by Jon E. Lewis
Whatever mode of entry is employed, the anti-terrorist soldiers go into the building or transport in pairs. One trooper moves, while the other gives cover. Backs are protected and a wide arc of fire maintained. On closing with the terrorists and the hostages, a shouted warning is given by the SAS to the hostages to lie down. Anyone who remains standing, anyone who is armed or threatening will be shot on sight. In the event of a firefight with the terrorists, the SAS then uses its superior firepower.
The true superiority of SAS firepower lies in the calibre of the men selected for the SAS and the trianing they receive. Even so, the calibre of SAS weaponry is unlikely to be matched by that of the terrorists. The main weapon of the SAS anti-terrorists soldier is the Heckler & Koch MP5 submachine gun (see page 4), although the Heckler & Koch Personal Defence Weapon began to be deployed on operations in 2002. The PDW is capable of firing 950 rounds a minute and, with armour-piercing bullets, can cut through more than 20 layers of Kevlar.
SMGs are by no means the only weapons of the anti-terrorist trooper. Strapped to the leg of the assault team member is a Browning 9mm Hi-Power pistol. This is a semi-automatic pistol which holds 13 rounds in its magazine. Members of the SAS anti-terrorist unit can fire all 13 rounds in under 3 seconds – an annhilating rate of fire. Also to the Regiment’s liking is the Hi-Power’s reliability and simplicity; it works even when covered in brickdust and can be stripped and reassembled in seconds. The only real contender for the title of ‘SAS Pistol-of Choice’ is the Swiss SIG-Sauer P226 which, accoding to tests done by the Canadian ‘Mounties’, has a malfunction rate as low as 0.007.
One more piece of the SAS hostage-rescue armoury deserves special mention. This is the stun grenade, which was developed by Royal Ordnance Enfield at the specific request of the SAS. The stun grenade when detonated produces 160 decibels of noise and 300,000 candles worth of light – and anyone close by is immobilized for nearly four seconds but not irreparably damaged. The magic ingredients are magnesium powder and fulminate of mercury. The official name of the stun grenade is the G60. SAS trooper know it by the appropriate nickname of ‘flash-bang’.
Chapter 9
LANDINGS AND RAIDS ON ENEMY TERRITORY
AIRBORNE LANDINGS
Special Forces teams take the battle to the enemy on his own ground. Working behind the lines, their missions can vary from intelligence-gathering to sabotage, and organising guerilla resistance movements against the enemy. It is a war without rules. The Special Forces soldier can expect no mercy from the enemy.
Many operational techniques are made up on the spur of the moment, to take advantage of a tactical opportunity. But that doesn’t mean there’s no formal training. The US military forces all have special detachments and they all take as their guide FM 31–20, the US Army Special Forces Operational Techniques field manual on which this article is based.
Because they are “Special Forces”, their job is impossible to describe without listing all the possibilities. It is safer to say that as a member of Special Forces team you have to be prepared to tackle just about anything that comes up. One of the most important tasks is intelligence-gathering – eg locating hidden “Scud” missile sites in western Iraq. Another is the instruction of locally recruited guerrillas in military and other techniques, anything from personal hygiene to farming methods. The aim is to prove to the local population that you have their best interests at heart.
Winning the battle for the hearts and minds of the people is really much more important than taking an objective by armed force. But you can’t win either of them until you get to the battlefield itself. Inserting agents into hostile territory has been a front-line intelligence task for thousands of years. There are two main methods.
1. False identities and disguise
2. Covert operations.
False identities
The biggest advantage of the first approach is that once you have got through the identity checks at the frontier you will be able to live openly in enemy territory. You will be living a double life, with slim chances of survival if the enemy identify you – but no-one said Special Forces work would be easy. Disguising your identity is peacetime is essential if you are to succeed in such a task; this is why the US Special Forces do not allow their personnel to be filmed after they complete basic training.
Covert operations
Covert operations involve entering the enemy’s territory without his knowledge. It can mean trekking across a border in remote frontier regions or parachuting from an aircraft at very high altitude to freefall most of the way.
INFILTRATING SPECIAL FORCES TEAMS
When preparing a team for infiltration by parachute, remember the following:
1. Aircraft load capacity may limit the equipment and personnel you can take.
2. The presence of a reception committee on the drop zone makes “sterilising” the area and hiding your parachutes less of a problem.
3. You must ensure you take the equipment needed for your initial tasks
4. The detachment commander places himself in the best position within the stick for controlling the team.
5. Team recognition signals and signals for contacting the reception committee must be decided in advance.
6. The primary assembly point should be 100 to 200 metres from the drop zone and you should have a secondary point 5 to 10 kms from the DZ for use in an emergency.
