Army SOF Units Are Getting Smaller, More Self-Reliant as Focus Shifts to China, Russia
By Patrick Tucker
Technology Editor
May 20, 2021
As the United States pivots away from the Middle East to face China and Russia, U.S. Special Operations Command will need new capabilities in the electromagnetic spectrum, new highly autonomous small drones for reconnaissance and strike, new night vision, and small computers. But special operators themselves will also need to become more technologically competent as they face more high-tech adversaries.
For the past two decades, special operations forces have played a key role in places like Afghanistan and Iraq, finding and disrupting insurgent networks. That counter-terrorism mission will remain a core competency. But bigger potential adversaries actually means a smaller—or at least more subtle—special forces footprint in the field.
“The operating environment of the last 20 years has been fairly dependent on main operating bases where there's been this established support infrastructure in place,” Lt. Gen. Francis Beaudette, the commander of Army Special Operations Command, said Thursday, speaking at the SOFIC forum hosted by the National Defense Industrial Association. That large support
infrastructure may not exist in the future, he said.
https://www.defenseone.com/technology/2021/05/socoms-wish-list-competing-china-and-russia/174208/
