China

10 Things to Know About the Secret Chinese Snow Leopard Commando Unit

The Snow Leopard Commando Unit is an elite military unit of the People’s Liberation Army specializing in mountain combat. They are trained to operate in the snow-covered terrain of the Tibetan-Qinghai Plateau, which is mostly inhabited by ethnic Tibetans and belongs to China.

How did this elite unit come about? Here, are 10 things you might not know about them.

The Snow Leopard

The Mongols refer to a “mountain cat” as a snow leopard. The Snow Leopard’s place of operation is the Tibetan-Qinghai Plateau, which is home to the highest mountain in the world, Everest. It is the only unit of its kind in China.

The unit’s mission is to engage in mountain combat and conduct reconnaissance missions.

The Snow Leopard Commando Unit has an insignia consisting of a snow leopard on a red background. It is organized into three battalions, each consisting of three companies.

The Snow Leopard Commandos

Founded in 1969, the Snow Leopard Unit was originally comprised of a platoon-sized unit of about 100 soldiers. In 1979, the unit was expanded to a regiment-sized unit, and in 1985, it was expanded to a division-sized unit.

In December of 2016, the Snow Leopard Unit became an independent brigade-sized unit. The Snow Leopard Brigade is now comprised of five battalions and three independent companies, totaling over 3,000 troops, similar to the size of the modern-day Navy SEALs.

The unit is stationed in Tibet and has participated in many training exercises in the region. It also has participated in international peacekeeping missions but that sounds like an oxymoron to us.

It was one of the first armed forces units to be created after the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

The unit was composed of 21 members who were sent to Tibet to assist the local military in fighting against rebels. But by the end of 1959, the rebels were pushed back and the unit was no longer needed.

The Leopard unit wasn’t reactivated until 1983 when it was merged with the now-defunct Snow Leopard Liberation Unit. The combined unit has since gone on to serve in countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, and Sudan.

They are mostly used for counter-terrorism operations, reconnaissance, and hostage-rescue ops. Similar units in the U.S. would be Delta Force, and SEAL Team Six.

Members of this elite military unit undergo rigorous training at a specialized selection school. Training takes place in a remote area in China’s northwest province of Gansu. Operators are mainly Tibetans from the Tibetan Autonomous Region.

Selection

In the 1980s, the PLA’s General Staff Department sent a delegation to study the U.S. Army’s Ranger School, where they discovered some valuable insights. The PLA trained the first batch of Snow Leopard Commando Units in 1987 and they have since undergone rigorous training and selection.

Snow Leopard commandos are selected from volunteers who have all passed grueling physical and mental tests. The training process includes:

1) Basic Training: A two-week course that includes physical fitness, live ammunition shooting, unarmed combat, winter survival skills, and combat skills.

2) Advanced Training: A three-month course that includes physical fitness, winter survival skills, unarmed combat, combat skills, and an exercise in a cold-weather environment.

3) Skills: A two-month course that includes: winter survival skills, unarmed combat, combat skills, and a military exercise in a cold-weather environment.

4) Operational Exercise: A two-week exercise that includes: physical fitness, winter survival skills, unarmed combat, and combat skills.

10 Things You Might Not Know About The Snow Leopards

1. They are the only all-volunteer army unit in China;

2. They are trained to operate in the snow-covered terrain of the Tibetan-Qinghai Plateau;

3. They are mostly made up of ethnic Tibetans. A surprise to us;

4. Their motto is “Dare to Win” a play on “Who Dares Wins” from the British SAS;

5. They are designated as the former 11th Group Army Unit;

6. Their commander up until 2009 was General Wang Qingli;

7. They are partly funded by the Tibet Autonomous Region;

8. The average age of their operators is 22 years old;

9. It is rumored they kill their own wounded soldiers to avoid them being captured. A new way to look at, “No man left behind…”

10. Snow leopards are a symbol of wisdom and courage in Tibetan culture, and the unit is named after them because they are masters of fighting in snowy terrain.

We hope you enjoyed learning a bit more about Special Operations units in China.

What Would ARSOF’s Role Be in Near-Peer Conflict With Russia?

The Army’s Special Operations Forces (ARSOF) are in transition. With the end of the 20-year war in Afghanistan and the slow winding down of combat operations in Iraq, ARSOF units are moving from an emphasis to a door-kicking counter-terrorism role to a more traditional role of countering near-peer adversaries such as Russia or China.

ARSOF’s operators spent 40 years working against Russia during the Cold War. Many of the concepts remain the same, but warfare has changed since then, and there are more domains to be studied and targeted.

The U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), funded the Rand Corporation to conduct research on how ARSOF and SOCOM would best be utilized in a near-peer conflict with Russia. The report, which was released earlier this week, took a detailed look at how ARSOF units should be used. It concluded that the units need better and more detailed direction.

The Rand Corporation report recommends a return to ARSOF’s roots to combat neer-peer adversaries. Pictured above is the 7th SFG A-Team in El Salvador. (U.S. Army)

The report highlighted ARSOF’s history in countering Russia. “Long before ARSOF were used for counterterrorism missions, these forces were created for combat and competition with other great powers. Many of the U.S. antecedents of contemporary ARSOF arose in response to the exigencies of World War II, and they provided perhaps the preeminent military tools for competition with the Soviet Union in the Cold War.”

