Ambushed No More: Why Special Ops Forces Need Air Support
An ambush in Niger laid bare the need for a program like this. Will it ever come to fruition?
Here s What You Need to Remember: Though not yet finalized, the effort will find an airframe to provide close air support and precision strike capabilities.
In October 2017, a group of American special operations soldiers were ambushed in Tongo Tongo, Niger. The attack, spearheaded by Islamic State in the Greater Sahara militants, killed four Americans and several local forces working with the United States. The attack laid bare a gap in Special Operations Command (SOCOM) capabilities: the need for a simple, cost-effective close air support platform that could operate from austere environments in support of ground-based special operations troops. The Air Force Special Operations Command is in the process of finding a solution to this pressing problem.
Gen. Allvin received a full day of briefings and demonstrations by the 711th HPW’s Airman Systems Directorate and U.S. Air Force School of Aerospace Medicine, including demonstrations of large-scale laboratory devices used to analyze and monitor human,
VCSAF tours AFRL s 711th Human Performance Wing > Air Force Reserve Command > News af.mil - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from af.mil Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
As counterterror missions fade, special operations finds time to fix its own problems April 30 Air Force special tactics and combat rescue officer candidates perform push-ups in the water during an assessment and selection process at Hurlburt Field, Fla., March 25, 2021. (Tech. Sgt. Sandra Welch/Air Force) A sea change is coming to special operations. After 20 years of relentless combat operations, organizations are taking a hard look at their mission sets, who is in the formations and how the job treats them. Special Operations Command has openly discussed its imminent shift from counter-terror to near-peer competition in recent years, but at the same time, another major shift is underway in the military writ large: a new focus on attracting and retaining women in every career field, a renewed focus on preventing and responding to sexual assault and sexual harassment, and the first department-wide efforts to crack down on extremism.