SOF

Britain’s Aircraft Carrier Queen Elizabeth Begins Sea Trials

The British Navy has commissioned two aircraft carriers to be built at the Rosyth dockyards at a cost of six billion Euros. The first of which, the Queen Elizabeth is leaving the port to undergo her sea trials.

Queen Elizabeth will carry over 40 aircraft and be able to project British air power anywhere in the oceans of the world.

It is the largest warship ever built for the Royal Navy. The flight deck alone is the size of three football pitches.
Once in service the ship can operate with a crew of 1,000 and 40 aircraft.
The 65,000 tonne warship is the Royal Navy’s first aircraft carrier since HMS Illustrious was scrapped in 2014.
The numbers behind HMS Queen Elizabeth

The project to build HMS Queen Elizabeth and sister ship HMS Prince of Wales cost more than £6bn
The aircraft carrier weighs 65,000 tonnes and has a top speed of 25 knots
Its flight deck is 280m long and 70m wide – enough space for three football pitches
The ship is the second in the Royal Navy to be named Queen Elizabeth
It will have a crew of about 700, increasing to 1,600 when a full complement of F-35B jets and Crowsnest helicopters are embarked
There are 364,000m of pipes inside the ship
Both HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales will keep 45 days worth of food in its stores
The entire ship’s company of 700 can be served a meal within 90 minutes – or 45 minutes when at action station
Leaving the Rosytdock will be among the most difficult manoeuvres in the sea trials with just 50cm between the bottom of the ship and the seabed in the port

Commanding Officer Captain Jerry Kydd said the ship was important for Britain’s reputation as a naval power.

“I think there are very few capabilities, by any country, that are as symbolic as a carrier strike capability,” he added.

“Submarines you can’t see, but these are very visible symbols of power and power projection.”

The ship at the conclusion of her sea trials would still be several years from being an operational ship, as it has a scheduled date of 2020 as being ready. Although technical issues were forcing to its trials to begin three months late.

To read the entire article from the BBC click here:

Photo courtesy Royal Navy

Philippines Won’t Negotiate with Rebels That Seized Marawi

The battle on-going in the Philippines has taken an ugly turn as the rebels holding the city of Malawi are resorting to tactics that have been seen in other places. Local residents are being forced to fight government troops, loot homes of valuables and serve as sex slaves for the rebel forces.

On Tuesday, military leaders cited residents of Marawi City who either escaped or were rescued and said some hostages were forced to convert to Islam, carry wounded fighters to mosques, and marry militants of the Maute group loyal to Islamic State.

The claims by the residents haven’t been confirmed by third parties but there is no doubting that the suffering of the citizens has been high since the battle commenced.

The government ruled out negotiations after reports that Abdullah Maute, one of two brothers who formed the militant group carrying their name, wanted to trade a Catholic priest hostage for his parents arrested earlier this month.
The military said on Saturday Abdullah Maute had fled.
Taking advantage of a short truce to mark the Eid al-Fitr Islamic holiday, eight Muslim leaders met briefly on Sunday with Maute. The Philippine Daily Inquirer said he had asked for his father, Cayamora Maute, and influential businesswoman mother, Farhana Maute, to be freed, in a swap for Father Teresito “Chito” Soganub.
But presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said deals with militants were against government policy, and anyone trying to bargain had no authority to do so.
“The local religious leader-led talks with terrorists last Sunday was one not sanctioned,” Abella told reporters.
“Any demands made inside, therefore, hold no basis. Let us remind the public, the gravity of the terrorists and their supporters’ offences is immense.”
The military’s public relations machine has been insisting that the rebel leadership was crumbling, saying top commanders had escaped or were killed in action, and the group was fraught with infighting, even executing their own men for wanting to surrender.
Military officers, however, accept they lack solid proof of such developments and were working to verify intelligence reports.
The army said there were reported sightings of the departure from the battle of Isnilon Hapilon, Islamic State’s anointed Southeast Asian “emir”, which Abella said showed he was not committed to his cause.

Thus far, official figures show 70 troops, 27 civilians and 290 militants have since been killed and 246,000 people displaced since the battle began in May.

To read the entire article from the Reuters click here:

Photo courtesy SOFREP

When Special Operations Training Takes a Step Back in Time

When Special Operations guys enter the units that they’ve worked so hard to get into, they all have a burning desire to use that newfound knowledge and go out and do great things. Those type of operations that they’ve envisioned inside the recessed part of their brain but never publicly spoken about for fear that it would ‘jinx” their chances.

