Category Archives: asymmetric warfare

The Men with Green Faces

Posted on by One comment

55 years ago today, 7 May 1969, in Norfolk, Virginia: “Members of SEAL Team TWO participate in a ceremony to award them nearly 60 medals, most of which were earned in combat in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam.”

Remember that the awards are likely just for a platoon or two (12-24 men) returning from a rotation. 

Note at least three silver stars, five Vietnam Gallantry Crosses, and a sea of Bronze stars, many with combat “Vs” or stars for multiple awards. National Archives K-82040

The Brown Water Navy, including the rotating SEAL Platoons, in 1968 alone earned an impressive “one Medal of Honor, six Navy Crosses, four Legions of Merit, 24 Silver Stars, 290 Bronze Stars, 363 Navy Commendation Medals, and more than 500 Purple Hearts, with one out of every three Sailors being wounded,” as noted by the NHHC. Of note, the MOH was earned by LTjg Joseph Robert (Bob) Kerry, USNR, of Team ONE.

“Mekong Delta, Vietnam – SEAL team members move in on their target, an enemy bunker complex on Tan Dinh Island, during Operation Bold Dragon III. March 26, 1968.” Note the tiger stripes, short boonie, camo beret, Stoner 63 in the lead frogman’s hands, slung early M16 complete with “jungle mags” carried by the center man, and the early Colt XM148 40mm grenade launcher on the M16 in the rear. NHHC Accession #: K-46398

Seals on Ambush Painting, Acrylic on Canvas, by Marbury Brown; Framed Dimensions 38H X 50 1/2W Accession #: 88-161-EU Established to carry out guerrilla and anti-guerrilla operations in harbors, inland waters, and their adjacent land areas, SEAL (Sea, Air, Land) teams usually operated in 6 man units to gather intelligence and conduct raids, reconnaissance patrols, salvage dives, and, as depicted here, ambushes of enemy forces.

First heading to Vietnam in 1962 in small groups to help train the locals in the ways of the frogman, by 1968 all-up 12-man SEAL platoons, rotating from both Coronado-based Team ONE and Little Creek’s Team TWO, had switched to full-scale direct action in the Vietnamese marsh and littoral, supported by mobile support team (MST) boat elements (the forerunners of today’s SWCC guys) as well as the Seawolves of HAL-3.

As noted by the UDT SEAL Museum:

SEAL platoons carried out day and night ambushes (but much preferred night operations), hit-and-run raids, reconnaissance patrols, and special intelligence collection operations. Calling them the “men with green faces” because of the face camouflage they used, the VC feared SEALs and often put bounties on their heads.

The last SEAL platoon departed Vietnam on 7 December 1971. The last SEAL advisors left Vietnam in March 1973. Between 1965 and 1972 there were 46 SEALs killed in Vietnam. They are forever remembered on the Navy SEAL Memorial at the Museum.

Kyiv Counter-UAV Unit Manned by…Judges?

Posted on by Leave a comment

I saw this interesting short on DW about administrative and criminal law judges in the Ukraine capital who, barred from front-line service due to the need to keep them on the job, ditch their robes and moonlight (literally) as members of an AAA battery that runs vintage Maxim PM M1910 machine guns from the city’s rooftops.

Keep in mind that Maxims, joined in twin and quad mounts, were the original ZPU in the 1930s and was used against aircraft arguably faster and more maneuverable than many of today’s UAVs

If you have a few minutes, it is a cool story.

You know SFAB, Yes?

Posted on by One comment

The Army University Press recently released a 45-minute deep dive into the recently formed Security Force Assistance Brigades (SFAB), essentially taking over the boring non-shooting military advisor role that SF has fallen into since the 1960s, thus allowing SF to do more, um, SF-type stuff.

Since being stood up in 2017, Security Force Assistance Brigades (SFABs) have provided the U.S. Army with unique capabilities and immense flexibility. In this interview-driven film, we examine the SFAB mission, hear what life is like as an advisor, and explore the challenges SFABs will face in the future. The film features Major General Donn H. Hill, the Commanding General at Security Force Assistance Command (SFAC), as well as Lieutenant General (Ret.) Michael Lundy and other leaders from SFAC and the SFABs. Among other topics, these leaders discuss how SFABs strengthen our allies and partner forces while supporting U.S. security objectives.

