US Special Operations Command is getting a cut in their budget….
This as they challage differnt mission goals after watching the Ukraine and Israel conflicts and have China on their radar ….
America’s Special Operations forces are in the midst of a major transformation. As the powerful militaries commanded by Russia and China compete with the United States for dominance in the resource-rich Arctic, the Pentagon has dramatically expanded its focus on what a war would look like here in one of the planet’s most treacherous settings — and how its most advanced units could be brought to bear on a direct threat to the U.S. homeland or to NATO allies who inhabit the coldest climes of Europe.
Special Operations troops are distinct from conventional military forces, tasked with the secretive, sensitive, dangerous assignments such as kill-capture missions, hostage rescues, and sabotage. This winter, The Washington Post was granted rare access to teams of SEALs, Green Berets, the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment and other elite personnel while they stress-tested the innumerable limitations imposed by Alaska’s vast, merciless wilderness, including in Kodiak, a wind-blasted outpost off the state’s southern coast, and in austere training areas outside the central city of Fairbanks.
The sobering takeaway, it was instantly clear, is that any conflict in the High North would be an unmitigated nightmare for those sent to fight it….
….
The Arctic, warming four times faster than the rest of the world and opening to commercial and military activity like never before, is evolving rapidly and compelling the Pentagon to keep pace, officials say, creating the potential for competition and conflict among Washington, Moscow and Beijing.
The United States would probably be challenged by either one. Russia, bloodied but resurgent in Ukraine, has earned useful combat experience against a skilled foe, and is only growing its competency in areas like electronic warfare, said Mark Cancian, a senior adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The Pentagon, emerging from a more-limited form of combat in the Middle East, can only study and theorize what Moscow has learned from its large-scale war, Cancian said.
China, meanwhile, is outpacing the United States in technology like hypersonic missiles, the Pentagon has acknowledged. And the sheer size of its military poses an enormous concern, Cancian said. “The big Chinese advantage is in numbers,” he said. “Their fleet is large and getting larger.”
The twin challenge has forced the Defense Department to look inward at its own shortcomings, some of which are revealed in the Arctic….
Russia in recent years has turned the lights back on at Soviet-era military facilities throughout the region, refurbishing a constellation of bases that outnumber NATO’s collective presence there. Given Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea 10 years ago and its bid now to fully subjugate Ukraine, Moscow’s moves in the North have raised questions about its larger ambitions, Ferguson said.
“We worry at times about the potential offensive nature of some of their investments,” she added. “And really, their invasion of Ukraine has been a wake-up call to the international community at large but certainly to our Arctic partners.”..
…
The West, too, has escalated its activity in the region. The approximately 400 U.S. and NATO commandos sent to Alaska as part of a larger annual exercise were the largest contingent of Special Operations troops ever to train in the Alaskan Arctic, officials said. Other U.S. troops trained simultaneously in Norway’s Arctic region as part of the military alliance’s largest exercise since the Cold War.
Meanwhile, as U.S. military planners game out the potential consequences of a feared Chinese assault on Taiwan, a key partner in the Pacific that President Biden has pledged to defend, there is growing concern about the threat of “spillover,” officials say….
…
In the years after 9/11, the Pentagon turned its Special Operations forces into agile units that could execute America’s counterterrorism objectives largely void of the political risks that accompany major military deployments. This approach greatly expanded the numbers of personnel — from 38,000 in 2001 to 73,000 in 2020 — and empowered U.S. Special Operations Command in ways that unmoored it from the conventional military.
As national security officials grow more concerned about the prospect of a conflict with Russia or China, they’ve argued that, rather than being prepared to fight on its own through brushfire counterinsurgencies, reliant on other parts of the military to aid its missions, Special Operations needs to complement the larger force.
“We got used to being the supported entity,” said Gallagher, the SEAL Group 2 commander. “Now as we look toward strategic competition, really our focus is … how we can provide support.”….
Note….
There has ALWAYS been a push/pull between Spec Ops and the conventional troops…
image…Soldiers from the 10th Special Forces Group and Danish special operators move through the woods to call in fire for HIMARS artillery during training at Fort Wainwright…Salwan Georges/The Washington Post