But sometimes the operations that you’ll get tasked to do won’t be those “high-speed”, high visibility operations using the state-of-the-art gadgets from Q-Branch, but using very necessary and forgotten knowledge from generations before. And now, with the operators of all the services conducting missions in all kinds of austere environments, those forgotten lessons are once again…thankfully being taught at the schoolhouse.

My first team that I was assigned to was a Mountain team and I was thrilled. After high school and while in college, I took up rock climbing and the Northeast has several superb areas to practice your craft. I spent a ton of time climbing in the White Mountains of NH, the Adirondacks of NY including the world famous “Gunks” as the local climbers call the Shawangunks and Crow Hill State Park in Leominster, Massachusetts.

Crow Hill is just minutes from Ft. Devens, MA, which in those days was the home of the 10^th Special Forces Group and they frequently used Crow Hill for training and I ran into quite a few of them back in the day as they conducted their training much to the chagrin of the local climbers who bemoaned (from afar) their use of pitons in the cracks rather than using “nuts” which didn’t scar the rock. The SF guys could care less.

So as the new guy on the team, I was anxious to show, at least in the climbing realm, I already had a lot of experience and would be a definite bonus to the team. And when we got the word that the mountain team was getting alerted for a mission, I had visions of getting the best alpine gear and going on a climbing expedition to the Andes or some exotic locale.

Well imagine our surprise when our team leader announced we were going to mule packing school. Now back then, the JFKSWC (Special Warfare Center) didn’t have an advanced mountain school or have any course where animal packing was done. We’d learn from civilians in Arizona. The Army hadn’t done serious mule packing since the days of Merrill’s Marauders in Burma. A friend of mine from the SF Reserves in New York sent me an Army Mule Packing Manual from the early 1900s.

We had very strict guidelines in what was to be packed and carried by the pack animals and we set off to learn and to experiment on what worked, what didn’t and how we’d go about in altering the pack saddles and panniers to fit what we need to tote along.

We took our mission to Honduras and the mountains in the interior of the country, far from prying eyes. Working with the Airborne battalion in Tamara and the 6^th Infantry Bn. home of “The Centaurs” at Ojo de Agua, commonly known as Ojo de Nada would provide our host nation troops. Some of them had pack animal experience, but most did not.

The animals were a mixed bag, having only a few mules, we worked with tiny burros and horses which aren’t as good as mules when it comes to carrying a heavy load as well as their footing but we used what we had. We spent days working up a solution to what needed to go in a specific load, putting it on an animal, and marching them around the compound. Then take it the pack saddle off, readjust the load and the lashing and do it all over again.

We were basically learning on the fly and everything we tried and tested was put on the computer or filmed as to help the next guys who would get tasked to run this type of operation. Our team Warrant Officer, Rick B. probably was the SME (subject matter expert) on pack animal operations in the military at that point. It truly was a forgotten art at that point in time.

Finally, we were ready to take a mule train across the mountains. We loaded up our rag-tag group of 20 mules, horses, and burros and loaded them down with food, water, mortars and mortar ammunition, Stingers as well as our rucksacks. We’d carry our vests and weapons.

Author with “Samurai” horse getting a drink in a mountain stream

Almost immediately, problems arose. The pack saddles, sized for big Tennessee mules in the states, were too big for their smaller Honduran cousins. Loads were slipping and sliding after a short few steps and the train stopped constantly. Rick was everywhere, moving up and down the train, helping everyone get their loads straightened out. As soon as one would get fixed, another would slide and need fixing.

After pushing out of the battalion soccer field at 0700, by dark, we made about 500 meters…and were still in view of the base guard towers, who shouted out good-natured insults to their soldiers working with us.

The second day started off much the same way, the first few hours were once again spent constantly fixing the shifting loads before everything started to fall into place. By noon time of Day 2, we started trucking and we covered about 20+ kilometers, which thru the mountains was no easy task. The animals handled their loads, once they were properly loaded, without any problems at all. Days 3-4 we blazed across the mountains and reached the point we had initially picked to reach on Day 5 before our problems surfaced at the start.

Our mission was a success and the lessons learned on our mission were turned over to the proper people who needed that expertise in another part of the world. That mission proved to be successful as we watched it unfold from afar and the military took notice.

Pack animals are now used in many places by our Special Operations troops where vehicles can go or are not available. A few years later we watched as a group of 5^th SFG (A) and Air Force Special Operators made the first mounted horseback charge in over 100 years.

The JFKSWC’s Senior Mountaineering Course and the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Training School both teach the finer points of using animals including horsemanship, animal packing instructions, equipment maintenance in their curriculums.