The RAND report calls for a return to ARSOF’s roots, which center around developing a physical presence in friendly countries and engaging in activities that the U.S. has frequently used to strengthen partnerships. These include subject-matter expert exchanges, intelligence gathering, and sharing operations. They also include the core SOF activities of Unconventional Warfare (UW), Foreign Internal Defense (FID), Security Force Assistance (SFA), Military Information Support Operations (MISO), and Civil Affairs Operations (CAO).

In studying how best to use ARSOF in a near-peer environment against Russia, it is also important to study the Russians’ doctrine in asymmetric warfare. A report by the Joint Special Operations University highlights the Eight Phases of New Russian Generation Warfare.

eight phases of Russian new generation warfare — The Eight Phases of Russian New Generation Warfare. (Joint Special Operations University)

Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, all NATO members, are the most vulnerable to Russian aggression. While ARSOF units won’t have any influence in countering a conventional military invasion, they can be used very effectively against the Russian “little green men,” or proxy forces.

According to RAND,

“In conditions of more intensified competition, when the risk of armed conflict is high, ARSOF can help to defend against proxy forces used by U.S. adversaries.”
“ARSOF can also be used to disrupt adversary operations in denied environments or to impose costs on adversaries, although the most aggressive uses of ARSOF — unconventional warfare intended to overthrow adversary governments—have traditionally been high-risk activities with relatively low rates of success. It may be more successful when used for less ambitious goals, such as disrupting adversary lines of communication in denied environments where reasonably effective and politically acceptable local surrogates exist.”

In the report, RAND Corporation recommended the following:

The U.S. Army needs to revise its multi-domain operations (MDO) concepts and provide better and more specific guidance for the employment of ARSOF;
SOCOM, the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict, and other key stakeholders need to periodically review allocations of ARSOF to ensure that they are optimally utilized in near-peer power competition;
Given the high levels of risk, ARSOF should only engage Russia in UW or information warfare in rare circumstances;
Because the benefits of ARSOF tend to be incremental and best measured by partner nation successes, Special Operations troops should be embedded with partner nations for long-term strategy.

Despite the lip service given to the new near-peer competition, the U.S. is lacking direction for its ARSOF units according to the RAND report. “Although U.S. strategic guidance proclaims that the United States has entered a new era of great-power competition, concepts for succeeding in that competition remain underdeveloped.”

Taiwan Special Forces Have Been Working With US Troops, but Who Are They?

Recent official confirmation of U.S. troops training with Republic of China (R.O.C.) forces in Taiwan is hardly shocking news. The U.S. Army 1st Special Forces Group even posted a video of joint training to Facebook more than a year ago.

Recently, U.S. foreign policy has placed increased attention on the decades-long Nationalist-Communist Chinese conflict. To the wider world, it may look like an international conflict between two sovereign nations. Yet, in reality, the civil war between Nationalist and Communist forces was only ever put on pause in 1949. To this day, both Taipei and Beijing maintain conflicting claims of legitimacy.

The Taiwanese government has stated that it could not last more than a month against a Communist assault. This forecast emphasizes the importance of international assistance in the event the mainland government makes a move.

Additionally, the R.O.C. armed forces which were once composed mainly of conscripts, are now moving towards an all-volunteer force. Some training remains obligatory in Taiwan, but with a military budget almost one-tenth of the mainland’s, the island is in a precarious position.

The Nationalist Party in Taiwan, descendants of the Kuomintang that led the fight against Japan in WWII, are realists. The Taiwanese government hasn’t seriously considered invading the mainland since the 1970s. Today, the emphasis is on deterring and surviving a potential invasion by the Communists.

But who are the R.O.C. forces who would stand in defense of the virtual fortress country of Taiwan? Who are the special operation counterparts that U.S. Special Forces have been training with, and what are they capable of?

Taiwanese Special Forces of all Shapes and Sizes

For a westerner to understand the R.O.C. Special Forces, first there has to be some understanding of the R.O.C. military.

One significant difference is the R.O.C. Military Police branch. That’s right, I said branch. Like the U.S. and most other countries, Taiwan has an army, air force, and navy.

Yet, the country also has a separate branch for military police, and that branch has its own special forces operators. In fact, even the R.O.C. Coast Guard has special operators.

In total, the island nation has at least five known special operations forces, each with its own unique backstory, history, and mission.

And that doesn’t even count the local police forces with their own SWAT-like units patterned after the National Police Agency’s (NPA) special forces.

Additionally, any defense of Taiwan would involve a “total war” footing. If the Communists were to invade, everyone from local police to construction workers would be pressed into service for defense.

Earliest Taiwan Special Forces

Taiwan Special Forces Sea Dragons — A recent graduate of the R.O.C. Army’s 101st Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion’s 15-week training course has the Sea Dragon Badge shoved into his chest by his instructor. (Republic of China Ministry of National Defense)

The 101st Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion is the oldest of the R.O.C. Special Forces units. Stood up in 1949 after the Nationalists retreated from mainland China, the 101st was founded with U.S. assistance. They are also the R.O.C. unit shown in the Facebook video posted by the U.S. Army 1st Special Forces Group.