The Curious RN Littoral Response Group

Posted on by 2 comments

The Admiralty back in 2019 spitballed a concept dubbed the “Littoral Response Group,” a sort of pocket-sized amphibious warfare task group that could still be built around the Royal Navy’s shrinking force of ‘phibs and Royal Marines to deploy from them.

The trial LRG deployment, to the Baltic in 2021, was made up of the 20,000-ton amphibious assault ship HMS Albion (L14), the 16,000-ton landing dock RFA Mounts Bay (L3008), plus an escort in the form of the Type 23 frigate HMS Lancaster, with embarked Wildcat helicopters from 847 Naval Air Squadron and a light battalion-sized element of Royal Marines from 45 and 30 Commando.

Now, a pared-down Indo-Pacific-bound LRG, which is now forward deployed “East of Suez” after service in the Mediterranean, consists of just two vessels– neither one a proper warship. Both are Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships, manned by civilian RFA staff with RN detachments for commo and gunnery, roughly akin to the civilian mariners of the MSC here in America.

The two vessels, the 16,000-ton dock landing ship RFA Lyme Bay (L3007) and 28,000-ton converted container ship RFA Argus (A135)— have a self-defense armament of just three 20mm CIWS, two DS30B Mk 1 30 mm guns, two Oerlikon 20 mm guns, 8 .50 cal Brownings and 10 7.62mm L7 GPMGs between them as well as a few soft kill options such as Seagnat chaff launchers. Nothing with a range further than about 6,000 yards.

And you thought the LCS was underarmed!

RFA Lyme Bay (L3007)

RFA Argus (A135)

Capable of supporting over 500 embarked troops and RN personnel, they have deployed to the Pacific with just 3 large Merlin Mk 4 helicopters of 845 Naval Air Squadron, some mixed UAVs, and an embarked company of about 130 Marines from 40 Commando.

Argus and Lyme Bay are currently at the Larsen & Toubro shipyard in India for maintenance, before heading into the Pacific.

When next in Destin…

Posted on by One comment

When bopping around the West Florida panhandle and looking to scratch a military history stuff itch, besides the extensive coastal fortifications around Pensacola (Forts Pickens and Barrancas along with their nearby Advanced Redoubt and WWII beach batteries) and the National Naval Aviation Museum, closer to Eglin AFB there is the excellent Air Force Armament Museum.

There is also a great aviation park that has been off limits to the public since 9/11– the Hurlburt Field Memorial Air Park.

Dedicated to the USAAF’s and USAF’s Air Commandos and maintained by the secret squirrels of the Air Force Special Operations Command, it has several rare COIN and SOF aircraft on display as well as numerous memorial markers spanning from WWII through more recent adventures in the sandbox.

They have a C-46 Commando and C-47, MH-53M and MH-60 Pave Lows, a Psy-Op Huey, A-1G Skyraider, an A-26K Counter Invader, O1s and O2s, an RF-4C, AC-119G Shadow gunship, AC-130A Spectre gunship “Ultimate End,” an OV-10 Bronco, and CH-3 Jolly Green, among some 20 types on display. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Christopher Callaway)

Gratefully to anyone passing through who didn’t already have a CAC card, it is set to reopen to the general public on Wednesday 10 April.

Fighting with what you got

Posted on by Leave a comment

How about this shot, some 80 years ago this month, of Soviet Red Partisans during the liberation of the Crimean town of Bakhchysarai, April 1944. Drink in the diversity when it comes to hardware.

On the left is a 47-round pan magazine-fed Degtyaryov DP27/28 in the traditional Russki 7.62x54mmR caliber, then a German Maschinengewehr 13— an air-cooled conversion of the old water-cooled Dreyse Model 1918 in 8mm Mauser- with its distinctive 25-round horizontal box mag, as well as a Shpagin PPSh-41 burb gun in 7.62 Tok complete with its 71-round drum magazine. Talk about trouble for the supply guy!

The Reds fielded something like 800,000 partisans during the “Great Patriotic War.” 

Of sad note from this period about the above town itself, under German/Romanian occupation, Bakhchysarai was “cleansed” of its Jewish population, and then when the Reds came back, Uncle Joe in turn ordered all the local Crimean Tatars deported as “traitors.”