A Special Forces soldier leads his pack mule down a trail Sept. 18 during the Special Operations Animal Packing Course at Fort Bragg, N.C. The course prepares special operation troops for extended movement in undeveloped areas where motorized transportation is not an option. (Photo by Cpl. Kyle J. Cosner, USASOC PAO)

Graduates can go back to their units and be the subject-matter experts in tactical military operations in mountainous terrain, lead untrained and indigenous forces over mountainous terrain, as well as conduct pack-animal operations.

Sometimes, the “high-speed” isn’t in the equipment being used, but in the manner that the operators use the old ways and tailor them to modern missions.

Photos courtesy of the author, US Army

SOF Selection PT Preparation 6.27.2017

If this is Tuesday, then it must be our Leg Day at the gym followed by a 4-mile run. Begin with pull-ups and towel pullups for those who don’t have access to climbing ropes. Then squats, lunges and the sled followed by a four-mile run

Training:

Continue to prep for the UBRR

3 x Pull-ups 10 reps

3 x Towel pull-ups 10 reps

3 x Front Squat 20-15-12 reps (lighter weight)

3 x Goblet Squats 20-15-12 reps (lighter weight)

4 x Sled push heavier weight

3 x 10 reps Dumbbell lunges

3 x 20 Side Planks

4-Mile run

Stretch well after completion

Israel Hits Syrian Targets After Assad Troops Hit Israel With Artillery Fire

The Israeli’s wasted little time striking the military troops of embattled Syrian President Assad after the spillover from the civil war had the Syrians shelling Israeli territory. Israeli forces destroyed two tanks after the shelling hit on the Israel side of the Golan Heights.

“With the IDF action today, we are making our policy clear again,” Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu said. “We are not willing to accept any ‘drizzle’ [of fire] or ‘spillover’ on any front. We will react with force to any firing on our territory.”

“We react with force, determination, and discretion to every such incident, as the IDF did [today] on the Golan Heights. As far as we are concerned, the Assad regime is responsible for what is happening in its territory, and it will continue to bear the consequences if such events repeat themselves,” he said.
The IDF said spillover from the Syrian civil war is treated with the utmost severity and noted that it “will not tolerate any attempt to harm the sovereignty of the State of Israel and the security of its residents.”
It noted as much in a protest letter sent swiftly to UN Disengagement Observer Force following the incident.
Spillover fire from Syria on Saturday was reported by Israeli authorities less than an hour before Israel responded, the IDF confirmed.
Although no casualties or damage to property were reported in the incident, the IDF issued instructions to farmers and civilians near the Quneitra border crossing into Syria to avoid open fields.
Backpackers and hikers – who flock to the Golan at this time of year – were also evacuated from the area.

Besides the two tanks destroyed, the Israelis also hit the area where the shelling came from. In April, the Israelis shot down a Syrian drone that had also crossed the border.

To read the entire article from the Jerusalem Post click here:

Photos/Video Courtesy IDF

US Raids on ISIS Revealing Valuable Intelligence

The United States Special Operations forces are increasingly targeting usable intelligence when going after mid-to-senior level ISIS members in an effort to gain an edge in the war against the shadowy terrorist organization.

A raid in April to capture Abdurakhmon Uzbeki, a close confidante, and associate of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Uzbeki however, didn’t allow himself to be taken alive and died in a shootout with US commandos.

But the intelligence gleaned from cell phones, laptops and other small devices taken in that raid and another in January is proving very valuable to US intelligence agencies as they learn what makes the organization function. And they provide better intelligence to plan future operations against the Islamic State.

“If we can scoop somebody up with their cellphones and diaries, it can really speed up the demise of a terrorist group like ISIS, said Dell L. Dailey, a retired commander of the military’s Joint Special Operations Command and the Chairman for the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point.

While the Islamic State is far from defeated, their safe, staging areas and self-proclaimed caliphates in Iraq and Syria and being taken away from them as the US and coalition forces drive them out a small piece at a time.

Uzbeki was targeted for his extensive planning into terrorist operations around the world including the deadly Istanbul attack on New Year’s Eve. US Central Command’s John H. Thomas told the press that he helped move funds and fighters around the world as well as being a close associate of al-Baghdadi.

The information revealed in the captured cellphones, laptops and other materials yield important intelligence on the terrorist group’s leadership structure, financial operations, and security measures. It would have been an even bigger boost if the US could have captured the terrorist leaders and tried to extract information for them.

