF operation.

Canada’s Special Operations Forces Command is small with only about 2000 members, whose operators are spread out over Joint Task Force 2 (JTF-2), the Special Forces Regiment, a SOF aviation unit (rotary wing), and an NBC (Nuclear, Biological, Chemical) quick response unit.

Due to changing environments and the preponderance of governments to use Special Operations Forces with a smaller footprint than their larger conventional brethren, the plan is to increase Canadian SF troop strength by nearly a third. They want to add an additional 600 operators.

According to media reports in Canada, there are currently 120 Special Forces troops deployed to Iraq, Belize, Jamaica, Niger, and Malaysia working with host nation troops. While currently, Canada wants candidates for SF to have a minimum of two years of conventional time under their belt to gain the necessary experience and qualifications needed to function as a special operator, that may change.

Dawe used the U.S. and Australia as examples of where successful candidates allowed to be recruited off the street and into the Special Forces pipeline. Dawe used the example of some “really hard-charging, high-achieving individuals like varsity athletes and super talented folks out there on civilian street” are interested in joining SF, but they don’t want to join the conventional military and spend at least two years before getting a shot at Selection.

“So one of the things we would like to look at is whether there is scope to accelerate that because there is a qualitative dimension that we might not be exploiting or tapping into as well as we could.”

One area where it seems that Canadian SF may expand is in the intelligence realm. Dawe in his interview made mention of the difficulty of hybrid warfare combat. Where propaganda, cyber attacks, disinformation campaigns and warfare against conventional troops and proxies will put a greater demand on collecting better information.

The United States Army allows recruiting off the streets for the Ranger Regiment and the 18X program for the Special Forces, Green Berets of the Special Operations Command.

The Ranger Regiment is one of the best light infantry units in the world, excelling at raids and assault missions deep inside enemy territory. Rangers are among the best in the world at airfield seizures and the vast majority of the lower ranking personnel came in off the street.

After Basic Combat Training (BCT) and Advanced Individual Training (AIT), where the majority of the Ranger candidates are from an infantry background, the candidates will then ship off to Ft. Benning, GA, where they’ll undertake the Ranger Assessment and Selection Program (RASP).

If the candidates pass RASP, they’ll be assigned to an active Ranger Bn, but will not be allowed into a leadership position until they attend and pass Ranger School. But they’ll be fully functioning members of the Regiment and they gain a wealth of experience and leadership while there.

The Special Forces 18X Program is the pipeline for candidates to come straight into Special Forces and bypass the regular Army. Candidates enlist for 18X (which isn’t an actual MOS) and attend Infantry OSUT (one station unit training) for basic and AIT. The candidates move on to Jump School (Airborne Training) at Ft. Benning.

From there the 18X soldiers get additional training before SFAS, it was called the Special Operations Prep Course I (SOPC I). Once a candidate passes that, he will attend the Special Forces Assessment and Selection Course (SFAS) like any other candidate. Following successful completion, they’ll attend the Special Forces Qualification Course, SFQC. There, they’ll be trained in one of the SF MOS’.

If a candidate fails to complete any portion of the training, they’ll be reassigned and possibly reclassified to the needs of the Army. Most remained as part of the Infantry.

Opinions vary widely on the 18X Program within the Special Forces community. Many SF senior NCOs and Officers are right behind it, believing that as long as the candidates learn and maintain the same standards that are required in SF, it didn’t matter that a candidate didn’t spend time in the “Big Army.”

Many others hate it, saying the program created a class of entitled, spoiled candidates who have no background or experience to fall back on when getting to the units. But one thing is for certain, in the time of SOCOM’s endless search to maintain troop levels, the 18X program has helped them maintain numbers that they’d be hard-pressed to meet otherwise.

The Canadian military will have some interesting decisions to mull over in the coming days. But the first thing the troops in the Special Operations Command will want to ask is the age-old one, “Will the standards remain the same?”

Photo: Canadian Armed Forces

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 2, Day 2

After the rucksack march of Sunday, we go back to the gym with some prep for the Upper Body Round Robin (UBRR) followed by a 3-mile run. Set the pace for as fast you can and try to better the standard and the time of your last run.

When doing the pushups, don’t worry about speed so much at this early juncture of preparation, ensure that you’re using very strict form. The cadre members at Selection are sticklers for perfect form. Get in the habit now and the PT Test will be a breeze when you take it for real.

UBRR Training:

More preparation for the UBRR

2 x 30-seconds Pushups

2 x 30-seconds Sit-ups

2 x 30-seconds, Crunches

2 x Dips as many as possible to muscle failure

3-mile run (24 minutes maximum)

Stretch well after completion

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 2, Day 1

Time for our Sunday morning rucksack march, we’ll warm up with quick exercises and a stretch and then hit the trail for a 5-mile march over varied or uneven terrain. Make sure that ruck fits correctly and the same for your boots and socks. You can reference some of our earlier pieces for any information on those.

Kind of a crappy day up here with snow, freezing rain, and rain on tap. Be careful out there.

Try to push as hard as you can without running. Do the best that you can. And remember to drink plenty of water on the course, and don’t let yourself get dehydrated.