USMC Mini Seaplane Tenders?

Posted on by Leave a comment

You’ve heard of amphibious drones, yes? Like the land-locked cousins but a sea-based variety.

Some are simple, like the 10-pound Aeromapper Talon made by Canadian UAV manufacturer Aeromao.

Using an electric motor, the Talon can stay aloft for 90 minutes with a cruising speed of about 30 knots and, if needed, can make a water landing for recovery.

Yup. It floats. It is in production and has been available for the past four years.

They are being looked at as a low-cost coastal patrol and SAR asset, for instance, in Belize.

However, there are much cooler floatplane UAVs out there as well. 
 
 
Developed two years ago by Space Entertainment Laboratory Co., Ltd. in Minamisoma City, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, it can automatically take off and land on the water even offshore with 10-foot swells, and, alternatively, can sail on water like a USV. It is small, with a wingspan of 11 feet, and an all-up weight of about 50 pounds, but can fly for approximately 120 minutes at a cruising speed of 30 knots and can operate within a range of approximately 10 nm. 
 
 
A larger version is under works that will be able to centrally carry a 660-pound payload
 

The larger Hamadori in the works has a cruising range of 350 nm and the ability to continue flying for about 8 hours– which is very interesting.

 
In that vein, read this great speculative piece by Matthew Cosner in this month’s Proceedings entitled, “How Uncrewed Seaplanes Can Support EABO.” 
 
Cosner, an operations research analyst with the Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division at Patuxent, theorizes Marine Littoral Regiments operating in conjunction with an uncrewed seaplane squadron. 
 
A Marine uncrewed seaplane squadron (VMU[S]) would be equipped with approximately 18 small seaplane UAVs, organized into three detachments of six UAVs, each with one or more portable mission control systems. Each detachment would comprise perhaps eight to ten Marines with the skills to support, operate, and maintain their assigned vehicles and systems. The detachment would travel in small craft similar to the Navy’s former 53-foot riverine command boats. These would function as miniature seaplane tenders, moving frequently throughout the region.
 
The Marine Corps has identified seven principal tasks for its aviation units: electronic and cyber warfare; offensive air support; air surveillance and reconnaissance; multidomain command and control; antiair warfare; assault support; and aviation ground support. VMU(S) detachments would be capable of swapping mission payloads to support the first four.
More here. 
 

Of Big Airfields on Tiny Islands and Alternate Logistics

Posted on by Leave a comment

Two F-22 Raptors assigned to the 525th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron, Kadena Air Base, Japan, prepare for launch during Exercise Agile Reaper 23-1 at Tinian International Airport, Northern Mariana Islands, March 2, 2023. Throughout the weeklong exercise, F-22 Raptors will fly sorties from locations within the Northern Mariana Islands in a first for the aircraft. AR 23-1 supports the Air Force’s requirement for expeditionary skills necessary to operate outside of military installations; Airmen must have diverse skills that enable them to operate in a contested, degraded, and operationally limited environment. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Hailey Staker)

Congress recently ponied up a big win for American contingency plans in the Pacific by providing $7.1 billion in support and aid, to be distributed over 20 years, to the Freely Associated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and Palau. These island chains are the remnants of the old post-WWII U.S. Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, which were in most cases part of the Empire of Japan before that.

The compacts ensure that the United States can maintain a military presence in the Freely Associated States, and they enable the Compacts’ island citizens to serve in the U.S. military.

As detailed by Air & Space Forces Magazine:

Now, in its most fiscal 2025 budget request, the Air Force has laid out plans to upgrade facilities on the tiny island of Yap, which lies between Guam and Palau, some 1,000 miles southeast of China. Part of the Federated States of Micronesia, Yap comprises just 46 square miles, making it just two-thirds the size of Washington, D.C.

The Air Force wants to invest $400 million to extend its runway in both directions and expand facilities there, beginning with an initial investment of $96 million in 2025.

Meanwhile, Marine F-35s of VMX-1 have been getting the logistics worked out of how to operate the birds from an old 50-foot-wide highway in Southern California. With ordnance and support crews flown in via V-22s, it is a postage stamp-sized operation that could be repeated anywhere a good length of roadway is found– for instance small old airfields around the Pacific Rim.

