by Jon E. Lewis
1 Rhythm: Divide the message up into logical portions, and deliver it at an even rhythm with pauses; remember the recipient has to write it down.
2 Speed: BATCO delivered too quickly will lead to mistakes; delivery must be slightly slower than normal speech.
3 Volume: Speak slightly louder than normal but don’t shout; this just distorts the message.
4 Pitch: Try to pitch your voice slightly higher than normal; this enhances clarity.
A typical drop zone report
Your report might look like this:
Code name:
DZ HAIRY
Location
THREE TWO TANGO PAPA TANGO SIX FOUR ONE
TWO FOUR THREE
Open Quadrants
OPEN ONE THREE ZERO DEG TO TWO TWO ZERO DEG AND THREE THREE ZERO DEG TO ZERO ONE TWO DEG
Recommended track
TRACK THREE SIX ZERO DEG
Obstacles
RADIO TOWER ZERO EIGHT SIX DEG SIX KM
1 The code name would have been decided on and briefed prior to the mission
2 The location of the centre of the drop zone is given as a partially encoded six-figure grid reference.
3 The open quadrants give the boundaries of the drop zone. Note these are in degrees not mils.
4 The recommended track is the approach route, again in degrees.
5 The aircraft would be warned of any potential obstacles and their position on or near the track.
Marking drop zones
Even if his navigation is excellent and his instruments spot-on, the pilot should still be helped in the final stages of the approach by signals from the ground. At night these can be made by electric flashlights (torches), flares, small fires or vehicle headlights.
In daylight, the best DZ marking method is the square panels that are supplied as sets to Special Forces units. If they’re not available, use bedsheets or strips of coloured cloth, but make sure they stand out against the background. The squares or strips are used to make up distinctive shapes or letters which are changed every day according to the unit’s Standard Operating Instructions.
USING REFERENCE POINTS
Help the aircraft find your drop zone by providing reference points with three digit bearings and distances measured from the centre of the Drop Zone. Dangerous obstacles like radio masts or high hills should also be reported in the same way.
Smoke grenades or simple smudge pots of burning oil aid identification considerably.
Radio homing devices become more and more popular as the technology that supports them improves but remember that they need to emit a radio signal to operate. Any signal that you can pick up, the enemy can pick up too.
Ground release points
The ground party has a much better chance of computing the Wind Drift Factor (the distance that bundles and personnel will be carried by the wind) than the pilot does, so they allow for it when marking the Ground Release Point.
The wind doesn’t start to act on the load immediately it leaves the aircraft. The rule of thumb is that the load will travel in the same direction as the aircraft for around a hundred metres before starting to slip off to the side.
Drift is calculated by a simple formula; aircraft height in feet times wind velocity in knots times a constant – three for bundles, four for personnel.
Release Point Markers can then be offset according to the likely wind drift. Obstacles along the flight path might prevent the pilot from seeing the markers, and to reduce this possibility there must be a clearance on the ground of 15 metres for every metre of the aircraft’s height above the ground. An obstacle 30 metres high mustn’t be closer than 450 metres from the ground markings.
Markers should be sited in such a way as to be visible only from the direction from which the aircraft is approaching. This may mean screening them on three sides placing them in pits with the appropriate side sloping, or in the case of panels, mounting them at an angle of 45 degrees.
Unmarked drop zones
In particularly sensitive operations it may be necessary to make deliveries of personnel and equipment to unmarked drop zones. This usually means a daylight or full-moon drop into a zone that has a particularly well marked geographical feature to identify it.
Because of the need for security, the ground party will have no way of communicating with the aircrew. The pilot will have to calculate wind drift himself, using the latest available weather reports as a guide and make allowances accordingly.
Electronic homing devices should be used whenever possible to help the aircrew recognize the DZ, but very careful arrangements are necessary to keep transmissions to a bare minimum.
High Altitude Low Opening
Precision skydiving, an increasingly popular sport, grew out of a Special Forces infiltration technique known as HALO – High Altitude Low Opening – parachute infiltration. Dropping from around 1000 metres, the parachutists fall free, controlling their direction with hand and arm movements that act in the same way as the control surfaces of an aircraft.
WIND DIRECTION
Arrowhead points into the wind. If the wind speed is 5 knots or less, do not add any “shaft” behind the arrowhead.
If the wind speed is over 20 knots the jump should be aborted. By laying out this arrow pattern on the ground you tell the pilot and parachutists the direction and strength of the wind which enables them to judge the timing of the jump.
DZ markings indicate the landing point itself in this technique, because the parachutist is able to make corrections for windage. In the last few hundred metres of the descent, however, he will be subject to the same forces that act during a normal descent, and so it is necessary to show wind speed and direction by arranging the target marker in the shape of an arrow pointing into the wind. Up to five knots of wind are indicated by an arrow head, adding one additional marker to form a tail, for every further five knots of wind speed.
