SPECIAL FORCES NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

0:00 Today we're going to be looking at single Special Forces news of the week. Here we go ranges on Fort Benning and there aren't long enough now for the Army's new sniper rifle. With the Mk twenty two precision sniper rifle, soldiers are expected to hit targets up to fifteen hundred meters away, five hundred meters farther than they could with the previous rifle. The Army is updating its sniper training range at Fort Benning to accommodate its newest sniper rifle again.

0:26 The MK twenty two is a multi caliber bolt action sniper rifle that was designed to replace the Army's M twenty ten or M one ten or M one oz seven rifles. According to the Army's program, the Army's current generation of sniper rifles have an effective range of nearly one thousand meters, but the new Mk twenty two can reach targets between fifteen hundred to eighteen hundred meters away.

0:49 This will allow, of course, soldiers to use the Mk twenty two to the fullest extent, which helps them train specific sniper skills like calculating ballistics, estimating distances, and actually hitting targets. Firing at targets with the weapons system. Maximum effective range requires snipers to be absolutely precise with their ballistic calculations to accommodate for atmospheric conditions, primarily wind speed and temperature. It also requires snipers to be absolute with the range estimation skills. Further engagement also challenges the sniper's ability to detect targets and apply target recognition skills. This is one of the reasons the importance of having a longer range. The MK twenty two rifle can swap between

1:26 these three barrels to use three types of ammunition, the typical seven point six to two millimeter two new calibers three hundred and the three thirty eight norma magnum rounds, which can be switched out depending on the type of mission. But the shortest barrel the rifle can use standard seven to sixty two's for targets as far as one thousand meters.

1:43 Two longer barrels accommodate the three hundred and ms regular round and the three thirty eight armour piercing around for shots up to fifteen hundred meters away. A marksmanship instructor are one of the largest Spaces told the website Task and Purpose that some soldiers with the U MK twenty two have not yet received the three hundred or three thirty eight. The Army signed one hundred and fifty seven million dollar contract with six Hour to produce the type of ammunition in June twenty twenty two. Sniper rifle was being adopted by the Marine Corps, which announced in November twenty twenty four that have been fielded to all of its infantry and recon units and training schools. Let's also look at another story in regards to special ops. The

2:28 Defense Secretary came out with news and addresses adequate support for special ops. Pete Hegzath, during remarks he gave what the annual SOFT Convention in Tampa noted that presidentially directed SOFT missions have increased by over two hundred percent in the past three years. Not only has SOFT been used more than anybody else over the last twenty years, but even just in the last four years. So the funding needs to match that which you will see in this budget.

2:52 Though the specific amount of spending for the SOFT community and the President's budget has not yet been disclosed, it would presumably be more than the fiscal year twenty two, twenty five. When asked how his department was able to determine this by specific financial needs, heggs that it requires direct contact. We start by listening to those units. We ask what they're facing, what they need, what their families need, and then we resource it. He also said that the quality of SOFT training has to be commensurate with adequate funding, and that overall morale and high adherence to standards in the SOFT community are necessary from mission accomplishment. There's a reason they said they looked at the schoolhouses of some

3:25 of where the most elite of special operation forces and ensure that standards have not eroded. Including that SEC Difference says that I guess he increases morale and wants to increase unit cohesion because the SOFT operators know they're as capable as they can possibly be. The Secretary has voices support for SOFT on numerous occasions. The best gift I can give you is getting up every day, working as hard as I can with my staffs ensure you have everything you need, he told the operators at the attendance.

3:54 So you can see that they're focusing on SOFT. Hopefully that will increase and our final story is actually coming from Singapore. They have a new piece of equipment of the deployed and new combatant Craft Underwater to support special forces and steath beach landings. The Singaporean Navy introduces Combatant Craft Underwater CCU, which is operated by the Naval Diving Unit Special Boat Group. The vessels intended for time sensitive maritime counter transfer counter terrorism operations and enables the insertion of a special forces team using the sea as cover.

4:24 The CCU is a semi submersible tactical dry diving vehicle believed to be based on JFD Carrier Seal, a craft already in use with the US Navy Seals and the UK Special Boat Service. The CCU can be deployed from surface vessels just as landing platform docks or the upcoming multi role combat vessels. The CCU supports covert underwater and surface missions and is intended for shallow water operations including ship interceptions and beach landings by combat divers. The Republic of Singapore Navy demonstrated the capabilities of its vehicle, which can be transported by various means and o operated in multi multiple deployment modes. The platform is part of a broader effort to expand the operational flexibility of Singapore's Naval

5:08 Diving Unit support of maritime security missions. The Naval Diving Unit the NDU of Singapore is the maritime special forces formation responsible for conducting operations by sea, air and land under the command of the Special Operations Task Force. The unit was established about fifty years ago. The JFD Carrio Sera, which serves as the apparent basis for the CCU, is a tactical diving vehicle capable of operating in surface, semi submerged and fully submerged configurations. Measures about ten and a half meters in length and two and a quarter meters in beam and one and a half meters in height that is designed to carry two crew members and six combat divers along with equipment from mission specific tasks totally

5:50 in neutral buoyant payload of up to one thousand kilos, the craft weighs about four thousand kilograms in surface mode. Is powered by a three forty five horsepower water controlled diesel engine coupled with a Kongsberg water jet, allowing for high speed transits of up to thirty knots with a three speed of twenty five knots and submerge operations, it switches to electric thrusters powered by two kilowatt battery packs, enabling speeds of over five knots and a cruising speed of four. The CCU has been presented as capable of conducting various insertion and extraction missions in literal environments that can be deployed from multiple host platforms, including surface vessels such as landing platform docks or the upcoming as I

6:32 mentioned earlier, multi roll combat vessels. It also may be mounted behind the fin of submarines like to Type two to eighteen SG. It can also be air dropped using the Seal Air delivery system, which includes an aluminum transport frame and a clustered canopy parachute deployment method. When deploying, the craft is a surface range of one hundred and fifty NA miles, extendable by seventy five additional nautical miles with auxiliary fuelbags. It submerged range fifteen nautical whiles, which can also be doubled. So this is some of the preliminary If you want to get the rest of the story, you can go to Army Recognition dot com to find more about that story. That's it for today. Hopefully enjoy

7:13 this update on special forces