Speaking of Marines thinking outside of the box when it comes to running operations in likely well-contested forward areas, the Corps is interested in the “autonomous low-profile vessel,” or ALPV, which Gen. Christopher Mahoney, the assistant commandant of the Marine Corps, describes as an “extremely low-observable,” autonomous, ocean-going ship.

In short, a legit version of the old narco-sub, but with the advantage of being unmanned.

An autonomous low-profile vessel sails on the Del Mar Boat Basin to test its capabilities as part of Project Convergence Capstone 4 at Camp Pendleton, Calif., Feb. 23, 2024. The ALPV is a semi-submersible autonomous logistics delivery system that can be configured to deliver multiple variations of supplies and equipment throughout the littorals. Photo By: Kevin Ray J. Salvador, Marine Corps. VIRIN: 240223-M-AJ782-1510Y

Can We Just Give a Shoutout to the Indian Navy?

Posted on by Leave a comment

In case you have been asleep, the Indian Fleet has been very, very busy, and is looking like a seriously credible and professional force that, in all honesty, arguably surpasses even the French and British fleets.

The Indians just saw eight submarines operating together in the Arabian Sea, including a bottoming operation with a vice admiral aboard. Few countries in the world could mount such an impressive force of subs in one place at one time.

The Indian Navy has two Arihant class SSBNs along with 16 assorted SSKs including French Scorpene, German Type 209s, and Russian Kilos. 

They also have two more SSBNs and three SSKs under construction and 10 SSNs planned.

They have been very active in naval exercises lately. Just this month, the Indian Navy has been a part of Exercise Cutlass Express 2024 in Seychelles (with U.S. assets and those of 16 African countries), Exercise Samudra Laksamana with the Royal Malaysian Navy, the India-Mozambique-Tanzania (IMT) Tri-Lateral (TRILAT) Exercise, and Tiger Triumph ’24.

The Indian fleet recently completed the biennial MILAN 2024 exercise at the end of February, which saw 35 ships at sea including 13 Indian along with both the country’s active aircraft carriers, INS Vikramaditya and INS Vikrant.

India is in the process of upgrading its 40 remaining MiG-29Ks for much more capable Dassault Rafale Ms, giving its carriers some serious capability. The DDG on plane guard duty is a domestic Kolkata-class (Project 15A) guided-missile destroyer, of which the Indians have three in service, all carrying 16 giant BrahMos ramjet AshMs. Note the tin can’s distinctive Israeli IAI EL/M-2248 MF-STAR S-band AESA multi-function radar “top hat.” 

Speaking of upgrading embarked aircraft, the fleet just stood up its first of two MH 60R Seahawk squadrons, INAS 334, at INS Garuda, Kochi.

The helicopters are a part of the 24-aircraft FMS contract signed with the US government in Feb 2020.

The Indian fleet has also been getting it done against both the Houthi and Somali pirates.

In operations in the Central Arabian Sea, one advanced 2,200-ton Saryu-class patrol vessel, INS Sumitra (P59), recently earned a Unit Commendation after she apprehended 11 Somali pirates and rescued 36 mariners in responding to the hijacked FV Iman and FV Al Naeemi.

INS Sumitra (P59)

When the UK-owned, Palau-flagged cargo carrier MV Islander (IMO 9136565) caught fire after she was hit by two Houthi missiles on 22 Feb 2024, an Indian Navy Kolkata-class destroyer on patrol in the Gulf of Aden came to her assistance and landed EOD specialists and medical personnel.

Perhaps most spectacular was the events surrounding the Malta-flagged bulk carrier MV Ruen (IMO 9754903) which had been hijacked by 35 Somali pirates with 18 crew aboard.

A two-day response included the 8,000-ton destroyer INS Kolkata (D063), an Indian Air Force C-17 flying more than 1,500 miles to airdrop marine commandos, two drones, and an India Navy P-8.

The incident ended with the Ruen and her mariners liberated and all 35 pirates still alive and in custody, allowing the fleet to state, “The Indian Navy remains steadfast in performing its role as the ‘First Responder’ in IOR.”

Note the SA 316 Alouette III, known as the Chetak in local service.

