Air Force Special Operations

British Special Forces To Have Bigger Counter-Terror Role in Afghanistan

With the United States set to pull out most of their 14,000 troops in Afghanistan in the next three years, a bigger part of the ongoing counter-terrorism mission will fall to the British Special Forces. The SAS and the SBS are expected to be tasked to take on a bigger part of these operations during the time of the U.S. withdrawal.

With on-going peace talks with the Taliban still going nowhere, the Trump administration wants the majority of U.S. troops pulled out within three years and are planning accordingly. However, during negotiations with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, the United States was pushing for an orderly, 5-year withdrawal plan. The Taliban rejected it, insisting that the United States totally withdraw all troops within a year.

The Taliban refuses to engage the Afghan government of President Ashraf Ghani, insisting that he is just a puppet of the American government. In an ominous-sounding message, Sayed Akbar Agha, a former Taliban leader, who lives in Kabul said in an interview that the Taliban will talk with Ghani, only after an agreement is reached with the U.S.

American officials know well what happens when a foreign power just abruptly leaves. After the Soviet withdrawal, the president was dragged thru the streets and hanged publicly in a gruesome display.

Meanwhile, another 9000 troops from other members of the coalition will be asked to downsize as well in the three-year time window. The U.S. will continue to provide air cover and conduct air strikes as needed against Taliban or Islamic State fighters wherever the need arises.

With the US-led coalition in Syria also planning to downsize in the near future, this will allow, according to the plans, for the British to deploy more SAS and SBS commandos to Afghanistan to oversee counter-terror missions. The British, at their peak, had about 10,000 troops in Afghanistan, until the ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) was ended by President Obama. British troop strength now numbers about 1000.

Afghans are ready for peace, but a power-sharing regime with the Taliban isn’t something that even the most confident of officials believe will work. The Taliban favor a very strict mode of Islam that is more akin to the 12th century than to modern times. And the women of the country will be the ones who suffer the most. Under the Taliban, women were forbidden to work, other than in the home or attending school. Many people were severely punished just for watching television.

Two groups “Time4RealPeace” and the “Afghan Women For Peace” don’t want to see a quick U.S. withdrawal or a return to the old ways of the Taliban rule. They are staffed by women who are afraid that under a return to Taliban rule, women will be denied basic human rights.

CIA Director Gina Haspel suggested to the Senate Intelligence Committee that a “robust, monitoring regime” would be necessary under any peace accord for it to work. “It’s very important that we maintain pressure on the terrorist groups” in Afghanistan and retain the ability to act against them, Haspel said. And the Taliban are upping the ante, by negotiating from a position of strength.

Last weekend, they used numerous suicide bombers and fighters with heavy weapons to attack a joint Afghan-American base where 22 Afghan government troops were killed. Since the ISAF pullout, the Taliban either controls or contests half of the country. No American casualties were reported.

Afghan government Special Forces units that have been trained, and advised by coalition nations SOF conducted an attack of their own that killed 27 Taliban and wounded nearly 20 more. The aim was to take back the government border outposts.

An Afghan army spokesman said, “Afghan Special Forces conducted an operation in Imam Sahib district of Kunduz to recapture Afghan Border Force checkpoints that had fallen to the Taliban days earlier. The Afghan Special Forces killed 27 Taliban fighters, wounded 16 and destroyed 2 IEDs.”

In addition to the British, the French also have had Special Operations units in Afghanistan, but due to their still having sizable SOF units on the ground in Syria as well as in the Sahel region of Sub-Sahara Africa, fighting Islamic extremists there, that they won’t have enough personnel to spare in the future.

As always with the British Ministry of Defence (MOD), they will not comment on any news concerning British Special Forces operations.

Photo: MOD

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 1, Day 5

Back in the gym this morning before heading out for a run. But first today it is a back, and shoulders workout. Go heavy with the pulldowns and keep it under control, slowly pulling the weight up and lowering it back to the rack. Use strict form on the dumbbell raises and presses as well. Then head out for the run.

Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

3 x 12 Lat Pulldowns, behind the neck (go as heavy as possible)

3 x 12 Bent Over Barbell Deadlift

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

Mismanagement Plagues Air Force F-22 Raptor Program

Another excellent article from Alex Hollings over on our parent site NEWSREP was posted the other day on the trials and tribulations of the most lethal superiority fighter in the world, the F-22 Raptor. Hollings wrote that the biggest issues with the fighter have to do from within the U.S., not its enemies.

U.S. congressmen, not thinking forward, stopped funding the program, thinking that the U.S. didn’t need the fighter ten years ago. Now, with a renewed emphasis on a possible conflict with Russia or China on the horizon, those decisions could come back to haunt them. Read on…

America’s first fifth-generation fighter, the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor, is widely considered to be the best air superiority fighter on the planet. The combination of its low observability and high performance makes it America’s heavyweight contender in the battle for air supremacy, even in the era of the data-fusing F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. While the F-35 was intended to serve as a jack-of-most-trades, with a heavy emphasis on air-to-ground power, the F-22 was built with one primary purpose in mind: to hunt down, close with, and destroy enemy fighters.
However, the pricey F-22 program soon saw retreating support among lawmakers that sought to reduce the cost of America’s defense apparatus without reducing the nation’s ongoing obligations in combat. With just 186 F-22s delivered to the U.S. Air Force, the program was cut short in 2009, a decision that has since been criticized as short-sighted. While the United States had no pressing need for an advanced air superiority fighter at the time, the nation now knows it was less than ten years away from a resurgence of concerns about nation-level threats posed by diplomatic competitors like China and Russia.
The Air Force, which also relies heavily on the F-15 for air superiority missions, has since tried its best to make do with its limited quantity of F-22s, which, it’s important to note, are notoriously difficult to maintain. The high cost and level of labor required to keep America’s Raptors operating tends to result in reduced availability for the airframe, but those problems, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), are seriously exacerbated by the branch’s poor management of F-22s and related assets.
According to the GAO report, it was the Air Force’s decision to organize its fleet of F-22s into smaller units than seen in traditional air wings. F-22s are flown out of 18-to-21-aircraft squadrons with only two squadrons per wing. Conversely, other fighters operate out of wings comprised of three squadrons with 24 aircraft in each. These units, the GAO contends, are able to field more fighters, more consistently, thanks to efficiencies created by sharing more equipment and resources in the larger wings.
Those issues are made worse by the Air Force’s habit of deploying F-22 Unit Type Codes (UTCs), or small contingents of jets, with only six or so of a squadron’s aircraft. These UTCs, however, deploy with around half of the squadron’s maintenance personnel and equipment, leaving the remaining jets understaffed and under-equipped when it comes time for maintenance operations. All of this results in drastically reduced aircraft availability rates, which are also worsened by the branch’s reliance on F-22s for domestic air defense missions, operations the GAO contends could easily be conducted using fourth-generation fighters like the F-15.
All of these issues combine for a perfect storm of reduced F-22 availability for combat operations, but potentially worse, reduced availability of these jets for essential training operations.

To read the entire article, click here:

Photo: US Air Force

AFRICOM Commander, “We Are Not Winning” Counter-terror War

Opinion: The recent comments by the commander of United States troops in the Africa Command (AFRICOM), MG Marcus Hicks are very sobering yet not really surprising. “I would tell you at this time, we are not winning,” Hicks said last week during interviews with Voice of America.

The general’s comments came during the large military exercise known as “Flintlock” last week was ongoing. Flintlock is an annual regional exercise among African, allied and U.S. counterterrorism forces, and has taken place since 2005. The U.S. has the lead in this annual training which this year has about 2000 commandos from about 30 countries taking part.

