by Tom Clancy
An M4 5.56mm carbine equipped with an M203 40mm grenade launcher. Based on the classic M16 combat rifle, the M4 has become a worldwide favorite among light infantry forces.
JOHN D. GRESHAM
Generally, the M4A1 fires about the same as an M16A2, though it does have a somewhat lighter “feel” and a more satisfying “crack” when fired (due to the acoustics of the shorter barrel). And unlike most short-barreled shoulder weapons, it still retains the accuracy of the M16 out to most ranges. This is due to the tight tolerances of the M4A1, combined with the excellent sights.
Aircrews like it for the small size and easy stowage in crammed cockpits. Officers like having a credible weapon without having to lug around a bulky and awkward fully loaded M16. The Special Forces like it for its light weight and for its ease of packing when they have to jump out of aircraft. Frankly, most infantrymen I know would rather carry an M4 than an M16, if given the choice.
Until the Army issues its new combat rifle sometime in the early twenty-first century, plan on seeing the M4A1 as the personal weapon of the Special Forces.40 They may even keep it in service after that, since so many of the nations visited by ODAs and ODBs are unlikely to have weapons on a par with the M16 or M4. Showing up with an even more advanced system would likely embarrass the host nation military personnel, and slow up the process of building rapport and trust.
MP-5 9mm Submachine Gun
For some specific operations, SF soldiers can be issued with the Heckler & Koch (H&K) MP-5, a popular close-quarters weapon with the Army, Navy, Marines, and law enforcement agencies (and one of my favorite firearms). Built with German precision and efficiency, the MP-5 fires NATO-standard 9mm pistol ammunition and is amazingly accurate, especially at close ranges. With a thirty-round magazine and both semi- and fully automatic firing modes, this weapon can spit out a lot of lead in a very short time. Normally it is issued to Special Forces personnel assigned to missions like raids, urban, and close-quarters combat, or perhaps underwater infiltrations. A nice weapon, I love the rare occasions when I get to fire one.
An M24 7.62mm sniper rifle with an attached sighting scope. The M24 is equipped with a bipod, and the sighting scope on the tripod is used by a spotter to coach the shooter onto the target.
JOHN D. GRESHAM
M24 Sniper Rifle
The Special Forces continue to support the tradition of marksmanship at long range. Imbedded within the 18B weapons specialty are the sniper skills necessary to provide the Special Forces with a credible sniper force, using the M24 Sniper Weapon System (SWS).41 The M24 was introduced in 1988, as the replacement for the old M21 sniper rifle, built from the obsolete M14 semiautomatic rifle. Based on the excellent Remington 700 sniper rifle, the M24 is a solid weapon with some very forgiving features.
The M24 has an aluminum/fiberglass/Kevlar composite bed/buttstock, and fires the M118 Special Ball round. This round is matched to the M24 SWS, and is optimized for ranges out to 460 meters/500 yards. To provide an appropriate view of potential targets, the M24 SWS is equipped with a 10 X 24 Leopold M3 Ultra scope. While this hardly seems comparable to the 1,000+-yard/-meter ranges of Marine snipers firing the M40 SWS, remember that the SF 18B weapons sergeants are not full-time snipers. Maintaining that kind of range and accuracy is a full-time occupation, something the Special Forces do not try to match.
The 5.56mm M249 Squad Automatic Weapon. Firing the same ammunition as the M16 and M4, the M249 is based on a Belgian design.
JOHN D. GRESHAM
Though the Special Forces are quite satisfied with their snipers, and the M24 SWS are well-matched to the job and personnel, there have been efforts to upgrade the SF sniper capability, and a few M82A1 Barretts have been procured and issued to deployed SF teams for field operations. There is also a planned modification to the M4A1, which will replace the short barrel with a longer unit from the M16, and may be able to replace the M24. This would eliminate the need to carry a dedicated sniper weapon on most missions, another lightening of the Special Forces soldier’s load.