Using sophisticated electronics, it is not necessary for the target area to be visible from the aircraft, so the HALO jump can be made from above cloud or at night. Equipment can be free fall jumped too, using altimeter triggered or timed parachute release and the same aiming techniques used in high altitude precision bombing.
HELICOPTER LANDING
For maximum effective use of the helicopter you should position the landing zone to allow take-off and landing into the wind. At night the helicopter will usually have to land to transfer personnel or cargo, but during daylight hours it can fly a couple of metres off the ground and the team can leap out of the back.
Altitude and temperature
Remember that at high altitudes and high temperatures the density of the air is sharply reduced. This means the helicopter cannot carry as much cargo and will need a longer distance to take off and land.
Approach path
Helicopters need at least one approach path 75 metres wide. For a night landing a helicopter requires a minimum space 90 metres in diameter.
Surface and slope
The surface chosen for the landing zone must be relatively level and free from obstructions such as logs, rocks, ditches or fences. The maximum ground slope permitted is 15°. In dry conditions it is a good idea to dampen the area to reduce the tell-tale dustcloud which also hampers the pilot’s visibility.
Noise
The noise of a large helicopter such as the Chinook coming in to land will reveal your position to any enemy forces nearby. For this reason, helicopter landings must be conducted away from the enemy unless you have a powerful security detail in position.
Water landings
Helicopters like the Chinook can land in a water course provided the bottom is firm and the water no more than 46 cm deep.
THE RECEPTION COMMITTEE
The reception committee is split into five parts, but a single person may, of course, take on more than one role. The five functions are
1 Command Party, to control and co-ordinate the operation and provide medical support.
2 Marking
Party, which sets out and collects markers and assists in recovering equipment and personnel and sterilising the site.
3 Security Party, which ensures the unfriendly elements don’t interfere with the operation.
4 Recovery Party, ideally two men for each bundle or parachute. They should be spread out along the drop axis at the same interval as the drops are expected. Any back up should be stationed at the far end of the drop track, because the drop is more likely to overshoot than undershoot. The recovery party is also responsible for the clean up “sanitisation” of the drop site, and that includes briefing all members of the reception committee on proper procedures. A surveillance team should keep watch over the DZ for 48 hours after the operation to warn of enemy activity.
5 Transportation Party, responsible for getting personnel and equipment away from the DZ according to a pre-arranged system, the transportation party will usually include all members of the command, marking and recovery parties.
STERILISATION PROCEDURES
The reception committee will clean up the drop zone after the operation. Here’s a basic check list:
1 Collect cigarette ends and food wrappers; mislaid equipment; human waste
2 Collect rigging straps and parachute line
3 Count all items of equipment out and in
4 Bury any waste or unwanted equipment, preferably in a number of different places, at the base of large bushes.
5 Erase drag marks, footprints and impact marks. Use a leafy branch and disguise the freshly-cut end on the tree with mud.
6 Avoid trampling vegetation, especially in cultivated areas.
7 Maintain security on the way in and out of the DZ.
Security
Because security and concealment is so important to Special Forces operations, you must pay a lot of attention to those considerations when selecting reception zones. Three factors are important; freedom from enemy interference on the ground; accessibility by means of concealed or secure routes for the reception committee; and proximity to areas suitable for hiding supplies and equipment.
Avoiding the enemy
It goes almost without saying that the aircraft’s route into and out of the DZ must avoid enemy troop installations. There must be a very high level of patrol activity around the DZ for some time before the operation is due to take place. When the aircraft is actually scheduled to land, rather than merely drop a consignment from the air, vehicles with mounted automatic weapons should be available, to keep pace with the aircraft on both sides during landing and take-off (bear in mind that the vehicles will have to be moving and up to speed at the point where the aircraft will touch down). If incoming fire is received the crews of these vehicles must be in a position to suppress it immediately.
LOLEX
Vital cargo can be dropped without landing with a technique known as Low Level Parachute Extraction Resupply System (LOLEX). The aircraft flies a couple of metres above the ground and a parachute fitted to the cargo pulls it out of the rear door.
WATERBORNE LANDINGS
LANDING FROM THE SEA
Special Forces Operations often start and finish on a beach. Even though airborne insertion is faster and more flexible, when safety and secrecy are the first considerations the unit commander will often opt to go in by ship or submarine, landing his men from inflatable boats or getting them to swim.
Submarines are self-contained, safe from prying eyes. They mean that amphibious special operations can be mounted at extremely long range: from the other side of the world if necessary. The long journey time can be an advantage in itself, because it allows the operation to be studied, pulled apart and put back together again until it is close to foolproof.