Insertion from an airborne operation is popular because no area is inaccessible by air; it’s quick and, when organized properly, minimizes the risk both to the carrier and to the passenger and his reception committee. There are three normal variants:
1 Low and normal altitude parachuting
2 High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) parachuting
3 Air Landing operations
The objective is to insert agents without the enemy’s knowledge, so you must take his capabilities into account. How good is the enemy radar? Are adequate drop or landing zones available? Are there personnel on the ground who could act as a reception committee and help transport people and supplies to safe locations and “sterilize” the drop zone after use?
You must consider many of the same factors when planning an infiltration from the sea. First of all, what sort of coastal areas are available, and how vigilant are the enemy defences? Do you have the right sort of marine craft to hand? Do you have the facilities to make sure that sea water can’t affect vital pieces of equipment? Submarines are widely used to land Special Forces. Modern submarines are difficult to detect and Special Forces personnel can exit underwater and stay that way until they reach the beach.
Infiltration overland is very similar to a long range patrol in enemy-held territory and can be the most secure way of all of getting the Special Forces team into place, especially if time is not crucial. Distance is not necessarily a problem to fit, well-equipped Special Forces personnel, trained to use their skills, wits and resources.
Local assistance
Where you can get help and assistance from “friendlies” already in place, to provide food, shelter and intelligence, overland infiltration is often the most effective of all. Because drop zones and landing zones are unlikely to be next door to the area of operations, both air and seaborne insertions will probably end up as overland journeys as well. So there is a lot to be said for relying on your own two feet rather than on technology; man can escape detection a lot more easily than a machine.
One factor is common to all three methods of insertion that we’ve looked at so far – the availability of people on the ground to act as porters and guides and to provide security for the infiltrators. But it may not always be that way. In some cases the members of your team will have to go in “blind”, relying exclusively on your own skills and resources – not to mention a degree of luck!
PLANNING AIRBORNE OPERATIONS
Airborne operations are the arteries and veins of Special Forces operations in enemy-occupied territory. In most cases, it’s just not possible to get men and supp
lies in and out of operational areas by any other means, and so a great deal of effort goes into making them as safe, secure and simple as possible. This section, taken from the US Army’s handbook introduces you to the methods that are used.
The DZ or LZ
The first stage of any airborne operation is the identification and selection of Drop Zones (DZs) or Landing Zones (LZs).
Drop zones and landing zones must please both the aircrew who are to fly the mission and the reception committee who will be there to meet the consignment and passengers. From the aircrew’s point of view the zone should be easy to identify from above and the countryside around it relatively free of obstacles.
All round access
Flat or rolling countryside is best, but if the Special Forces operation being supported is located in mountainous country, this may not be possible. In that case, it’s best to choose sites on broad ridges or plateaux. Small enclosed valleys or hollows, completely surrounded by hills, should be avoided whenever possible.
To give the aircrew as much flexibility as possible in the route they will take to the zone, it should be accessible from all directions. If an approach can only be made from one direction, then the area should be free of obstacles for five kilometres on each side to give the aircraft space to perform a “flat” turn.
LEVEL TURNING RADIUS
Drop zones with a single, clear line of approach are acceptable if there is a level turning radius of 5 km each side (1.5 km for light aircraft). Remember that these are minimum distances and if you reduce them the aircraft may be endangered or may fly higher than desirable when making the drop, leaving your supplies drifting on the wind away from the DZ.
1 The general area surrounding the drop zone must be relatively free from obstacles which might endanger the aircraft. Flat or rolling terrain is the best, but plateaux in hilly country can be suitable.
2 Small valleys surrounded by hills should not be used for drop zones.
3 For night operations you must avoid using drop zones with ground rising to 300 metres within 16 km of the site level.
Even particularly tall trees can be a potential danger to an aircraft doing a low-level drop. Where the operation is to take place at 130 metres or less, the safety requirements are that there should be no obstacle higher than 30 metres within eight kilometres, if possible. Where the aircrew have no choice but to put up with such obstacles in the immediate area of the DZ, their location must be well known.
Dispersion
The DZ should be equally accessible from all directions, so the best shape is round or square, even though the various packages that make up the consignment will land in a line parallel to the course of the aircraft. Dispersion – the distance between the points where each component will hit the ground – is mostly controlled by the speed of the aircraft over the ground, and the time it takes to get the whole consignment out through the hatch.
The rule of thumb for low-level operations is that half the speed of the aircraft in knots (nautical miles per hour; 100 knots/115 mph) multiplied by the time it takes to get the whole consignment out of the aircraft, will give the dispersion in metres on the ground.
TAKE OFF & APPROACH CLEARANCES FOR FIXED WING AIRCRAFT
Minimum landing zone sizes
Light aircraft: 305 m × 15 m Medium aircraft: 920 m × 30 m Add a 15 metre cleared strip each side as a safety margin
This is the critical distance, because it determines how long the zone needs to be. If possible add at least 100 metres to each end as a safety factor. Sometimes it may be impossible to find a potential DZ as wide as it is long that meets all the other requirements
Drop zone axis
If you have to use an oblong DZ, it must have its long axis in absolutely the right direction to allow the pilot of the aircraft the best possible chance of completing his mission safely and delivering the consignment into the right hands. It must make some allowance for sidewinds, because this will dictate how far to the side of the aircraft’s track the drops will land. It’s not sufficient to expect the pilot to compensate completely for sidewinds by “aiming off”.