M249 5.56mm Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW)
Like the rest of the U.S. military, the Special Forces have adopted the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW) as their standard light machine gun. Based upon a Belgian design from Fabrique Nationale, the M249 weighs only 22 lb./10 kg., and fires the same 5.56mm-/.223-caliber ammunition as the M16A2 and M4. It can fire the ammunition from belts or the M16/M4 thirty-round magazine. Normally, an M249 gunner feeds the weapon from a 200-round plastic box magazine, which can be fed from either the left or right side. Because of its light weight, a single gunner can easily operate the M249, firing either from the prone position (using a built-in bipod) or standing (using a shoulder strap). A mounting point allows the M249 to be mounted on the pintle and ring machine gun mounts on vehicles like the High Mobility Multi-Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV). If the M249 has a shortcoming, it is that the 5.56mm round it fires is too light for some targets. The 5.56mm-/.223-caliber round has little stopping or penetration power against light (nonarmored) vehicles or sandbagged strongpoints. One possible solution for this weakness may lie in the new generation of armor-piercing, discarding sabot, 5.56mm rounds, which can penetrate over an inch of armor plate. But for now, the M249 is limited to firing the standard ball and tracer rounds issued to line units.
M9 Baretta 9mm Pistol
The Special Forces really need a good semiautomatic pistol. As weapons go, a pistol is not only the least aggressive firearm one can show, but it can be easily concealed, allowing for even more discretion should the situation warrant. For these reasons, virtually every member of the Special Forces is issued an M9 Baretta Model 92F 9mm pistol, and is encouraged to be skilled in using it. By comparison, conventional Army units normally issue pistols only to officers and sergeants, who only need qualify with the M9 periodically.
In service for more than a decade (long enough to overcome early teething problems), the M9 is equipped with a fifteen-round magazine and utilizes a double-action trigger mechanism. Given practice, shooters can go into combat with the M9 and stand a good chance of survival and victory.
While I personally prefer other pistols for their various virtues, the M9 has proven to be an excellent general-purpose firearm for the U.S. military.42
M240G 7.62mm Light Machine Gun
Though Special Forces units must generally limit their weapons to man-portable systems, this does not mean they have no uses for heavier weapons. In particular, the need for enhanced force protection at forward bases has meant that weapons like the M240G 7.62mm machine gun have enjoyed a renewed appreciation within Special Forces groups. Normally mounted on a HMMWV or at a security strongpoint, the M240G fires the 7.62mm cartridge, which has a great deal more range and penetration power than the far lighter 5.56mm round. On the downside, the M240G is large (47.5 in./120.6 cm. long) and heavy (24.2 lb./11 kg.), and usually requires two soldiers to fire and serve it effectively.
M203 40mm Grenade Launcher
With the possible exception of the combat/assault rifle, probably the most powerful infantry weapon adopted in the last century has been the direct-fire grenade launcher. An outgrowth of the old World War II rifle grenade, the modem grenade launcher is actually a short-barreled projector for shells that may contain a variety of useful payloads. These range from high explosive and incendiary rounds to shells containing illumination payloads, and even “beanbags” for nonlethal incapacitation.
The first such grenade launcher was the M79, a single-shot 40mm weapon issued in the early 1960s and still used around the world by law enforcement agencies. Today, the Special Forces use a more practical weapon, the M203 (ODAs usually have two of them). The M203 is a 40mm breach-loading grenade launcher that can be “clipped” under the barrel of a normal combat rifle. Since the M203 only weighs 3 lb./1.36 kg., it is easy to carry and does not greatly affect the performance of the weapon it is attached to. The advantage of the M203 is that it provides a twelve-man ODA with a pair of grenade launchers without any reduction in the nu
mber of M4s. As an added bonus, the M203 is quite accurate out to ranges approaching 330 ft./100 m., and is able to fire the same family of 40mm rounds as the fully-automatic Mk. 19 machine gun.
The Mk. 19 40mm automatic grenade launcher mounted on a tripod. This weapon is normally used for base defense or mounted on vehicles.
OFFICIAL U.S. ARMY PHOTO
Mk. 19 40mm Grenade Launcher
Another heavy weapon used for base security and force protection, the Navy originally developed the Mk. 19 for use on patrol boats. Today, because of the incredible firepower it can deliver, this “machine gun” (it’s actually a fully-automatic, rapid-fire grenade launcher) is used by all the U.S. military services. Able to spit out sixty rounds a minute, the Mk. 19 is certified to fire high explosive (HE) and high explosive, dual purpose (HEDP) rounds, which can literally blanket a target with 40mm grenades. Like the M240G, the Mk. 19 is normally used on vehicles and at strongpoints, where its firepower can be applied to force and base protection roles.
