Marine SOC (Special Operations Capable). A U.S. Marine combat element that has undergone a rigorous enhanced-training program, giving it the capacity to function both as a commando-style Special Forces unit and as a conventional infantry assault force.
Since the Korean conflict, the United States military has fielded a growing number of small elite units to deal with the problems of counterinsurgency, counterterrorism, and Special Warfare. The Army has its Green Berets, its Delta Force, and its Ranger regiment. The Navy has its SEAL (Sea-Air-Land) teams, and even the Air Force has its Air Commando squadrons. To date, the United States Marines have bucked this trend, flatly stating that, since the entire Marine Corps is an elite formation, such specialized units are redundant.
MOLLE (Modular Lightweight Load-carriage Equipment). New-gen combination backpack and load-bearing harness issued to U.S. ground forces.
NAVSPECFORCE (United States Naval Special Forces). Existent in the year 2006, NAVSPECFORCE is an evolved Fleet-level follow-on to the current-day Naval Special Warfare Command (SPECWARCOM).
A component of the U.S. Military’s Joint Special Operations Command (SOCOM), NAVSPECFORCE places all USN special operations and “silver bullet” assets and their supporting elements under a single, independent headquarters, similar in concept to the United States Army’s Special Forces Command.
Included in its table of organization are the Navy’s SEAL teams, Patrol Craft and Special Boat and Submersible Squadrons, SOC (Special Operations Capable) aviation and submarine elements, and the Sea Fighter Task Force. Selected United States Marine Corps Force Recon and SOC Raider elements are also “chopped” to NAVSPECFORCE.
NAVSPECFORCE coordinates all U.S. Navy special operations worldwide from its headquarters complex at the Pearl Harbor Fleet Base, Hawaii.
SINCGARS (Single Channel Ground and Airborne Radio System). Developed by the U.S. Army and also coming into service with the other American Armed Forces, SINCGARS is an integrated family of man- and vehicle-carried radio systems for tactical battlefield communications. SINCGARS is an “anti-Siglnt” technology, encrypting voice and data-link transmissions via digital scrambling and using “frequency hopping” to render them difficult to jam or locate via the use of radio direction finding.
Siglnt (Signal Intelligence). The collection of battlefield intelligence via the interception and decryption of enemy radio and land-line communications.
UH-1Y.The latest incarnation of one of the world’s truly legendary air craft, the Bell UH-1 Iroquois Assault helicopter. Introduced in the early 1960s, the “Huey” was the mainstay of American airmobile operations during the Vietnam conflict. Four decades later, it continues to operate in military and civil service around the world.
The UH-1Y “Super Huey” will be a rebuilt variant of the twin-turbined UH-1N currently in Marine service, incorporating improved avionics, uprated engines, and a common rotor and drive system with the Marine AH-1W “Whiskey Cobra” gunship, greatly increasing its range and lift capacity.
So modified, the Huey is projected to soldier on for another twenty years, and likely beyond.
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