Chinese Navy Special Forces, or “Jiaolong Commando,” repel onto a ship during an exercise. (CGTN/Twitter)
Since the early 2000s, the PLA has undergone a drastic modernization and professionalization process, transitioning from a mainly conscript force to a smaller, mostly volunteer military, though conscription remains as a policy.
The new force’s main aim is to fight short wars against regional adversaries while having a technological advantage.
Chinese special-operations units, and the PLA as a whole, have gained from that modernization and learned from the example provided by Western special operations units over the past 60 years, but Chinese forces are still untested in combat.
Jan 13, 2021
Chief data officers (CDOs) in the Defense Department are opening up their data to take advantage of artificial intelligence and machine learning tools that help surface insights and improve decision-making. Some of the legacy concepts around this is my data just naturally change when we start using data to drive some of our senior leader-most decision-making forums, DOD CDO David Spirk said. I think at the department level, we re blasting through some of those legacy cultural tendencies.
Speaking at the ThoughtSpot Beyond 2020 Digital conference in December, Spirk said DOD’s growing data community is helping to “break down barriers that have in the past prevented the sharing of data.”
AP Photo/Matias Recart
In the early morning hours of December 20, 1989, Delta Force operators descended on a Panamanian prison holding CIA operative Kurt Muse.
The operation, conducted at the outset of the US invasion of Panama, brought Muse home safely, becoming Delta Force s first successful hostage-rescue mission.
On the night of December 20, 1989, the US invaded Panama to overthrow dictator Manuel Noriega.
This small-scale conflict was full of special operations some of them successful, others not involving Rangers, Navy SEALs, and Green Berets.
But it was also the first time that Delta Force successfully completed a large-scale hostage rescue.
Old partner, new enemy