While they belong to the R.O.C. Army, the 101st is operationally similar to the U.S. Navy SEALS. In a callback to the WWII predecessors of the SEALS, they are also known as “Sea Dragon Frogmen.” Their original role was amphibious reconnaissance and stealth missions on the mainland coast, though now they focus on a defensive role.

The members of the 101st qualify through the 15-week “iron-man road” training course. This has an 80 percent failure rate. Training covers such areas as scuba, underwater explosives, survival in the wild, and hand-to-hand combat. The R.O.C. frogmen also specialize in mountain, airborne and amphibious operations.

Prior to entering the longer course, candidates also have to complete a five-day qualification course that tests their physical endurance.

The Taiwanese government recently invested approximately $13 million on equipment and facility upgrades for the frogmen. New forward operating bases on Penghu and Kinmen islands are meant to bolster rapid response capabilities in the Taiwanese Strait.

Response to Terrorism From Taiwan Special Forces

Founded around 1980, the R.O.C. Army has another special forces unit tasked primarily with counterterrorism. The Airborne Special Service Company (ASSC) has a comparable mission to Delta Force.

While little is publicly disclosed about the ASSC, they were recently the alleged target of Communist espionage. Prosecutors in the case alleged that the ASSC is trained both for counterterrorism and defensive counterstrikes against Communist military leaders.

The unit is also known as the Liang Shan Special Operations Company. It is allegedly based out of Pingtung County.

A 2017 report from the R.O.C. Ministry of National Defense discusses ongoing training for defensive operations involving the ASSC. Along with other special forces units, they are part of the Joint Airborne Task Force. The task force is tasked with both homeland defense and airborne infiltration.

Both the ASSC and the 101st were put under the R.O.C. Army’s Aviation and Special Forces Command (ASFC) around 2007. As of 2010, the total troop strength of the ASFC was 9,500, including 300 women. The ASFC also includes the 601st and 602nd Aviation Brigades, the 603rd Aviation Training Command, and the Air Transport Battalion. The elite ASSC is reported to have approximately 150 personnel.

The ROC Marine Corps’ Role in Taiwan Special Forces

Taiwan Airborne Special Service Company training — Members of the Airborne Special Service Company conduct close-quarters training. (Office of the President, Republic of China)

The R.O.C. Army has the first amphibious special forces set up by the Nationalist Chinese. Yet, they aren’t the only amphibious Taiwan special forces unit. Founded in 1950, the R.O.C. Marine Corps Amphibious Reconnaissance and Patrol Unit (ARP) is almost as old.

The ARP’s 10-week course has a reported attrition rate of about 77 percent. Dubbed “Paradise Road,” the final test has the R.O.C. Marines crawl 50 meters over rock and coral. It’s so rough that, in 2014, the National Legislature felt the need to clarify that it is “necessary training.” Previously, critics had sought to have the final test labeled among “abusive acts.”

With the transition to the ROC Marine Corps from conscription to volunteer, critics alleged that harsh treatment could discourage recruitment. However, the counterargument stands that the kind of recruits the ARP wants would not be discouraged by a nosebleed.

The ARP has underwater demolition and reconnaissance teams. Members have allegedly conducted training with the U.S. Marine Corps on U.S. bases in recent years.

According to the official ARP Facebook page, the brigade falls under the Special Operations Command of the Republic of China (Taiwan).

In recent years, the R.O.C. Ministry of National Defense has also invested in new training facilities for special operations. Approximately $36 million was earmarked in 2018 for the new training facilities, with the majority going to naval installations. A portion will also go toward a joint training facility for use with the R.O.C. Military Police’s special operators — but more on this unit later.

The new training facilities are expected to be operational in 2022, providing both live-fire and computer-simulated training scenarios. They will focus on amphibious and conventional operations, as well as individual combat skills. Training will include airborne and amphibious insertion, as well as hostage-rescue drills covering air, land, and sea scenarios.

The joint training base will have urban environments, with plans for both R.O.C. Military Police and regular police to train in them.

‘Night Hawks’ in the Taiwan Special Forces

Taiwanese Marine Special Forces parade — R.O.C. Marine Corps Amphibious Reconnaissance and Patrol Unit members participate in a parade in Taipei. (Office of the President, Republic of China)

As mentioned above, the R.O.C. Military Police (ROCMP) are their own branch. The military police traces its history to the elite imperial guards of the Chou dynasty. The current branch was founded in 1914 by Sun Yat-sen.

Rather than guarding the emperor, Sun Yat-sen’s military police were tasked with maintaining military discipline. In 1925, Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek increased their numbers and used them in purging Communists from the Kuomintang. The Kuomintang is the Nationalist Party of China that originated with Sun Yat-sen and still dominates politics in Taiwan.

During WWII, the military police even served in conventional combat against the Japanese. With the 1946 outbreak of civil war, the military police served a primarily defensive role, guarding government facilities and officials.

In the 1970s, the Nationalists formed a special operations unit within the R.O.C. Military Police in response to global terrorism. The R.O.C. Military Police Special Services Company, also known as the Night Hawks, were established in 1978.