Held this year in Burkina Faso, Flintlock, although an exercise, belies the issue which lies barely beneath the surface. Burkina Faso is combatting an active Islamic insurgency from several terror groups aligned with al-Qaeda. The U.N. released figures that stated that over 100,000 citizens have been uprooted and over 150,000 children can’t attend school in the country due to the Islamic threat. And that is just a small part of the problem in the region.

The threat is growing from terror organizations like al-Qaeda, the Islamic State (ISIS) and their offshoots, as they try to spread their tentacles across the Sahel, sub-Sahara Africa. And the local nations are growing increasingly uneasy over how they see the United States reacting to this increasing threat.

The Trump administration is advocating pulling out troops, first from Syria and Afghanistan. And then from Africa. With a renewed focus on threats from China and Russia, the U.S. is switching its focus from counterterrorism to the big conventional battlefield. And it has the locals afraid.

Back in February, Burkina Faso Foreign Minister Alpha Barry told a security conference in Germany, “the threat is gaining ground. It’s no longer just the Sahel, it’s coastal West Africa and the risk of spreading regionally.”

Locally, the commanders know that their troops don’t have the training, numbers, and equipment to stand on their own. Worse, they see a U.S. pullout (the administration wants to reduce troop strength by 25% by 2022) before the threats from terror groups have been eradicated as a potential disaster.

With the U.S. scaling back operations and troop numbers in West Africa, terror groups are striking previously untouched targets. Moving from Burkina Faso thru Niger, insurgents are now actively targeting in the Ivory Coast, Benin, Togo, and Ghana.

The United States has a relatively small footprint in Africa, with about 6000 troops and 1000 contractors at any given time on the ground. Of those about 1300 are Special Operations troops who provide training and advisory roles for the host nation forces.

The French have been doing the majority of the heavy lifting for the counterterror operations in the region. They keep about 4500 troops in the area and have been active in the areas of Niger, Chad, and Mali. In 2013, the French helped forces from Mali rout the al-Qaeda fighters from the north portion of the country.

Unlike the U.S., the French are staying. They received assurances from the Americans, however, that the U.S. will continue to provide intelligence, logistical and aerial refueling support in the region.

The United States has also pledged money to increase security forces in the region. AFRICOM increased spending to $242 million for the G5 Sahel Joint Force which consists of Burkina Faso, Mali, Chad, Niger, and Mauritania. The G5 Sahel Joint Force was first authorized in 2017 and combined the forces of these countries to improve security along their shared borders, improve cooperation and deployment of joint patrols to interdict the flow of terror groups and traffickers that currently cross their shared national borders with ease.

Meanwhile Gen. Hicks “would not recommend more drones or more advisers” presently, but said he wouldn’t advise reducing U.S. troop numbers in the region, either. However, he said that idea that the U.S. is leaving the area completely isn’t true. He characterized it as “a natural transition.”

“We’re trying to avoid as much as possible the kinetic activity that could eventually disenfranchise the people from the legitimate government,” he added.

The problem is that poverty and economic development go hand-in-hand with military problems and the host nations are not equipped to deal with. For now, in the interior of Burkina Faso, Muslims and Christians live alongside one another in harmony. That will never happen with an Islamist terror group gaining a foothold.

And while current training such as “Flintlock” provides valuable training for the troops in the region, commanders had to frequently check on active counterterror operations nearby. One area that the U.S. has increased its presence is in the realm of airstrikes against terrorist targets.

In Somalia alone, thus far in 2019, there have been 23 airstrikes against al-Shabab targets in Somalia, compared with just 47 in all of 2018.

With the threat increasing in Africa, the U.S. won’t at least for the near future, cut any additional troop strength there. But Special Operations personnel advising local forces and at the staff level will be needed along with economic and civic action reforms.

“We aren’t winning” the battle currently as Gen. Hicks has stated, but it doesn’t mean that the war is lost.

Photo: US Army

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation, Week 1, Day 4

Continue to prep for the UBRR and focus on some speed work today with some short runs for time. Speed work will help with your endurance and explosion.

