By Geoff Fein
U. S. forces operating in Iraq and Afghanistan need more persistent intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) as well as the ability to move data and images across the battlefield, according to the head of the Marine Corps’ special operations command (MARSOC).
Marine Corps special operations forces have a limited persistent ISR capability, but they have been able to access feeds from unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) in Afghanistan, Maj. Gen. Dennis Hejlik, commander, U.S. Marine Corps Force Special Operations Command, said at a Defense Writers Group in Washington, D.C. yesterday.
“But as we continue in the global war on terror, I think it’s critical that we have more persistent forward ISR,” he added. “Right now, if you look at the battlefield, we have ISR, but it’s almost like looking through a soda straw. We need a broad-band sensor-to-shooter ISR capability.”
Additionally, personnel need the ability to move graphics and data quicker.
“On the modern battlefield we operate quite a bit with graphics, moving graphics, pictures, streaming video…across the bandwidth. That’s critical for us,” Hejlik said.
Because every Marine comes to MARSOC with his own gear, any improvements or changes to that equipment come directly from U.S. Special Operations Command, he added. But that doesn’t mean Hejlik isn’t keeping an eye on Marine Corps development efforts, for example, with Boeing‘s [BA] Scan Eagle UAV.
“Scan Eagle is out there; it’s a great little system. The Marine Corps has been working that pretty hard, so we [have taken] an interest in that, Hejlik said. “Obviously we are very interested in the MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) [vehicle].”
MARSOC is using the M114A2 Humvee in Afghanistan, with good results, Hejlik told reporters. “It’s a great vehicle, and you can take it just about anywhere.”
“Overall in Afghanistan we’ve had seven vehicles destroyed and not one Marine seriously injured. [It] speaks highly to that vehicle,” he said. “But, like anything else, once we develop the technology [adversaries] find ways to counter it. So we are very interested in MRAP, and we will get some MRAPs as they are fielded.”
MARSOC is looking at the smaller RG-31 MRAPs, Hejlik said.
There is a place for the larger Cougar and Buffalo MRAP variants, Hejlik noted. “Especially in some of the more wide open areas of Iraq and Afghanistan.”
But the larger variants are not very good in other locations because they are heavy, not as agile in some of that more confined spaces and urban type areas, and some of the bridges throughout the theater won’t support the vehicles, he said. Additionally, the large MRAPs are hard to lift and a little bit more difficult to get off-road, Hejlik added.
“The best use of the MRAP would be to forward stage it in theater, wherever that happens to be, and draw that vehicle as you see fit,” Hejlik said.
MARSOC is scheduled to get 31 of the RG-31 Category I MRAPs, designed to transport up to six personnel. BAE SYSTEMS and General Dynamics [GD] are both building R-31s for the Army and Marine Corps.
MARSOC also has an interest in FN Herstal‘s MK 16 5.56 Special Operations Forces Combat Assault Rifle (SCAR)-Light, and the company’s MK 17 7.62 Special Operations Forces Combat Assault Rifle-Heavy, Hejlik said.
The two systems are under initial operational test and evaluation (IOT&E), he noted.
According to FNH USA, IOT&E should wrap up in mid-December.
“We had it at MARSOC about a month ago. The troops loved it,” Hejlik said.
Currently, MARSOC is using the Colt M16A4 or the M-4 carbine, made by Colt and Belgium’s Fabrique Nationale Manufacturing.