NIKK...I don't think there's a better teacher than Thomas on an Army's abilities and armour along with technical todays warfare.
Carlos Osweda
Thread Let's talk about the Third Revolution in Military Affairs (3RMA).
realDonaldTrump has moved us into it.
The Revolution in Military Affairs (RMA) began in the late 1980s.
It was initially called the Theory of the Military Technical Revolution (MTR).
The idea is controversial because military thinkers worry that a reliance om technology will cause the fighting men and women to lose their ability to engage in actual ground combat.
It's called "ground maneuver."
One of the reasons that the CIA makes so many elementary mistakes is that it relies almost entirely on technology.
The CIA went from human intelligence (HUMINT) to signals intelligence (SIGINT).
As a result, the CIA hires people like Evan McMullian, a childish liar who pretends to be James Bond.
He was a case officer.
A desk jockey.
Look at this:
Syria!?
So the armed forces worry that everyone will become Evan McMullin.
It could happen, but only if the Pentagon lets it.
In 2015, I became aware of the capabilities of our Gulf Arab allies, the ones who launched the Second Revolution in Military Affairs (2RMA).
This is the first mention of strategic commandos.
"A team of around fifty ship-deployed special forces landed in Crater in early May."
"The team was composed of Yemenis serving in the Saudi armed forces and other Yemenis trained by the UAE, including army officers who served the former People's Democratic Republic of Yemen and younger tribal fighters."
"Embedded with the Yemenis were well-equipped special forces from the UAE Presidential Guard, armed with top-of-the-line weapons such as U.S.-supplied Javelin antitank guided missiles (ATGMs)."
"These Emirati troops directly engaged in ground combat in Aden city from May 4 onward, while Pakistani and Saudi naval drones provided observation for naval gunfire support."
"These Emirati troops directly engaged in ground combat in Aden city from May 4 onward, while Pakistani and Saudi naval drones provided observation for naval gunfire support."https://t.co/OeqGRML92v— Carlos Osweda (@COsweda) February 9, 2020
The UAE Presidential Guard is the only strategic-commando unit we know anything about.
It's organized along the lines of the US Marines, so that means that a 13-man rifle squad and a Joint Terminal Attack Controller (JTAC) engaged about 40,000 Houthis for a full month.
The JTAC is an airman on the ground who calls in air strikes.
When I looked into this idea of tiny units wiping out the enemy by the thousands, I found that strategic commandos were used during the Siege of Kobane in Syria (September 15, 2014 – March 15, 2015).
"For the first time since the Islamic State group launched an offensive on the Syrian border town of Kobani last month, a small group of Syrian rebels on Wednesday entered the embattled town from Turkey."
"The group of around 50 armed men is from the Free Syrian Army, and it's separate from Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga fighters who were also en route Wednesday to Kobani, along the Syrian-Turkish border."
"Idriss Nassan, a Kurdish official from Kobani, said the FSA group entered Kobani through the Mursitpinar border crossing in Turkey. Nassan, who spoke from the border region in Turkey, said they traveled in cars but did not have more details."
"Idriss Nassan, a Kurdish official from Kobani, said the FSA group entered Kobani through the Mursitpinar border crossing in Turkey. Nassan, who spoke from the border region in Turkey, said they traveled in cars but did not have more details."https://t.co/xhPISgnEaK— Carlos Osweda (@COsweda) February 9, 2020
They were never identified, and nobody knew how they got into Turkey.
The Islamic State had 10,000 fighters, main battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, and heavy artillery.
Why send only 50 men?
Because 50 men were all who were needed.
These were not Syrian rebels. They were Gulf Arab professional commandos.
Only one video clip exists of a strategic commando fighting in Kobane.
These were not Syrian rebels. They were Gulf Arab professional commandos.
Only one video clip exists of a strategic commando fighting in Kobane.https://t.co/zt7fiEnwPX— Carlos Osweda (@COsweda) February 9, 2020
He's wearing a ghillie suit that makes him impossible to see.
First he fires two rockets, on the left.
Next, he runs across the street to get more weapons.
Now he runs back to his firing position.
Kobane was the first battle of the Second Revolution in Military Affairs (2RMA).
Israeli Brigadier General Gal Hirsh (ret) wrote about the 2RMA.
Kobane was the first battle of the Second Revolution in Military Affairs (2RMA).
Israeli Brigadier General Gal Hirsh (ret) wrote about the 2RMA.https://t.co/vCxgHOQfE5 pic.twitter.com/NgY23vJ7tx— Carlos Osweda (@COsweda) February 9, 2020
The 2RMA was an interim phase, as strategic-commando units were organized and sent into battle attached to conventional forces.
Strategic commandos are called "C6ISR" troops.
Command, Control, Communications, Computing, Cyberware, Commando, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance.
In the past, special-operations units were tactical assets.
Now they're strategic assets.
Preparing the battlefield" now entails making three-dimensional digital maps of everything, including the insides of buildings and tunnels.