Eventually, the Special Forces may adopt the new 25mm Objective Crew Served Weapon being designed to replace the Mk. 19, though this is beyond the event horizon of most current SF soldiers.
Hand Grenades
The modem hand grenade is a far cry from the “pineapple” weapons of World War II.43 Today the U.S. issues almost a dozen types of these weapons, the most common being the M67 fragmentation model. There are also smoke, incendiary, concussion, tear gas, and concussion/stun grenades, which can be carried and used as required. Because of their simplicity and utility, Special Forces units make a point of taking along a supply of hand grenades wherever they deploy. Normally each SF soldier would carry a pair of M67s, along with a couple of colored smoke units for signaling and marking targets. Hardly a high-tech weapon, grenades can be used in a variety of combat and emergency situations, for everything from signaling a rescue helicopter to assembling an improvised booby trap.
Land Mines
The modem land mine is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, mines are valuable because they are simple and cheap weapons that can deny critical ground to an enemy without having to be monitored or tended, and when they are properly laid and primed, the locations of the minefields are known, which means the mines can be removed later. On the other hand, they are (with good reason) hated, because they don’t necessarily go away once a conflict is over. All too often they are forgotten until some unfortunate child or farmer walks over one.
In theory, the recent international land mine accord has banned the production, sale, and use of such weapons, and the United States has committed itself to the elimination of land mines from its military inventory (with the exception of the mine belts along the 38th Parallel/Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea).
But in practice, the land mine convention is a wasted effort, which will very probably create more practical problems than it solves. Because they are simple and cheap, land mines can be built in large numbers by even the most backward nations. And it’s not hard for troops in the field to improvise homemade versions.
Given a choice between being overrun and killed, or building homemade land mines to protect your position, what would you do? Improvised munitions are by their nature going to be less safe than military specification land mines—a fact that the bleeding hearts who pushed the international land mine convention in the first place fail to understand. While it cannot be denied that unexploded land mines, bombs, and other munitions are a major worldwide health hazard, banning an entire class of conventional weapons as basic as land mines is foolish.
So, where does this situation leave Special Forces or other units charged with protecting a forward base or compound? In point of fact, the land mine ban has proved to be more of a nuisance than a major threat to force security, mainly because the mine ban does not cover aboveground antipersonnel weapons like the M18A1 claymore.
Though it is often called a “mine,” that is not exactly what it is. A mine is technically a mine when it is detonated by a tripwire or other passive detonation device. Thus it is possible to use a claymore in an internationally “acceptable” manner by detonating it by remote control.
The M18A1 itself is a shallow, curved metal plate filled with steel balls embedded in plastic explosive. When fired, the 1.5 lb./.68 kg. C4 charge fires a 60° fan-shaped pattern of fragments, each the size of a ball bearing, which are lethal out to a range of around 328 ft./100 m. Normally it is mounted on a small stand or rock, some distance in front of an ambush site or defended position.
Multi-Purpose Infantry Munition (MPIM)
Though their combat use is mostly reserved for force protection and raids, “heavy” weapons systems, such as rocket launchers and antiarmor missiles, are also part of the SF capabilities.
Designed to replace obsolete infantry antiarmor/bunker systems like AT-4 and the old M72 LAWS rocket, the Multi-Purpose Infantry Munition (MPIM) will be introduced into the Army and Marine Corps inventory in 2002. (The Marines will call it the Short Range Antiarmor Weapon—SRAW.) The MPIM is being developed and produced by Lockheed Martin, and consists of an inertially guided rocket in a disposable launch tube. Though it is somewhat heavy by the standards of such weapons (at 20 lb./9.1 kg.), MPIM will be able to defeat both heavy bunkers and any known or planned armored vehicle. As an added bonus, MPIM will have an extremely useful range band (from 55 to 1,640 ft./17 to 500m.), and will be able to be fired in urban and enclosed conditions.