Work on using perfect form when doing your exercises. The cadre members at Selection are meticulous at grading form, especially with pushups. The time to get it right is now. Then the graded test in the course will be a piece of cake. Remember, everyone gets graded the same.

UBRR Training:

5 x 30 seconds of Pushups.

5 x 30 seconds of Sit-ups

1 x 20 Knees-to-Elbow hanging from the pull-up bar, or until muscle failure

2 x 10 pull-ups or until muscle failure

5 x 0.5-mile run Go as quickly as you can with a maximum of 5-minute rest between runs. Record your average mile time.

Stretch well after completion

US Offers $1 Million Reward For Information On Osama bin Laden’s Son

The United States is turning up the heat on al-Qaeda and Hamza bin Laden, the son of Osama bin Laden who along with his son Khaled was killed by US Navy SEALs in 2011. The U.S. is offering $1 million dollars under the “Rewards for Justice” program for information leading to the arrest of the younger bin Laden, specifically calling him a “specially designated global terrorist.”

The younger bin Laden was groomed for this position since he was born. He is believed to be about 30 years old today. Described as Osama’s favorite son, Hamza is one of 26 children the former head of al Qaeda was believed to father. He allegedly sought his father’s approval from a young age. He also asked to be named his father’s heir as the head of the terror organization he founded.

Hamza grew up in a very strict Islamic compound in Jalalabad, Afghanistan where he and his extended family memorized the Koran, while the men planned terror attacks and strategy. Despite this, Hamza was supposedly a fan of Western items that were strictly taboo in al-Qaeda circles such as Tabasco sauce and Coke.

At the time of the 9/11 attacks in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania, Hamza was believed to be about 12 years old. However, less than two months after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Al-Jazeera posted an al-Qaeda video that showed Hamza and his brothers, armed and inspecting the wreckage of a U.S. helicopter.

Osama tried to steer his son away from being an active participant, but it is believed that he then attempted a terrorist training camp in Pakistan. Hamza then married the daughter of lead 9/11 hijacker Mohammad Atta.

No one is aware of where he, his wife and three daughters are living, but it is rumored that they live in Iran and are safely guarded by Iranian security and intelligence teams. In an interview with the Guardian last summer, Osama bin Laden’s mother, Alia Ghanem, said, “I don’t want to go through this again.

“When we thought everyone was over this, next thing I knew was Hamza saying, ‘I am going to avenge my father.’

“If Hamza was in front of me now, I would tell him, ‘God guide you. Think twice about what you are doing. Don’t retake the steps of your father. You are entering really negative and horrible parts of your soul.’ ”

As the younger bin Laden has been being groomed by the leadership to bigger and more prominent roles in the organization, he’s been more visible. He called on all Muslims to “take revenge on the Americans” for killing his father. His comments were made thru al-Qaeda as-Sahab Media Foundation in a speech last year.

Hamza told followers at the time that he rejected democracy, saying “freedom cannot be earned with worthless pieces of paper cast inside a ballot box.”

Al-Qaeda grew out of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. The resistance group, known by the U.S. as “mujahadeen” was a localized resistance group that was funded and armed by the CIA. However, many Arabs flocked to their cause, including bin Laden.

Bin Laden, the son of a billionaire real estate developer grew disenfranchised with what he called the corrupt Saudi government and U.S. interests and presence in the region. So, under his leadership, al-Qaeda began to call for attacks on America, their allies and of course, the Jews.

Al-Qaeda began bombing US troops in Yemen, the U.S. embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, killing up about 300 people and injuring more thousands more. It was behind the suicide attack on the USS Cole that killed 17 U.S. sailors. Then bin-Laden’s charges were behind the hijacking of the four airliners on 9/11.

That put bin-Laden squarely on the U.S.target list. It took ten years, but they finally tracked him down to his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. It was rumored that Hamza was there with him but no evidence was found of his living there. However, his father had a video of Hamza’s wedding, which took place in Iran.

