Manned or unmanned air superiority, adds the Third Dimension to the battlefield. Banging away at an enemy from above the battlefield and underground transit routes are decisive debilitating tactics. The Russians proved this around Kursk, traveling through kilometers of underground pipeline to appear in the rear of the Ukrainians. Chaos and defeat for the Ukrainians.
My Fire Force unit in Africa, using close air support (Cessna C337 with dual .303 machine guns, 2.75” rockets and Frantan-Napalm canisters) and a K-Car gunship (with a thermal sighting surgical Quad .303 Vickers M1919 guns or a 20mm Bofors), coordinating with vertical envelopment by G-Car helicopters putting troops on the ground like moving chess pieces, all coordinated by the Fire Force Commander in the K-Car, proved to be far superior to what any previous Counter Insurgency (now called Irregular Warfare to give a new name to Guerilla Warfare) anywhere in the world had for success. Even Special Force “Mike Force” units in Vietnam, who tried the similar tactics.
The British SAS killed 108 guerilla terrorists in 9 years in Malaya… I have no numbers on Mike Force from Vietnam. However, we killed 1690 guerilla terrorists in 9 months. I was a consultant to a brilliant maverick Marine Corps officer in a Naval Special Warfare study done on Vertical Envelopment in 1999 and published in the March 2000 Marine Corp Gazette. That after the disaster in Somalia.
That being said… what Colonel Gaub says here echoes my conversation with a Friend and former Navy SEAL Officer. There are NO “Front Lines” with drones. They are deadly and they are a game changer. I do not want my grand children in a ground pounder status or even at a desk job as a POGUE. The Infantry is DEAD. Warfare has entered a new stage.
Termini…
Jack Lawson
Member, Sully H. deFontaine Special Forces Association Chapter 51, Las Vegas, Nevada
Author of the “Civil Defense Manual,” “The Slaver’s Wheel,” “A Failure of Civility,” “And We Hide From The Devil” and “In Defense.” Go to www.JackLawsonBooks.comand JackLawsonBooks.Substack.com
“What difference does it make to the dead, the maimed, the orphans, and the homeless whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy?” - Gandhi
From Jack Lawson… an American in 1RLI Support Commando and attached to Rhodesian “C Squadron” SAS Africa 1976-79
Good Evening and excellent as always. Am most interested in the coming # 2 article on the Assumption Project, Tribal incursion, expansion and non-organic intent. The Arena of the Columbia River watershed, is going traction, and the Willamette Bsin is a test mule, for the full
package from Vancouver British Columbian to Montana.
You’ve captured this new component/weapon beautifully…right on the typical schedule we’ve seen in history with new inventions, except now technology gives us a higher and quicker starting point. Plus an accelerated completion point. Also true, ‘The same technological advantages initially enjoyed by the United States inevitably spread to adversaries.’ The ‘everything created for (mostly) good’ WILL be used for the opposite at some point…. Thank you!
Good Afternoon, and Good Article, Sir.
I wasn't aware that you are a SAMS alumnus. That knowledge brings even more clarity to whatever fuzziness remains of you in my sight picture. 😉
Your approach to things and your perspective now makes a little more sense to me, and that's never a bad thing. 😁
Never thought I'd go to that school. Ended up #1 on the OML for entry, #1 graduate, and ended up with a 99% since they weren't allowed to give a 100.
Well done, SAM-ster.
In hindsight, I should have known that course was on your resume. As I mentioned, I now have a clearer picture of LTC Gaub (Ret). 😉
I'll continue to read and appreciate from the military PME cheap seats. 🤦♂️😉
Manned or unmanned air superiority, adds the Third Dimension to the battlefield. Banging away at an enemy from above the battlefield and underground transit routes are decisive debilitating tactics. The Russians proved this around Kursk, traveling through kilometers of underground pipeline to appear in the rear of the Ukrainians. Chaos and defeat for the Ukrainians.
My Fire Force unit in Africa, using close air support (Cessna C337 with dual .303 machine guns, 2.75” rockets and Frantan-Napalm canisters) and a K-Car gunship (with a thermal sighting surgical Quad .303 Vickers M1919 guns or a 20mm Bofors), coordinating with vertical envelopment by G-Car helicopters putting troops on the ground like moving chess pieces, all coordinated by the Fire Force Commander in the K-Car, proved to be far superior to what any previous Counter Insurgency (now called Irregular Warfare to give a new name to Guerilla Warfare) anywhere in the world had for success. Even Special Force “Mike Force” units in Vietnam, who tried the similar tactics.
The British SAS killed 108 guerilla terrorists in 9 years in Malaya… I have no numbers on Mike Force from Vietnam. However, we killed 1690 guerilla terrorists in 9 months. I was a consultant to a brilliant maverick Marine Corps officer in a Naval Special Warfare study done on Vertical Envelopment in 1999 and published in the March 2000 Marine Corp Gazette. That after the disaster in Somalia.
That being said… what Colonel Gaub says here echoes my conversation with a Friend and former Navy SEAL Officer. There are NO “Front Lines” with drones. They are deadly and they are a game changer. I do not want my grand children in a ground pounder status or even at a desk job as a POGUE. The Infantry is DEAD. Warfare has entered a new stage.
Termini…
Jack Lawson
Member, Sully H. deFontaine Special Forces Association Chapter 51, Las Vegas, Nevada
Author of the “Civil Defense Manual,” “The Slaver’s Wheel,” “A Failure of Civility,” “And We Hide From The Devil” and “In Defense.” Go to www.JackLawsonBooks.comand JackLawsonBooks.Substack.com
“What difference does it make to the dead, the maimed, the orphans, and the homeless whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy?” - Gandhi
From Jack Lawson… an American in 1RLI Support Commando and attached to Rhodesian “C Squadron” SAS Africa 1976-79
Good Evening and excellent as always. Am most interested in the coming # 2 article on the Assumption Project, Tribal incursion, expansion and non-organic intent. The Arena of the Columbia River watershed, is going traction, and the Willamette Bsin is a test mule, for the full
package from Vancouver British Columbian to Montana.
You’ve captured this new component/weapon beautifully…right on the typical schedule we’ve seen in history with new inventions, except now technology gives us a higher and quicker starting point. Plus an accelerated completion point. Also true, ‘The same technological advantages initially enjoyed by the United States inevitably spread to adversaries.’ The ‘everything created for (mostly) good’ WILL be used for the opposite at some point…. Thank you!