Javelin Antitank Missile
The Special Forces are also taking delivery of an extremely useful guided missile system known as Javelin. Designed to replace the old Dragon Antitank missile system, Javelin has an advanced “fire-and-forget” seeker that locks onto the thermal signature of a target and guides onto only that target out to a range of 8,200 ft./2,500 m. Thanks to an extremely energetic rocket motor and powerful warhead, Javelin can engage armored and wheeled vehicles, bunkers, buildings, and even low-flying aircraft like helicopters and spotting aircraft. Javelin also has an advanced thermal imaging sight, allowing the command-and-launch system to be used as a surveillance system as well. Moreover, it is extremely mobile: The Javelin system can be lugged around by two soldiers.
The military has not yet explored this extremely powerful system’s full range of capabilities.
Foreign Weapons
One aim of Special Forces training is to make troops proficient in operating foreign weaponry, especially those weapons that may be in use by a host nation. For that reason, SF soldiers are quite capable of using all variety of personal and heavy weapons, from pistols to antitank rockets.
Two soldiers firing a Javelin antitank missile. Guided by an imaging infrared seeker, the Javelin can also be fired against vehicles, bunkers, and even low-flying aircraft.
RAYTHEON CORPORATION
These, of course, include systems like Russian AK-47/74 assault rifles, Israeli Uzi submachine guns, and even foreign-made rocket-propelled grenades. Naturally, the desire is for Special Forces soldiers to effectively use captured or stolen weapons in the field, should theirs become inoperable or run out of ammunition. But there is an even greater need for expertise when training or working with foreign national forces. A big part of establishing rapport with host nation soldiers is proficiency (or even expertise) with the weapons used locally. As a minimum, an SF soldier must be able to assemble, clean, and field strip, zero sights, choose employment tactics, and display marksmanship on the range. Even rudimentary skills with foreign weapons can save lives in the field by allowing a Special Forces soldier to know how such armaments will be used against him! For example, if you know a Kalashnikov’s distinctive sounds and its limitations (barrel rise and poor accuracy when fired from standing positions), you just may survive an ambush and turn the situation around.
Explosives
There is no situation in the human condition that cannot be solved through a properly sized, shaped, packed, placed, timed, and detonated charge of high explosive!
Mil
itary Engineering Axiom
Blowing things up has long been a primary tool of the warrior. First there was the mysterious Greek Fire. Later there was gunpowder. Later still there was Alfred Nobel, who just before the start of the twentieth century discovered and marketed commercial high explosives. (His dismay at the use of his products in war impelled him to create the prizes given in his name.) And later still the variety of explosive pyrotechnics has grown to the point where they are viewed by professionals not as blunt instruments but as precision tools.
Consider if you will that skilled use of conventional explosives (in shaping initial shock waves) is the key to producing a nuclear detonation. A very different kind of shaped charge, using a differently formulated explosive, will “carefully” drop a single obsolete building without harming the structures on either side, while precision-guided munitions, armed with another explosive formulation and dropped by a stealth bomber, will find their way unerringly into an enemy’s headquarters.
Special Forces soldiers are skilled with a variety of explosives (though they normally carry only a couple of types at any one time).
Explosives can be generally classed into two types—“slow” (or “push”) and “fast” (or “burning”). TNT (Trinitrotoluene) is a “slow” explosive.44 That is, its primary destruction mechanism is the shock wave or “front” of explosive gases created during detonation. TNT destroys or disassembles targets by structurally blowing them over or apart.
This is in contrast to “fast” explosives like C4 (Composite Explosive Four—better known as “plastique”), which detonate very quickly and can actually burn (i.e., break the molecular bonds) through structural materials like steel. C4 tends to be more useful to SF soldiers than TNT, since it is quite safe to handle; has a higher explosive yield per measure; and, because of its “plastic” character, it can be cut and shaped into more efficient charges. At normal temperatures (50° F/10° C to 120° F/49° C) C4 has the same consistency of molding clay or frozen ice cream. Usually issued in one-pound blocks, you can cut and shape it and even burn the stuff without causing a high-order detonation. (In a high-order detonation, the entire charge goes off all at once, as opposed to a low-order or “string” series of explosions.) This kind of explosive requires an electrical detonator, blasting cap, or other precision igniter (a burning fuse will not usually cause a detonation in fast explosives).
