The French are gearing up for one helluva fight in N. Africa and when people talk US participation then the first force they think of is SOCOM.
I beg to differ.
The French have all the Special Operations outfits they could ever need. What they do need is a Stryker Brigade to help fill the line. The organic ISR, the capability to travel at high speed across great distances will be more important than a few selected raids.
If there was a Special Ops solution to this mess then the French would have already launched raids.
No, they need Strykers and maybe an A-10 squadron.
Sol, saw this around the net, not sure if it's a rumor, but I thought you might be interested:
ReplyDeletehttp://freebeacon.com/report-obama-ousting-centcom-chief-mattis/
They have far better vehicles for african wars than stryker + cannon foder in from of Foreign Legion ,Stryker is stil missing a practical big gun like AMX10RC.
ReplyDeleteIn african wars where MBT are not plenty wheeled platforms are the norm .
The biggest deficit for the french is air power ,a dozen jets can hardy provide 24/7 CAS ,totally obsolete Gazelle is still the main close support platform , we have not seen any Tiger HAP in action.A AC130 is sorely needed.
This is precisely the mission that Gen. Shinseki had in mind when he proposed Stryker brigades, but I think we are too preoccupied with Syria and Iran.
ReplyDeleteI also think our military has an institutional unwillingness or inability to deploy a BCT on its own.