Lethality Task Force Leaders: U.S. Ground Fighters Must ‘Overmatch’ Enemies

By Jim Garamone DoD News, Defense Media Activity

ARLINGTON, Va., April 11, 2018 — American ground fighters must overmatch any potential adversary, now and in the future, the men in charge of the Close Combat Lethality Task Force said here today.

Robert Willke, the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, and retired Army Maj. Gen. Robert Scales, who serves on the task force’s advisory board, spoke about the effort at the Association of the United States Army’s Sullivan Center.

The effort looks to improve the lethality of Army, Marine Corps and special operations light infantry units, and it is personally being pushed by Defense Secretary James N. Mattis.

Scales said the reason behind the task force comes down to three number: 90, 4 and 1. Ninety percent of Americans killed in combat are infantry, he noted. “They constitute 4 percent of uniformed personnel and receive just 1 percent of the DoD budget for training and equipping,” Scales said.

Combat Overmatch

The United States maintains combat overmatch in every other portion of the battlefield – air, sea and space – yet the small infantry unit, the unit most likely to be under fire, is the one that comes closest to a fair fight with an enemy, Scales said.

Success in ground combat “lies not just with technical superiority, but with the human dimension,” Willke said.

“There is nothing more important than focusing our energies now on developing and nurturing the unique capabilities of human performance,” he added. “That means bringing fresh vigor, renewing our sense of urgency and enhancing the lethality of our front-line Army and Marine Corps units.”

Success Comes From Repetition, Training

The task force will look at how the services select the right people for this crucial job and what the services need to do to retain them. It also will examine how the services judge fitness and provide fitness. “Finally,” Wilke said, “do we understand, as do our greatest athletic leaders, that success comes with constant repetition and training?” he said.

Some aspects do not require legislation or extra money. Willke said the Army personnel system can be changed to keep units together and allow infantry personnel to bond with their unit mates. Programs can also be put in place so soldiers and Marines are actually training with their units and not painting rocks or performing an ancillary duty.

“Every plane and ship we purchase comes with sophisticated simulators to train personnel to overcome every conceivable contingency,” Willke said. “We would not buy a plane of a ship that was not packaged along with that technology. But we don’t do that for our ground forces.”

But it can be done, he added, and when combined with exercises at Fort Irwin’s National Training Center or Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms in California or at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana, this training can be invaluable with keeping infantry alive.

Willke and Scales said the task force will also look at weapons, protective systems, communications gear, unmanned tactical systems, doctrine and many other issues as it continues its work.

And all this will be done quickly, both men said, noting that Mattis is intensely interested in seeing this program succeed.

Mattis Welcomes Dutch Defense Minister to Pentagon

WASHINGTON, April 11, 2018 — Defense Secretary James N. Mattis met with Defense Minister Ank Bijleveld of the Netherlands at the Pentagon today.

In a statement summarizing the meeting, Pentagon officials said Mattis highlighted the value of the Netherlands to the United States and NATO as a steadfast ally and its pledge to get to increase defense spending to 2 percent of its gross domestic product.

Increased Defense Spending

“Minister Bijleveld discussed the recent publication of the Dutch Defense White Paper, and emphasized her government's $1.5 billion increase in defense spending in 2018,” the statement said. “Secretary Mattis commended the minister for her efforts to modernize her military and improve military readiness.”

In addition, the statement said, Mattis also thanked Bijleveld for continued support to the coalition to defeat the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and NATO missions, providing an enhanced forward presence battle group in Lithuania, and Operation Resolute Support in Afghanistan.

Special Operations Leaders Update Senators on Efforts

By Terri Moon Cronk DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, April 11, 2018 — U.S. special operations forces are relevant to all the nation’s security priorities, the vice commander of U.S. Special Operations Command told a Senate Armed Services Committee panel today.

Air Force Lt. Gen. Scott A. Howell, representing Socom commander Army Gen. Raymond A. Thomas III, told the committee’s emerging threats and capabilities subcommittee that the nearly 3,000 special operations forces members are deployed in more than 90 countries, and are postured, ready and relentlessly focused on winning today’s fights.

Also testifying on efforts to transform the force for future security challenges were Air Force Lt. Gen. Marshall B. Webb, commander of Air Force Special Operations Command; Army Lt. Gen. Kenneth E. Tovo, commanding general of Army Special Operations Command; Navy Rear Adm. Timothy G. Szymanski, commander of Naval Special Warfare Command; and Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Carl E. Mundy III, commander of Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command.

Rapidly Changing Environment

“From countering violent extremism to countering weapons of mass destruction from rogue regimes and near-peer adversaries, special operations forces continue to provide the geographic combatant commanders options to protect our nation, our allies and our interests worldwide,” Howell said. “However, as the National Defense Strategy outlines, the global security environment is rapidly changing,” he added.