Their mission is primarily counterterrorism and “anti-atrocity,” though they engage in other traditional special operations missions as well. They also train special-service teams for the nation’s police departments.

During times of civil unrest, the Night Hawks have also performed operations related to maintaining public order, according to the ROCMP website. They continue to operate as a protective force for government officials and conduct counter-smuggling operations related to arms and drugs.

The Night Hawks have been deployed for various civil incidents, including a 1987 prison riot.

The Night Hawks have teams that specialize in attack, sniper operations, and explosives. ROCMP members who wish to join the Night Hawks must complete a nine-month training course.

In 2020, the Ministry of National Defense confirmed that the Night Hawks regularly train with Green Berets on U.S. soil. Additionally, the unit has been tasked with training the special forces of other countries.

Taiwan Special Forces of all Stripes

Taiwanese explosive ordnance robot — Members of the ROC Military Police Special Services Company with an explosive ordnance disposal robot. (Wikimedia Commons)

The special operators of the R.O.C. Army, Marines, and Military Police branches are the most readily recognized and discussed. Yet, they are not the only special operators in the country. Both the ROC Coast Guard Administration and the National Police Agency of Taiwan have their own special forces units.

Hardcore Coasties

The R.O.C. Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) Special Task Unit (STU) is the youngest of the nation’s special forces. The unit marked its 10th anniversary in 2010, and at the time had 52 members. While they are stationed at airports around Taiwan, their training includes scuba and underwater skills.

Like the nation’s other special operators, members of the STU train in multiple martial arts. Their initial training includes a three-month course with the ARP and a two-month course with the Night Hawks.

While efforts to form the unit began in 2000, the CGA website states the STU was fully formed in July 2005. The official mission of the STU is counterterrorism in maritime zones.

However, the STU has also participated in drills with other special forces units to counter attacks on the presidential office. The joint training also covered incursions in coastal zones and waterways. One of the primary defensive concerns for Taiwan is a “decapitation” strike by Communist forces. Such a strike would seek to disable the country by taking out senior leaders ahead of an invasion. This has led to increased emphasis on joint operations and training.

SWAT With Benefits

Taiwanese Coast Guard martial arts drill — Members of the R.O.C. Coast Guard Administration Special Task Unit participate in martial arts drills. (Office of the President, Republic of China)

Last, but certainly not least, there’s the R.O.C.’s National Police Agency Special Operations Group (NPASOG), commonly referred to as the Thunder Squad. The unit participates in training with other Taiwan special operations units; this includes anti-decapitation joint training.

Such joint training exercises include both live-fire and simulated exercises intended to secure the nation against a Communist invasion.

The NPA’s special forces are also known as the Wei’an, or Special Security Service Forces. Their missions include counterterrorism, as well as protecting senior leaders and critical infrastructure. That includes protecting nuclear power facilities and border control.

Yet, the Thunder Squad also takes on a role similar to SWAT teams and riot police. Local police units fulfilling that role are also referred to by the Thunder Squad name. The NPASOG supports local police departments in anti-terrorism operations.

NPASOG has even been on hand for demonstrations related to the legalization of marijuana, and led a manhunt for an armed fugitive.

The NPASOG is also deployed to areas facing high crime rates in order to help restore order.

Taiwan Police special operations group exercise — National Police Agency Special Operations Group members participate in an exercise in 2019. (Office of the President, Republic of China)

Is China’s Aggression Really Out of Control?

Headlines the last few days screamed about Chinese aggression and Chinese warplanes buzzing over Taiwan. Then, came the “bombshell” report of U.S. troops in Taiwan, training the Taiwanese military. To invade China? To repel a Chinese invasion? To quit losing at paintball? How about because we maintain an agreement with them that has been in place for decades?

The Republic of China or the People’s Republic of China?

After World War II, the U.S. and China were not exactly allies, but not enemies either. Same with Russia. In order to defend against Japanese forces, the U.S. forged alliances with Chinese Nationalists. After the war, a pro-Communist government established the People’s Republic of China (P.R.C.) on the mainland, forcing Chinese Nationalists to flee to Taiwan, where they continued as the Republic of China in exile. Because the U.S. had backed Nationalist forces against the Japanese, they also backed the exiled Republic of China (R.O.C.). At least on paper. Or in words. Maybe it was thoughts and prayers?

The US and Taiwan

Shu Lin Kou Air Station Taiwan — The entrance to Shu Lin Kou Air Station, Taiwan. (Courtesy of Roger W./Wikimedia Commons)

Since the end of WWII and the standup of Communist China on the mainland, the U.S. has maintained ties with the R.O.C. government in Taiwan. The Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty was signed by the U.S. and R.O.C. in 1954, promising Taiwan aid in case of P.R.C. aggression. It also adjured Taiwan not to attempt aggression toward mainland China, effectively recognizing the two as separate entities. The problem is that both governments consider themselves to be the “true” Chinese government

What, then, is an ally supposed to do? From 1955 to 1979, the U.S. formally recognized the R.O.C. via the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty. The treaty was built on political, social, and economical welfare, and military needs, cementing a U.S. military presence in the Taiwan Strait. After President Carter nullified the Sino-American Treaty in 1979, the U.S. officially recognized the People’s Republic of China, and the Taiwan Relations Act was enacted.