The first man or package out of the aircraft will obviously tend to land some distance behind the last man out. You can calculate the dispersion as follows: half the speed of the aircraft in knots multiplied by the exit time in seconds, equals the dispersion distance in metres.
The dispersion distance is the absolute minimum length of the drop zone.
The surface
The surface of the DZ should be level and free from obstructions such as rocks, fences, trees and powerlines. Where personnel are to be dropped at high altitude (15,000 metres and higher), try to locate DZs in soft snow or grassland. Parachutes fall faster in the thin, high air, and so the passenger will hit the ground harder.
Dangerous drop zones
Swamps and marshy ground, including paddy fields are suitable both for personnel and bundles of goods in the wet season and for bundles when they are dry or frozen. Water-covered DZs are particularly dangerous to heavily-laden personnel; in the airborne landings on D-Day in Normandy for example, on 6 June 1944, the American 82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions lost so many men drowned in flooded fields that their combat efficiency was badly reduced. They were carrying more than a normal equipment load.
It is possible to drop into water providing special precautions are taken. The water should be one and a half metres deep; it should be cleared of obstructions both on and below the surface; it must be 10°C or warmer; it must be free of swift currents and shallow areas and there must be a foolproof recovery system that ensures that personnel don’t stay long in the water.
One particular problem that dropping into water minimizes is that of cleaning up the DZ after use, so that no tell-tale signs of the operation are left. Be particularly careful when dropping onto agricultural land. If the fields in question are cultivated, it will be next to impossible to eradicate all traces of the drop.
Landmarks and way-points
The further an aircraft has to fly on a compass course, without way-points (visual checks on position) the more likely it is to be off the correct course. The main causes are tiny inaccuracies in the compass and other instruments and external factors such as wind.
Special Forces re-supply missions rely on being pinpoint accurate first time; the pilot hasn’t time to fly around the countryside looking for the drop zone.
The usual procedure is to select an easily identified landmark somewhere between eight and 24 kms away from the DZ itself. The pilot then takes his bearings from this point and flies on a compass heading for a predetermined time to bring the aircraft over the zone.
Features that stand out from the ground may well not make good landmarks from the air especially at night. These are the sort of things you should be looking for.
1 Coastline in distinctive stretches, especially with breaking surf or white sand beaches, river mouths over 50 metres wide, or sharp promontories or inlets.
2 Rivers more than 30 metres wide. Heavily wooded banks will reduce their visibility.
3 Canals. Their straight course and consistent width make them easy to spot, except where the surrounding countryside follows a uniform pattern.
4 Lakes at least a square kilometre in area with a distinctive shape or feature.
PARA DROPPING BEHIND ENEMY LINES
Resupplying Special Forces teams that are operating behind enemy lines is a very difficult business. Because radio communications can be detected, the supply drops often have to be at pre-planned times. Since the Special Forces teams cannot guarantee their arrival at a specific drop zone either, the US Army units have a system for area supply drops. The aircraft arrives at point A and flies to point B. Below the flight-path there are several possible drop zones, but the aircraft does not need to know which one the ground troops want to use. The aircrew simply fly along the route and drop their supplies when they see DZ markings. The distance between points A and B should not exceed 25 kms and whatever
DZ is chosen should not be more than 1 km away from the line of flight.
5 Woods and forests a square kilometre and more in size with clear-cut boundaries or some special identifying feature.
6 Major road and highway intersections
7 Railways especially when there is snow on the ground.
HOW TO SEND AN AIRDROP MESSAGE
Whenever you use a radio, keep the three principles of use in mind: Security, Accuracy and Discipline (SAD).
Security
Remember the eternal triangle of sender, receiver – and enemy monitor. Keep your transmissions as short as possible, always encode your own and enemy grid references and be careful not to use names or appointment titles on the radio. If in doubt, encode it into battle code (BATCO). Watch your speech mannerisms; these can also give you away and are a vital source of long-term intelligence.
Accuracy
You must encode and decode accurately. BATCO leaves no room for mistakes. Corrections take up valuable seconds that could lead to a message being intercepted and a traumatic experience; for example in a 40-second fire mission a battalion of Soviet BM-21 multi-barrelled rocket-launchers can deliver 14 tonnes of HE (high explosive) or chemical agent onto your position.
Discipline
You must obey radio net discipline, provide constant radio-watch and answer calls correctly and quickly. Use correct voice procedure, apply the rules of BATCO and this will help prevent enemy electronic warfare units from breaking in on your net.
Radio voice
You must be aware of your radio voice. It should differ from normal speech in the following respects, Rhythm, Speed, Volume and Pitch (RSVP).