Al-Qaeda has been more active in the past 3-4 years in Sub-Sahara Africa, trying to take advantage of a power vacuum there as the Islamic State has come under increasing pressure by the coalition forces there.

Hamza urged Saudis to unite with al-Qaeda’s Yemeni branch to fight against the Saudi state and threatened to target US citizens abroad. Because of this, the Saudis stripped him of his citizenship and then the United States put the bounty on his head.

And his father’s old organization has grown to about 30,000 members which led the US Co-ordinator for Counter-terrorism Nathan Sales to say that, .“Al-Qaeda during this period has been relatively quiet, but that is a strategic pause, not a surrender,” he said.

“Today’s al-Qaeda is not stagnant. It’s rebuilding and it continues to threaten the United States and its allies… Make no mistake, al-Qaeda retains both the capability and the intent to hit us,” he added.

Photos: Wikipedia

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 1 Day 3

We’re going to do a smoker this morning of pushups, sit-ups, and/or 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) or

100 crunches

Rucksack march: Go as hard and as fast as you can for 1 hour. Do this without running. See what your distance is and make a notation. This will give you a goal to achieve in later training sessions.

Stretch well after completion

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 1, Day 2

Back to the gym today, with our Monday work out and then practice our shuttle run to build up some explosion and lateral quickness in our lower bodies. Try to limit the time between sets to 30 seconds or less

UBRR Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

3 x 12 Flat Bench Presses

3 x 12 Incline Dumbbell Presses

3 x 10 Dumbbell Fly (Flat Bench)

3 x 10 Dumbbell Pullover

3 x 10 Dips (or to muscle failure)

3 x 10 Triceps Rope Pushdown

3 x 10 Overhead Triceps Press

4 x 25-meter Shuttle Run (x3)

Stretch well after completion

Special Operation Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 1, Day 1

How did everyone do on their UBRR Test from yesterday? If you passed but have some weak points, you now know what needs to be worked on. If you failed any portion of it, then you still have a lot of work to do. And know exactly what needs to get worked on.

What we’re going to do now is start back from Day 1 and get everyone back on the same sheet of music. Stick with us and we’ll get through this. We will go back to the basics and kick it off with our Sunday morning rucksack march.

Something to keep in mind, we won’t publish off days/rest days into the 16-week program. Everyone’s schedule is different as are your bodies. Listen to your body when you need to take a rest day or your schedule precludes you from getting a workout in.

Training:

Preparation for the UBRR:

Warm up 30 seconds Mountain Climbers

Warm up 30 seconds Spider-Man Planks

4-mile Ruck march over varied terrain with a minimum 45-pound ruck (60 minutes max)

Stretch well after completion

Hydrate throughout the ruck march…you’ll hear this a lot and get into the habit.

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 16, Day 7

Today we’re going to see where our fitness level is at by using a test using the new Special Operations Upper Body Round Robin (UBRR) Fitness Test. It measures functional fitness for the Special Operators much better than the traditional PT test.

Pushups: (1min) 40 minimum +2 points for each additional rep.

Sit-ups: (1min) 40 Minimum +3 points for each additional rep.

Pull-ups: (not timed) 6 minimum +3 points for each additional rep.

Dips: (not timed) 6 minimum +2 points for each additional rep.

Bench Press: (80% body weight) 6 minimum +3 points for each additional rep.

20ft. Rope Climb: with a weighted vest or body armor, Pass/Fail

Kick-ups: (1minute) 6 minimum, +2 points for each additional rep.

25 Meter Shuttle Run: x 4, 24 seconds maximum. +2 points for each 1/10 sec. under

5 Mile Run: 40 minutes maximum +2 points for every full 15 seconds under max.
or 5 Mile Ruck March: w/45 lbs +2 points for every full 15 seconds under max.

To pass the UBRR, participants must achieve a PASS in all events with at least the minimum score, and Receive at least 1100 total points from all the events combined.

Stretch well after completion