Taiwan Relations Act

In an effort to be as ambiguous as possible, the TRA recognizes the “governing authorities” on Taiwan, and allows for continued diplomatic relations, even though the P.R.C. is the legitimate government. All of this is confusing and written in such a way as to offend the least amount of people. While we don’t recognize you as a sovereign country, we will act as if you are a sovereign country. Though we don’t explicitly say our military might is available, we don’t explicitly say that it is not. All that the Taiwan Relations Act says is we will help you to defend yourselves, but falls short of saying exactly how.

Taiwanese and US Military

To that end, U.S. military support for Taiwan has been steady for years. Taiwan has purchased billions of dollars worth of U.S. weapons and aircraft, building and maintaining an impressive defensive posture. Why shouldn’t the U.S. Army and Marine Corps also provide training? Whether that training is on the various weapons systems Taiwan has bought, or training on military tactics, the U.S. commitment to support Taiwan is still there.

Taiwan’s air force is trained to resist invasion. This includes operating from strips of highway if airbases are rendered inoperable. (R.O.C. Ministry of Defense)

The Taiwanese Air Force flies numerous aircraft bought from the U.S., including the F-16. Taiwanese pilots receive flight training at Luke AFB, Arizona. USAF officials would like to train alongside the Taiwanese air force, but the way is hampered by Washington’s fears of offending Communist China. Taiwan owns and operates hundreds of U.S.-made tanks, helicopters, and missile and rocket launch systems. It only makes sense for U.S. military personnel to provide training, but, again, what would Beijing say?

Indo-Pacific Region

In the South China Sea, the US, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan all feel the pressure of Chinese aggression. That is why there are regularly scheduled exercises that take place there. That is why the US works alongside our allies in the region, showcasing not only our might but our ability to project and sustain it. Because of tense US-China relations, the presence of ground troops in Taiwan is concerning to China.

But, and hear me out, the US has had a presence in Taiwan for over 60 years. Although the last official US military base in Taiwan closed in 1979, the Taiwan Relations Act assured the US would maintain close military ties with the country. Though they do not officially train together, US officials often act as observers during Taiwanese military exercises. According to The Foreign Relations Authorization Act for 2003, Taiwan is considered to be a major non-NATO ally to the US. Why, then, should we not work together?

US Military Presence in Taiwan

A small group of U.S. forces has been in Taiwan for over a year now. Initially reported in Taiwanese media in late 2020, both U.S. and Taiwanese officials have said that the troops’ presence was part of bilateral exercises, rather than straight training. The Army posted a video on Facebook last year of Operation Balance Tamper showing American troops working side-by-side with the Taiwanese military. Though the Army took the video down, it was widely reported at the time, and the video is still out there.

Fast rope insertion extraction training — A Green Beret with 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) conducts fast-rope insertion extraction system training from MH-60S Helicopter, June 2, 2021. (Photo by Staff Sgt. Ryan Hohman)

Taiwan exists in a Schrodinger’s box, as far as the U.S. and China are concerned. As long as the U.S. leaves Taiwan alone, China catcalls about unification but stays on its side of the street. As long as China leaves Taiwan alone, the U.S. continues regularly supporting it but doesn’t move in. It is a balancing act and has been for a very long time with both sides too evenly matched for it to tilt one way or the other.

Regardless of how it is portrayed in the media, the U.S. and Taiwan have maintained a working military arrangement since the end of World War II. For many of those years, the U.S. and Communist China also maintained military arrangements, including arms sales in the 1980s. Tensions are escalating in the region, but they have been escalating since a pro-Communist government was stood up in mainland China. This is not to say tensions won’t boil over, but there is no new threat to stability except China’s buildup. But, again, China is always building up.

As long as sabers are rattled, other sabers will also be rattled in response. Until one of those sabers is pulled and pointed, rattling is all it is. And it goes on and on and on…

Green Berets Deploy to Taiwan as Tensions With China Rise

China continues to test and harass Taiwan’s air defense capability with nearly daily forays into Taiwanese airspace. Tensions between China and Taiwan which the Chinese consider a wayward province, and the United States continue to rise. Now, it was reported that U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM) troops are in Taiwan training Taiwanese troops.

For the past seven decades, Taiwan has considered itself an independent country.

China has never ruled out taking Taiwan by force and its aircraft have continuously buzzed over Taiwanese airspace.

The Wall Street Journal was the first to report that about two dozen special operations troops and support personnel were in Taiwan along with a small Marine contingent training the host nation forces. This is a significant development as China’s aggressive actions increasingly look like a prelude to open war. According to an unnamed Pentagon official, the training by the U.S. has been ongoing for more than a year.

The Pentagon would neither confirm nor deny any troop deployments or training in Taiwan. Pentagon spokesman John Supple said, “I don’t have any comments on specific operations, engagements, or training, but I would like to highlight that our support for and defense relationship with Taiwan remains aligned against the current threat posed by the People’s Republic of China.”