UBRR Training:

Warm up 30 seconds Mountain Climbers

Warm up 30 seconds Spider-Man Planks

5-mile Ruck march over varied terrain with a minimum 45-pound ruck (75 minutes max)

Stretch well after completion

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 1, Day 7

Let’s kick off this Saturday morning right and head back to the gym for a shoulder and back workout. Pull-ups, Rows, Deadlifts, and Shoulder work. Followed by a three-mile run. Be careful out there, there are still some icy spots on the road. Log your numbers down in the workout notebook

UBRR Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

3 x 10 Lat Pulldowns, rear

3 x 10 Barbell Dead Lift

3 x 10 Wide Grip Pull-ups

3 x 10 Seated Rows

3 x 10 Dumbbell Side Raises

3 x 10 Seated Bent-Over Delt Raise

3 x 10 Dumbbell Shoulder Press

3 x 10 Arnold Dumbbell Press

3-mile run (24-minutes maximum)

Stretch well after completion

Ukrainian Special Forces Getting Western Help, Training

The somewhat forgotten conflict in Ukraine hasn’t gone away and in fact, may be heating up again. With the United States announcing that they are moving away from the counter-terror focus to the older style of conventional conflict with large adversaries such as Russia and China, brings recent developments in Ukraine into larger focus.

Back in February, the Deputy Chief of Ukraine’s Defense Planning, Colonel Viacheslav Demianenko stated that Ukraine’s armed forces were going thru a transition from a Soviet-style mass training of their military to individual “training of professionals.”

Ukraine is now following a standard NATO type of training for their military forces. The hope is that is will improve the military’s readiness in both conventional combat as well as in the Special Operations arenas.

“A temporary guidebook on operational training in the Armed Forces of Ukraine has been approved, which also takes into account NATO procedures,” Demianenko said at a military briefing.

Also back in late January, NEWREP’s Jamie Read, who has been an advisor to the Ukrainian SF for the past four years, wrote that in seeking to modernize and upgrade their SOF units, the Ukrainians were sending some of the best SF troops for training at the elite Israeli Military Industries Academy for Advanced Security and Anti-Terror Training.

Read in his piece, which can read here, said:

This world-renowned academy, regarded by some as the best training facility around, has been host to numerous special operations units, both police, and military. Given the influence of the Israeli Special Forces—regarded by many as among the premier special operations units in the world—on the institution, that should come as no surprise. According to the academy website, “Established in 1999 by veterans of the Israeli security forces, IMI Academy specializes in a wide range of comprehensive security training programs, including anti-terrorism, anti-crime and homeland security.”

This is not only a military move but also a political statement. Ukraine is broadcasting that it has international partners and is seeking deeper collaboration with the Israeli government. This will undoubtedly be seen as distasteful to the Russian Federation, as the relationship between Russia and Israel continues to be poor due in no small part to Israel’s involvement in the Syrian Civil War, its ongoing conflict with Iran, and its close relationship with the U.S.

This is no small undertaking. The Ukrainian armed forces have for decades followed the Russian model which dates back to the Soviet Union. They still use a vast majority of Russian equipment, tanks, armored personnel carriers, fighter aircraft, and helicopters. Included in that are their artillery, small arms, and personal standard equipment.

But now with both sides of the conflict, simmering on each side of the battlefront, the United States and Ukraine have upped the ante. The U.S. has begun to supply the Ukrainians with Javelin anti-tank missiles.

This is also significant because the top of the line Russian tanks, the T-72BM, which supposedly has never been exported, was seen in combat, allegedly in the hands of pro-Russian Ukrainian separatists. Or was this the case that we saw in Syria, where Russian “mercenaries mistakenly” attack a U.S.-held base with armor? Either way, this has given the Russians and their proxies pause, before the inevitable resumption of hostilities this spring/summer.

The Americans are also furnishing personnel on the ground in a training scenario as well. There are U.S. troops who are providing instruction at the Yavoriv Combat Training Center as well as troops from the Special Operations Command running a Selection Course for the Ukrainian candidates.

U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Emerging Threats and Capabilities Subcommittee and member of the Senate Ukraine Caucus, recently visited a special operations training center in Berdychiv. There, the U.S. and Ukrainian Special Operations Forces are working closely together to improve recruitment, retention, training, and overall military tactics. She also spent time with the “brand-new special operations forces that just graduated from their Ukrainian Q Course, which is run by our American special operations forces.” She also spoke with Ukrainian forces and the threats that they’re facing on the Eastern front while visiting the Joint Forces Operations Headquarters in Kramatorsk.

“Being on the ground in Ukraine allowed me to directly convey to our ally that the United States will continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with free, democratic governments. While Russia continues its aggression towards its neighbors and their sovereignty, the United States is here to promote good governance and provide a greater military partnership with our ally, specifically through the development of Ukrainian special operations forces,” Ernst said.

Photo: US Army

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 1, Day 6

Friday, that must mean its Leg Day at the gym but instead of a run at the finish of that, we’ll substitute the Shuttle run in there, to work on your speed today.

If you have a sled at your disposal use that, if not carry your training partner in a Fireman’s carry. Some of these leg exercises build those muscles that will help in carrying a ruck.

If you’re on the East Coast, that shuttle run may be indoors this morning. We’re in our first storm of the season and are expecting up to six inches of snow with ice on top of that. If you do run outside…be careful.

UBRR Training:

Continue to prep for the UBRR.

3 x 10 Pull-ups

3 x 10 Leg Press

3 x 10 Leg Extensions

3 x 10 Barbell Squats

3 x 10 Deadlifts

3 x 10 Dumbbell Lunges

3 x Weighted sled push or Fireman’s Carry

4 x 25-meter Shuttle Run

Stretch well after completion