Correspondingly, Socom is transforming at an ever increasing pace, Howell noted.

“Comprising just 2 percent of the defense budget and 3 percent of the manpower, special operations forces play a critical role in addressing the nation's priorities, security challenges and provide an extraordinary return on investment,” he said.

Air Force

“As the United States Special Operations Command’s air component, we continuously strive to hone capabilities and evolve our force to remain ready, relevant and resilient,” Webb told the panel. He also expressed gratitude for the resources projected in the fiscal year 2019 budget, which he said will fully fund existing requirements and help the service “turn a strategic corner as we engage in great powers competition.”

For 17 years, AFSOC has been laser-focused on counterterrorism operations, he noted, adding it has accelerated the operations tempo and “drawn reference toward the low end” of the conflict spectrum. “We realize these efforts are predominately long-term engagements, in which cumulative tactical effects lead to long term strategic impact,” he said, “[and] to make such engagements successful, [we] must lower the resource and opportunity costs of conducting persistent counterterrorism operations.”

Conversely, AFSOC operations on the high end predominantly deliver strategic impact in a short amount of time, he said, adding the command must be capable and flexible to confront competitors across a range of potential conflicts and area.

“We must develop a force that is more lethal and resilient in contested environments,” Webb said. “This brings me to [the command’s] first priority, readiness: AFSOC must build full-spectrum readiness while ensuring that we are postured the fight tonight.”

Air Force special operations forces remain postured to deter, compete and win against strategic competitors, Webb said. “Our second priority, relevance, [is] to meet the challenges enumerated in the National Defense Strategy, [and] AFSOC must cultivate a balanced force for high-end and low-end conflict by investing in new capabilities while leveraging current capabilities in innovative ways,” he told the Senate panel. That strategy aims to balance and expand the command’s relevance across the spectrum of conflict to deter, and if necessary, defeat America's adversaries, he said.

AFSOC embraces the process of innovation from within its formation, striving toward a balance of incremental and transformational efforts that are cost-effective and extend strategic purpose, Webb emphasized.

The third priority is resilience. “What defines AFSOC is not technology or platforms,” the Air Force commander said. “Rather, we are defined by our people -- active duty, Guard, reserves and civilians alike -- and their relentless application of our ethos and strategic values.”

Army

Tovo addressed the existing and emerging range of threats the nation faces, telling the senators that from macro levels, the nation’s threats can be put into two categories.

“First, violent extremist organizations that threaten the homeland and other strategic interests, and second, those peer-and-near adversaries who seek to undermine our global influence and overturn the current international order that preserves our prosperity,” he explained.

“The counter-VEO fight has monopolized our global efforts for over 16 years; however, it is clear that competing nations such as Russia, China, North Korea and Iran will continue to challenge the current international security order to see greater regional -- and in some cases, global -- influence,” Tovo said.

Army Special Operations Command is sustaining the fight to counter violent extremist organizations while building readiness for peer-and-near threats by investing in three major efforts, the general said.

“First, we are in the midst of a multiyear effort to restore balance to the force with the aim of improving the health of the force, and providing additional time to train against a broader set of tasks that must be mastered to address peer adversaries,” he said.

“Second, we have made significant investments in the intellectual space to ensure that we understand the implications of changes in the security environment, and that we find ways to maintain an enduring competitive advantage over our nation’s adversaries,” Tovo noted.

“Third, the command published strategic guidance using [required to move ASOC from the force of today to the force that the nation will need in the future,” he said.

Navy

Szymanski told the senators that the first special operations forces truth -- that humans are more important than hardware -- remains their guiding principle.

“We have the best weapons and technology, but our primary weapon systems are now, and always have been, our operators,” he said. “We select and train to sustain men and women of character who are mature, highly skilled, culturally attuned and entrusted to execute our nation's most sensitive missions. It’s precisely because of what we ask our people to do, operation after operation, that we never lose focus on their long-term health.”

Following nearly 17 years of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the admiral said, the United States is focused on strengthening Naval Special Warfare Command capabilities as the maritime component to special operations. “We are making progress modernizing our maritime mobility platforms that can operate effectively in contested environments,” he added.

Marine Corps

While the Marine Corps’ special operations tempo is high, it is manageable, Mundy told the panel. “We continue to benefit from [the Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command’s] Preservation of Force and Families Program as a critical tool to maintain the health of our force.”

People, not technology or any other particular capability, represent the Marine Corps’ special operations force’s most precious resource, he said, and that is something the Corps must preserve and cultivate as its forces look to the future.

Mundy said his four priorities reflect commitment to the command’s people and to the requirement to develop for the future; to provide an integrated full-spectrum special operations force, to better integrate the special operations capabilities with the Marine Corps’ air-ground teams, to develop the command’s future force, and to preserve the force and their families