Taiwan’s Defense Ministry sidestepped any training comments, stating that “all military exchanges are carried out in accordance with annual plans”.

Last year, Taiwanese media outlets reported that U.S. troops had arrived there to train Taiwanese marines and Special Forces in small-boat and amphibious operations. However, those reports were denied by both American and Taiwanese officials, who stressed that the two countries are only involved in bilateral military exchanges and cooperation.

Video screenshot of U.S. Special Forces in a casualty evacuation exercise with Taiwanese SF.

A video surfaced last year showing U.S. troops on the island taking part in an exercise dubbed “Balance Tamper.”

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said that the United States needs to cease all cooperation with and arms sales to Taiwan. Spokesman Zhao Lijian said that the already tense relations between the U.S. and China will suffer.

“The U.S. side should fully recognize the great sensitivity of the Taiwan issue,” he said during a press conference.

“China will take all necessary measures to protect its sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Lijian added.

U.S. Congressman Ami Bera (D-CA) confirmed that special operations deployments have been ongoing for more than a year. Bera, who sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, was asked by the press at a defense conference if the Committee was aware of this present SOF Deployment.

“Not particularly this deployment, if I call it a deployment. I think we have special operators and others there, and we have in the past that are there training (Taiwan’s) military, working with them,” Bera replied.

Taiwanese Special Forces during a training exercise. (AP photo)

Meanwhile the Chinese have stepped up their aggressive, and dangerous forays into Taiwan’s airspace. On Monday, 52 Chinese aircraft entered Taiwan’s air defense zone. The action was characterized by U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price as “destabilizing and provocative.”

“We strongly urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic and economic pressure and coercion against Taiwan,” Price said, calling the American commitment to the island “rock-solid.”

Malayan Emergency: The Birth of the Modern Special Air Service

Malaya — 1948.

The United Kingdom and the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) are vying for the post-colonial soul of the country.

From the start, it wasn’t going to be easy for the British military.

Malaya, you see, was in that awkward situation so common wherever Europeans decided to plant a flag: One border, two ethnicities.

Malayans and Chinese, in equal numbers, called the Southeast Asian country home. So far, it had worked. But now the British were scooting, and the proposed Federation didn’t appeal to the Chinese half of the family.

And what do they decide to do? Launch an insurgency to grab power.

Malay Peninsula Malayan Emergency — The Malay Peninsula. The divided geography and long borders added to the government’s woes. (Wikimedia Commons)

Counterinsurgency operations (COIN) — always a hurdle for conventional armies and mindsets — in a jungle with lengthy borders brew a nightmarish ale.

For 12 years (1948-1960) the government forces and the MCP fought it out.

And it wasn’t till 1960 that the Malayan Emergency ended. (A war in all but name, it was branded an “emergency” because London insurance companies wouldn’t cover economic losses otherwise.)

The Communist Terrorists (CTs), as the British called them, operated from within the virgin jungle. Like ethereal creatures, they’d spawn from their hideouts to attack British rubber plantations and tin mines and terrorize the local workers and their families, then vanishing from whence they came.

Chinese squatters, a Japanese addition reminiscent of WWII, fed, sheltered, and joined them. Throughout the conflict, CT numbers ranged from 5,000 to 8,000.

At this point, one may wonder why this is important? Isn’t the same old play of a postcolonial independence struggle, just in another theatre?

You’re right. Partly.

The Malayan Emergency is important to the student of military strategy and special operations for two reasons: First, because the British showed that a COIN campaign could succeed — spoiler alert, the government forces won — that a hearts-and-minds strategy is sometimes preferable to big numbers (remember, this was right before the Vietnam War, and the U.S. military was watching). And second, because it set the stage for the return of the Special Air Service (SAS).

The initial British approach to the Malayan Emergency was to throw large numbers of men. It didn’t work. By the time the cumbersome conventional units arrived at the scene of an attack, the CTs had already vanished in the jungle.

A fresh approach was needed.

Headquarters instructed Brigadier “Mad Mike” Mike Calvert, the last CO of the SAS during WWII, to tour the battlefield and gauge the situation. He recommended a two-pronged strategy: erect protected camps to safeguard the locals from the CTs’ influence and terror, and raise unconventional units that could hunt the CTs in their jungle havens and fight them on their terms.

Protected communities, called “New Villages,” began to mushroom all around. And the locals (both Malays and Chinese) were given further incentives to resist Communism’s charm for “equality” by being given a stake in the colony’s economy.

As for Calvert’s second recommendation, first came the Ferret Force.

And soon thereafter, the SAS.

In this series, we’ll see how these units developed, operated, and succeeded in stemming the Communist tide; and how the harsh jungle environment created Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TTPs) that aspiring SAS troopers still learn.

This article was originally published in March 2020 by SOFREP. It has been edited for republication. Stay tuned for part II.

Tunnel-mapping tech may be the most important special operations gear of the 21st century

Recently, NEWSREP Editor-in-chief Jack Murphy reported on the U.S. military’s standing plan to infiltrate Iranian underground bunkers housing integral elements of the nation’s nuclear apparatus. If war between the United States and Iran were ever to come to fruition, these facilities (commonly referred to as hardened and deeply buried targets, or HDBTs) would be among America’s top priorities. But taking them out of commission would require a more dramatic approach than America’s preferred method of warfare by ballistic missile.