How they do it is classified. Probably nanodrones and synthetic aperture radar (SAR).
Each individual soldier is assigned a number and can be seen as a dot on digital maps.
Strategic commandos operate in "combined arms micro teams."
Each team has every weapon in the arsenal.
Therefore a team will have one tank, one helicopter gunship, one fixed-wing aircraft, one infantry squad, one sniper squad, and one antitank squad.
The teams operate autonomously, in contract with each other. They determine the best way to achieve the objective.
There are also freelance machine-gun squads, mortar squads, grenade-throwing squads, engineer squads, a riverine squads roaming the battlefield.
They get called in by micro teams as needed.
The goal is Identify, Neutralize, Suppress, Obscure, Secure, Reduce, and Assault (INSOSRA).
"They're very pretty, but can they fight?"
You bet.
This is the only known footage of a Yemeni commando in action.
He was trained by the Saudis. Here--all by himself--he kills an entire Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Special Forces squad.
This is the only known footage of a Yemeni commando in action.
He was trained by the Saudis. Here--all by himself--he kills an entire Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Special Forces squad.https://t.co/O7iqKMRwp4— Carlos Osweda (@COsweda) February 9, 2020
The Yemeni fires from the hip. He's been trained to such a high level that he doesn't need to use the sights on his rifle.
He fires by using muscle memory.
These are our allies.
And now WE'VE begun the process of joining them.
The US Army has tested the concept of the Multi Domain Task Force.
It was so successful that we're setting up three of them.
The Multi Domain Task Force (MDTF) is an artillery brigade with an attached I2CEWS battalion.
"I2CEWS" stands for Intelligence, Information, Cyber, Electronic Warfare, and Space Capabilities.
NIKK...I'm thinking I am not suppose to post this next pic so I'll move forward.
The Multi Domain Task Force (MDTF) is an artillery brigade with an attached I2CEWS battalion.
"I2CEWS" stands for Intelligence, Information, Cyber, Electronic Warfare, and Space Capabilities.https://t.co/jo808WH9b3— Carlos Osweda (@COsweda) February 9, 2020
The artillery brigade consists of a headquarters, a headquarters battery (HHB), two High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) battalions, and a brigade support battalion.
Here's the HIMARS.
Here's the HIMARS.https://t.co/S9W02jsWwo— Carlos Osweda (@COsweda) February 9, 2020
And FINALLY, special-operations units are getting their own close-air support aircraft.
"The United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) Directorate of Procurement, on behalf of USSOCOM Program Executive Office-Fixed Wing (PEO-FW), will be conducting an Industry Day event for Armed Overwatch."
"Armed Overwatch will provide Special Operations Forces (SOF) deployable and sustainable manned aircraft systems fulfilling Close Air Support (CAS), Precision Strike, and SOF Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance (ISR) in austere and permissive environments."
https://t.co/1KSNEwWwOU pic.twitter.com/qnw5DJr9Oc— Carlos Osweda (@COsweda) February 9, 2020
The Multi Domain Task Force is the model for ALL BRANCHES OF THE SERVICE.
We'll end up with cohesive defense capabilities for the first time in our history.
The Multi Domain Task Force is the model for ALL BRANCHES OF THE SERVICE.
We'll end up with cohesive defense capabilities for the first time in our history.https://t.co/4MY67y7Yn2— Carlos Osweda (@COsweda) February 9, 2020
I don't want to hear any bitching from traditionalists.
Not unless you can pull off the rescue of Brigadier General Tareq Abdullah Saleh (center).
Saleh joined the Houthis when they attacked Aden in March of 2015.
But it was a ruse worked out with the Saudis.
Saleh and his men only PRETENDED to join the Houthis. Doing so allowed them to learn EVERYTHING.
On December 4, 2017, the Houthis realized that Saleh was playing them, so they ambushed him by secretly surrounding his house with hundreds of troops who entered neighboring structures through tunnels.
Saleh's house was leveled, and he was declared dead.
Six weeks later, Saleh appeared in southern Yemen, alive and well.
The UAE Presidential Guard rescued him IN THE MIDDLE OF THE AMBUSH.
They transported him from safe house to safe house in Sana'a as thousands of Houthis searched for him.
On December 7, 2017, the UAE got Saleh out of the city by blasting through dozens of checkpoints a roadblocks.
They used high-speed gun trucks with specially lowered chassis and automatic cannons that can aim FORWARD and fire at a horizontal trajectory.
And they used Northstar helicopter gunships and armored IOMAX aircraft. Both flew at street level, firing missiles, cannons, and Gatling guns.
Saleh and his men arrived in southern Yemen and were given state-of-the-art weaponry THAT THEY ALREADY KNEW HOW TO USE.
Then they disappeared and have been fighting on as many as 18 fronts simultaneously.
This is the Third Revolution in Military Affairs.
And now we're part of it.
Thanks to President Trump.
It requires incredible training to do this, which is why so few nations will ever catch up to us.
Peace through superior, multi-domain firepower.