To read the entire article from the NY Times click here:

Photos Courtesy: DOD

SOF Selection PT Preparation 6.26.2017

A quick workout to start the day and week off right. Start off with the basics of pushups, sit-ups, and crunches, then to the bar for V-ups, pull-ups, and dips before a 5-mile run in a mini UBRR test. Remember to stay hydrated and mark your progress in your workout log book.

Training:

More preparation for the UBRR

1 x 1-minute Pushups

1 x 1-minute Sit-ups

1 x 1-minute, Crunches

1 x 1-minute, V-ups

1 x Dips as many as possible to muscle failure (No time limit)

1 x Pullups as many as possible or to muscle failure (No time limit)

5-mile run

Stretch well after completion

SOF Selection PT Preparation 6.25.2017

Sunday morning Rucksack march. Do a quick warm up of pushups and sit-ups before heading out. Head out over varied terrain and try to go as fast as you can without running.

Stretch well both before and after the event. Remember to drink plenty of water and stay hydrated out there. With the heat of the warm weather months upon us, it is imperative and you don’t want to go down with a heat-related injury.

Training:

Warm up

2 x 20 Pushups

2 x 20 Sit ups

2-hour Rucksack march over varied terrain with a 45-pound minimum. Go as hard and fast as you can in one direction for an hour. Then turn around and go back to the start point. And mark your times in your workout log book.

Stretch well after completion

SOF Selection PT Preparation 6.24.2017

Saturday morning and heading back to the gym for a shoulder and back workout. Towel pullups if you have no access to ropes or climbing ropes if they are available. Followed by a four-mile run. Log your numbers down in the workout notebook

Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

3 x 10 Lat Pulldowns, rear

3 x 10 Barbell Dead Lift

3 x 10 Wide Grip Pullups

3 x 10 Towel Pullups

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

4-mile run

Stretch well after completion

Western Companies Bowing to Russian Demands to Share Cyber Secrets

There are a growing number of Western technology companies, including Cisco, IBM, and SAP, that are caving to demands by Moscow for access to closely guarded product security secrets.

What the Russians are demanding is that Western tech companies to allow them to review source code for security products such as firewalls, anti-virus applications and software containing encryption. This must be done they say before they’ll allow the products to be imported and sold in the country. These “requests”, which have increased since 2014, are done, according to the Russians to ensure foreign spy agencies have not hidden any “backdoors” that would allow them to burrow into Russian systems.

The timing of these demands by the Russians comes at a particularly sticky time when Russia has been accused of a growing number of cyber-attacks on the West, including the recent US Presidential election.

But those inspections also provide the Russians an opportunity to find vulnerabilities in the products’ source code – instructions that control the basic operations of computer equipment – current and former U.S. officials and security experts said.
While a number of U.S. firms say they are playing ball to preserve their entree to Russia’s huge tech market, at least one U.S. firm, Symantec, told Reuters it has stopped cooperating with the source code reviews over security concerns. That halt has not been previously reported.
Symantec said one of the labs inspecting its products was not independent enough from the Russian government.
U.S. officials say they have warned firms about the risks of allowing the Russians to review their products’ source code, because of fears it could be used in cyber attacks. But they say they have no legal authority to stop the practice unless the technology has restricted military applications or violates U.S. sanctions.
From their side, companies say they are under pressure to acquiesce to the demands from Russian regulators or risk being shut out of a lucrative market. The companies say they only allow Russia to review their source code in secure facilities that prevent code from being copied or altered.
If tech firms do decline the FSB’s source code requests, then approval for their products can be indefinitely delayed or denied outright, U.S. trade attorneys and U.S. officials said. The Russian information technology market is expected to be worth $18.4 billion this year, according to market researcher International Data Corporation (IDC).
Six current and former U.S. officials who have dealt with companies on the issue said they are suspicious about Russia’s motives for the expanded reviews.
“It’s something we have a real concern about,” said a former senior Commerce Department official who had direct knowledge of the interaction between U.S. companies and Russian officials until he left office this year. “You have to ask yourself what it is they are trying to do, and clearly they are trying to look for information they can use to their advantage to exploit, and that’s obviously a real problem.”
However, none of the officials who spoke to Reuters could point to specific examples of hacks or cyber espionage that were made possible by the review process.
Source code requests are not unique to Russia. In the United States, tech companies allow the government to audit source code in limited instances as part of defense contracts and other sensitive government work. China sometimes also requires source code reviews as a condition to import commercial software, U.S. trade attorneys say.

Although there have been numerous reports that he didn’t say this now…but it is worth repeating, just in case, Vladimir Illich Lenin has been quoted that “We will hang the last capitalist with the rope they sell us.”

To read the entire article from the Reuters click here:

Photos courtesy Reuters video