The new plan cuts the number of SEAL platoons by as much as 30% and increases their size to make the teams more lethal and able to counter sophisticated maritime and undersea adversaries.
The counterterrorism fight had its benefits, allowing the SEALs to sharpen their skills in developing intelligence networks and finding and hitting targets, said Howard, who heads Naval Special Warfare Command, which includes the SEALs and the special warfare combatant-craft crewmen. Many of these things are transferable, but now we need to put pressure on ourselves to operate against peer threats.
As a result, Howard is adding personnel to the SEAL platoons to beef up capabilities in cyber and electronic warfare and unmanned systems, honing their skills to collect intelligence and deceive and defeat the enemy.
“We are putting pressure on ourselves to evolve and understand our gaps in capability and what our true survivability is against these threats” posed by global competitors, he said.
The overhaul decreases the number of SEAL platoons by 30 percent but calls for additional personnel in each platoon to specifically improve cyber, electronic warfare and unmanned systems capabilities,
Navy special forces will return
to their maritime roots , officials said
The new plan cuts the number of SEAL platoons by as much as 30%
The platoons will increase in size to make them more lethal and able to counter sophisticated maritime threats
Decreasing the number of units will allow top brass to rid the force of toxic leaders and be more selective in choosing commanders
There will be a new, intensive screening process to get higher-quality leaders
SEALs have recently been rocked by a series of scandals involving charges of murder, sexual assault and drug use