Many of these HDBTs are constructed deep underground, often by tunneling into mountains. The natural barrier provided by 2,000 feet of rock would, in some cases, render even America’s bunker-busting munitions useless. Instead, infiltrating and destroying these facilities would fall to America’s elite counterterrorism unit, the 1^st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta, or Delta Force.

Although Delta has been training for these potential underground combat operations in Iran for years, the risks associated with such an operation have grown in tandem with the increasing number of potential enemy states—including North Korea, China, and Russia—all of which maintain (or are rumored to maintain) sizable underground facilities meant to shield against weapons of mass destruction and potentially afford protection to command and control elements from surveillance or engagement.

Soldiers of 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, prepare to clear a corridor during subterranean operations training. (U.S. Army)

As Jack Murphy pointed out in his NITRO ZEUS piece, “Numerous countries have sought to conceal and protect vulnerable military resources underground inside facilities hardened with reinforced concrete, vault doors, internal environmental systems, and more, such as the United States has done at the Cheyenne Mountain Complex.”

Put simply, fighting in enclosed spaces deep underground, where communications are limited and the stakes are at their highest, isn’t just a tactical nightmare, it may also become a pervasive part of what nation-level warfare looks like in the 21st century.

It’s likely with this concern in mind that America’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, has issued a request for information regarding advanced technologies and methodologies that can be employed for the “3D mapping and surveying of underground environments.”

“What makes subterranean areas challenging for precision mapping and surveying, such as lack of GPS, constrained passages, dark or dust-filled air, is similar to what inhibits safe and speedy underground operations for our warfighters,” said DARPA Tactical Technology Office (TTO) Program Manager Timothy Chung. “Building an accurate three-dimensional picture is a key enabler to rapidly and remotely exploring and searching subterranean spaces.”

If you’ve seen the film “Prometheus,” this effort may seem familiar. In the movie, crew members deploy floating drones that use lasers to quickly map out the subterranean cave complex they’re exploring.

It doesn’t seem likely that DARPA’s cave-mapping drones will defy gravity like those depicted in “Prometheus,” but with small drone technology rapidly advancing, a “floating” mapping device doesn’t seem entirely out of the question. Of course, propulsion is far from the only technical hurdle faced in this initiative. Maintaining connectivity to the operator, processing the data captured and rendering it in a usable manner, and even concerns about battery life versus added weight are among the litany of hurdles developers will need to either mitigate or eliminate in order to make such a device a reality.

A soldier assigned to 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, provides security during subterranean operations training. (U.S. Army)

In many ways, special operations war-fighters operating in these tunnels will be doing so without any access to external digital or communications infrastructure, meaning the mapping system will need to be entirely self-contained between the probe and the operator’s gear. Cloud computing or outsourcing any of the computational work via any sort of network simply won’t work beneath 2,000 feet of rock

The challenges DARPA faces in this endeavor are not insignificant by any stretch of the imagination, but a breakthrough in this sort of technology could provide American and allied forces with a much-needed advantage in what would be sure to be brutal fighting inside confined spaces. America’s special operations troops may be the best trained in the world, but training doesn’t stop bullets. In tunnel warfare, a defender’s familiarity with the space, the terrain, and any potential hazards can offset a significant training advantage had by the attackers.

Despite not quite garnering the same sort of attention as programs like the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter or new hypersonic missiles, tunnel-mapping technology may prove to be the most valuable tech in America’s war-fighting arsenal. After all, fast-moving missiles may help win a conventional war, but the only way to win a nuclear one is to prevent it from starting in the first place.

Feature image courtesy of the U.S. Army

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

US Aid to Venezuela Thru Colombia Now is the Crux of the Crisis

Opinion: The United States is pushing the envelope against the authoritarian regime of Nicholas Maduro in Venezuela. No one is arguing, except Maduro that the tons of medical supplies are urgently needed. The people of Venezuela are in dire need of food, medicine and an end to the hyper-inflation devastating the once prosperous nation’s economy. Over three million Venezuelans have fled the country and are moving across the border into Colombia.

But there is another side to the U.S. aid being shipped into Colombia, which is why many of the international aid agencies are wanting nothing to do with this. By sending the aid to neighboring Colombia, the United States has upped the ante to encourage military members, especially the junior to mid-level officers to cease their allegiance to Maduro. The aim is to foment regime change by backing the claims of the “interim President” Juan Guaidó who has called for a “humanitarian avalanche” with “caravans” to go to the Colombian borders to get the aid next Saturday.

The hope is that once the supplies, which the U.S. is shipping to the city of Cúcuta, on the border with Venezuela, reaches the bridge between the two countries, military leaders will defy Maduro and allow the aid to cross.

However, the U.N. and other aid agencies are balking at getting involved. “Humanitarian action needs to be independent of political, military or any other objectives,” Stéphane Dujarric, the U.N. spokesman, said last week. “The needs of the people should lead in terms of when and how humanitarian assistance is used.”