The first consideration is the type of boat available to carry the team to the landing site. When security comes first, this will usually be a submarine, but that choice will put a severe limitation on the amount of equipment that can be carried, which may mean that a resupply mission will be needed. However, for infiltrating small groups of people into existing operations, or for mounting hit-and-run raids, the submarine is ideal. Space is very limited in submarines, but there is room in flooding compartments for kit such as inflatable boats and that is where they are carried.
The mission can be split down into four stages.
1. Movement to the disembarkation point. This part of the operation is normally under the control and charge of regular navy personnel.
2. Transfer from ocean-going vessel to the landing craft and movement to the landing site.
3. Disposal of the landing craft. This may mean destroying it, hiding it or navy personnel ferrying it back to the mother ship.
4. Sanitisation of the landing site and movement to the operational area.
Keep fit
Physical exercise plays a big part in the shipboard life too, to ensure that the team is in top condition for the operation. This is a particular problem when the mother ship is a submarine making a completely submerged passage. The modern generation of submarines routinely crosses oceans without ever surfacing and there’s not a lot of space on board for callisthenics or aerobic exercises!
Transferring at sea
From a surface ship, the transfer procedure is quite simple. The landing craft are inflated and sent over the side. A scrambling net is let down, and the operational team instal themselves in the inflatables, stow their equipment and set off on their long journey to the beach.
And it will be a long journey. To maintain security, the mother ship will never come above the horizon as seen from the shore – maybe a distance of more than 20 miles.
Outboard engines are notoriously noisy. There are electric versions which are almost silent, but they have a very limited range. To get around this problem the landing craft may be towed in close to shore by a purpose built tug – low to the water and fitted with a heavily-silenced inboard engine. The landing craft then make their way the last two or three miles to the beach under their own steam – or rather, by the muscle power of the Special Forces team who are paddling.
Transferring from a submarine to the landing craft is either a lot easier, or a lot more difficult, depending on which one of the three methods is chosen. If the submarine can come to the surface, the inflatables can be dropped over the side, the landing party boards, and away they go. In one interesting variation to this method the boats are placed on the deck of the submarine and the crew get aboard then the submarine submerges gently beneath them.
SUBMARINE LANDING
Alternatively, the submarine commander comes up to just below the surface, exposing only the very tip of the conning tower and presenting a very small picture, even to enemy radar. The landing party exits and either swims to the landing point, on a compass bearing, or inflates the boats in the water and paddles in.
The most secure technique of all requires the landing party to exit the submarine underwater, usually with the boat completely stationary and sitting on the bottom. Team members wearing SCUBA (Self Contained Breathing Apparatus) then emerge from a hatch connected to an air-lock and swim under water to the landing place.
6 POINTS FOR LEAVING A SURFACED SUBMARINE
1 Crew members and troops should be fully briefed on the debarkation plan.
2 Inspect all your kit before the debarkation.
3 Wait for the crew to man their debarkation stations first before going to yours.
4 Swimmers debark in pairs from the conning tower of the submarine, which will surface with its decks awash.
5 Form up in the control room with all your kit. If there is space the first pair can be in the conning tower ready for the submarine to surface.
6 If possible, rehearse the whole debarkation procedure before you do it in a tactical situation.
Special Forces personnel who undertake missions like this have to be highly trained and very, very fit. If it’s necessary to use this “locking out” technique with technicians or mission specialists of any kind, then the lead pair will exit with inflatable
boats and set them up on the surface. The rest of the team can then make “free ascents” using the submarine’s ordinary escape hatch, join up with the divers, and make their way to the beach in the normal way.
Underwater infiltration
As radar and anti-aircraft weapons become increasingly effective, underwater infiltration has become an increasingly important method if infiltrating Special Forces troops. The key to any successful infiltration may be summed up as Short, Simple and Secure. Underwater operations using SCUBA equipment provide an extremely secure method of infiltrating short distances by water.
Shallow depth
Try to make you approach at the shallowest possible depth so that your air supplies last longer, and you and your equipment do not suffer the problems associated with sustained diving at great depths. There is another reason, swimmer detection systems find it harder to detect people at shallow depths.
Security
Part of the team should land ahead of the main body to check that the beach is clear. Surfacing and removing their masks outside the surf zone the security team goes ashore and signals “Clear” to the rest of the troops when it has examined the beach area.
Combat loads
Combat loads must be light and small and should include only equipment, weapons and ammunition needed for the mission. You must have a proper equipment unloading plan and preferably have it rehearsed before landing.
PRECAUTIONS AT SEA
1 Is the area used frequently by passing enemy patrol boats?
2 Fishing boats can cause embarrassing confrontations and must be avoided.
3 Rocks and any other hazards that are likely to make navigation difficult have to be noted and passed on.
4 Sometimes underwater obstacles will be in the way, so a route through to the shoreline has to be checked.
5 A close check on weather conditions is important and prior to the raiding force landing a met report should be sent back.