In other Indian Navy News, the 56-foot training sloop INSV Tarini, operating with an all-female crew of naval officers, recently made a three-week cruise from Goa to Mauritius, a tough 2,700 miles across the Indian Ocean, in preparation for an upcoming circumnavigation of the globe, scheduled later this year.

A different six-member all-woman team previously completed a similar 254-day circumnavigation in 2018.

‘Ghost Army’ Gets its Due

Posted on by One comment

The Ghost Army Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony, Via the U.S. House of Representatives:

Three surviving members of the Ghost Army, the top-secret WWII units that used creative deception to fool the enemy, will join House Speaker Mike Johnson, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and other Congressional leaders at a special ceremony on March 21 at the Capitol to honor the Ghost Army with the Congressional Gold Medal.

Speaker Johnson and Senate Republican Leader McConnell will be joined at the ceremony by House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, along with the original sponsors of the legislation that passed in 2022 authorizing the award, Congress’s highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements by individuals or institutions. They are Sen. Edward Markey (D-MA), Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), Rep. Ann Kuster (D-NH), and former Rep. Chris Stewart (R-UT).

There are just seven surviving members of the Ghost Army, three of whom will attend the ceremony: ·

Bernard Bluestein, Hoffman Estates, IL. Bernie is a 100-year-old veteran of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops. He served in the visual deception unit, the 603rd Camouflage Engineers. He joined the unit from the Cleveland Institute of Art and returned after the war for a long and successful career in industrial design. He has been a sculptor for the last 30 years.

John Christman, Leesburg, NJ. John served as a demolition specialist for the 406th. After the war, he worked in a lumber mill and the NJ Department of Corrections. He is an active baker who, at age 99, still bakes bread for his family holiday and birthday celebrations.

Seymour Nussenbaum, Monroe Township, NJ. Also 100, Seymore came to the Ghost Army from Pratt Institute and served in the 603rd, where he was friends with Bernie. Seymour helped to make the counterfeit patches used by the unit in Special Effects. He graduated from Pratt and went on to a long career in package design. He has been an avid stamp collector his entire life.

Other surviving members include James “Tom” Anderson (Dover, DE); George Dramis (Raleigh, NC); William Nall (Dunnellon, FL); and John Smith (Woodland, MI).

Many family members and relatives of the Ghost Army veterans, living and deceased, will also attend the ceremony, along with officers from the U.S. Army PSYOP forces. It will culminate a nearly 10-year effort by members and volunteers of the Ghost Army Legacy Project to win recognition for the little-known Army units that played a unique but unheralded part in the Allied victory of WWII and included such notable members as Bill Blass, Art Kane, and Ellsworth Kelly.

The ceremony will also be the first time the Gold Medal, designed and produced by the U.S. Treasury Department, will be unveiled. The ceremony is part of a two-day celebration for the veterans and their families that includes an awards dinner with featured speaker Maj. Gen. Paul Stanton, Commanding General, U.S. Army Cyber Center of Excellence and Fort Eisenhower, and a screening of a 2013 documentary that recounts the daring exploits of the units during World War II.

Ghost Army Insignia circa 1944.

The existence of the Ghost Army was top secret for more than 50 years until it was declassified in 1996. That’s when the public first learned of the creative, daring techniques the Ghost Army employed to fool and distract the enemy about the strength and location of American troops, including the use of inflatable tanks, sound effects, radio trickery, and impersonation. The 23rd Headquarters Special Troops staged more than 20 deception operations, often dangerously close to the front, in France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany.

This “traveling road show of deception,” of only 1,100 troops appearing to be more than 20,000, is credited with saving an estimated 30,000 American lives.

U.S. Army analyst Mark Kronman stated, “Rarely, if ever, has there been a group of such a few men which had so great an influence on the outcome of a major military campaign.”​

A sister unit, the 3133rd Signal Company Special, carried out two deceptions along the Gothic Line in Italy in April 1945. The unit was joined by a platoon from the 101st Royal Engineers, a British unit equipped with dummy rubber tanks.

“What made the Ghost Army special was not just their extraordinary courage, but their creativity,” said Rep. Ann Kuster (D-NH), the House sponsor of the bill authorizing the Gold Medal. “Their story reminds us that listening to unconventional ideas, like using visual and sound deception, can help us solve existential challenges like defeating tyranny.”

 

« Older Entries Recent Entries »