Right now, the border bridge on the Venezuelan side is blocked by a tanker truck and shipping containers. And Maduro is painting himself into a corner. He claims that there is no humanitarian crisis, that the United States is manufacturing a false claim to incite a military invasion.

Calling this false flies in the face of the facts. When three million of your countrymen flee and food stores are empty, hospitals are in dire need of medicine and your only supporters to your claim as President are those known “freedom loving democracies” as Russia, China, Cuba et al, it rings increasingly hollow.

Maduro’s Vice President, Delcy Rodriguez got some advice that rivals that of Baghdad Bob when he alleged that the US aid was contaminated with carcinogens “to poison our population” and described it as a “biological weapon”, as reported by the Spanish newspaper El Mundo.

The ante is further being raised by the presence of Senator Marco Rubio from Florida who was in Colombia on Sunday. “There comes a time in many people’s lives when they have to make a decision that will define them forever,” Rubio said. “That time has come for the Venezuelan soldiers.” Rubio called Maduro’s rule “a criminal regime willing to starve and kill its own people.”

Also, Richard Branson, the British billionaire, and philanthropist is organizing a benefit concert in Cúcuta this coming Friday. Branson said he hopes to raise $100 million for humanitarian aid.

Guaidó is calling for thousands of supporters dressed in white to march on the border to confront the border guards and allow the aid to pass. Colombians in Cúcuta are uneasy about the entire scene being played out in their midst. It is a city of 750,000 that has been inundated by Venezuelan refugees.

Other humanitarian aid is slated to be coming from the Brazilian border and from the neighboring island of Curaçao.

Meanwhile, the U.S. is continuing to push the Venezuelan military to decide, Elliott Abrams, the U.S. special envoy for Venezuela, said earlier this month at a press brief, “Members of the army are Venezuelan citizens. … Our hope is that they will be able to persuade Maduro, or they will simply disobey orders to continue the starvation of the people of Venezuela.”

Kevin Whittaker, the US Ambassador to Colombia, said last week that Maduro “needs to leave so his people’s needs can be attended to, so the Venezuelan economy can be put back on its feet, and so that Venezuela can once again be a normal country.”

Maduro is digging in his heels and last week denied entry to five members of the European Parliament who flew to Caracs to meet with Guaidó at his invitation. They were barred from entry into Venezuela’s Simon Bolivar International Airport and subsequently deported.

This next week will be very interesting to watch. All eyes now are on the Venezuelan military. On one hand, they’ve been very loyal to the Maduro’s regime. But the rank and file members have family members who are starving. They know that someday there will be a reckoning.

Photo: Wikipedia

Navy SEALs Are Placing More Emphasis on Big Wars With China, Russia

“The Times they are a-changin” wrote Bob Dylan in 1964 but for the U.S. Navy SEAL teams, it may not mean that they are changing per se, but returning to their original roots. After two decades of war in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria, the Navy’s Special Warfare specialists are preparing more for a conflict with bigger countries and militaries like Russia and China.

It doesn’t mean an end to counter-insurgency operations and the Direct Action missions that the SEAL teams have been known for but they’re refocusing on some of their more traditional missions.

In a new story on NEWSREP, Stavros Atlamazoglou wrote about the SEALs and their refocusing on the Big Navy:

In a recent interview, Vice Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Bill Moran acknowledged and welcomed this development. “It’s to the point now where we include them in all of our exercises, our war games, our tabletops [training exercises] — because as much as it is their chance to ‘re-blue,’ it’s our chance to reconnect from the blue side,” he said. “We’ve grown used to not having them in a lot of those situations. Now as we’ve done the tabletops, the exercises and the war games, we see: ‘Wow, there is some great capability here that can set the conditions for the kind of operations in every single one of those campaigns.’ And that will continue to grow, I think,” added the Navy’s second-in-command.

The best way to display a unit’s relevancy, and thus accrue more funds, is to define a possible threat and show how the unit could address it. In the case of China, the threat would be the numerous man-made islands that the Chinese have been building in the South China Sea. Although nothing more than a few hundred meters of sand, these islands can carry anti-ship missile batteries that would serve as an outer ring of defense against the Navy’s aircraft carriers.

The NSWC appears to understand the problem and the opportunity it offers. What are SEALs good at doing? Other than being authorities in Direct Action (DA) missions, SEALs are capable of hydrographic and special reconnaissance (SR) and stealthy waterborne insertion. Moreover, SEAL Team 6 is renowned for its High Altitude High Opening (HAHO) and High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) parachute capabilities. Thus, in a potential conflict with China, they could be the eyes and ears of commanders in those man-made islands and either direct strikes against them or unilaterally eliminate them. And evidence suggests that this is what they are being training to do.

The SEALs, for example, have requested an exponential increase in training activities in Hawaii’s islands. As of now, around 100 training exercises take place in Hawaii per year, the majority of which are scuba diving training. However, NSWC has requested 330 exercises for 2019. The majority of the exercises would be parachute insertions followed by over-the-beach operations.

The Navy has yet to approve the increase. But, judging by the words of Admiral Moran, it will.

Photo: US Navy

For the entire article click on the link here: