Alphen, Netherlands. 25 November. It is a dark night. No
moon. Some twenty western hostages lie dispersed around a terrorist camp.
British Special Forces have been mapping the site for some time, slowly
building a biometric map. They have
successfully identified where the hostages are being held, as well as the
routines, habits, strengths and weaknesses of their captors. Radio and cyber communications have also been
hacked.
Some miles off shore a wave of landing craft and CB90 assault craft depart HMS Prince of Wales and stealthily make
their way to the shore. Half of the
force continues to the beach undetected, but halfway in part of the force stops.
From the decks of the landing craft ghostly figures ascend to the heavens. 3 Commando Brigade, Royal Marines, is going
into action.
At the spear-tip of the force is 45 Commando, the new
AI-enabled Joint Commando Air-Maritime Assault Force. Equipped with the latest Mark 5 Gravity Jet assault suits the battalion
represents the future of airborne assault. As each commando rises into the
night sky s/he carries an assault rifle and a series of small ground attack
missiles. Heavier personal equipment is carried alongside by a personally-assigned
‘intelligent’ lift drone. After the initial
air-assault mission the Commando will hit the ground running and join forces on
the ground, with their kit ready for action.
As the Commandos begin their part of the rescue a
further phalanx of ‘intelligent’ fast strike drones lift off the decks of the
British aircraft carrier and make their way towards the littoral. Royal Air
Force and Royal Navy F-35 Lightning 2’s are also warming up on the deck to
reinforce the shock the Royal Marines, SAS and SBS are about to inflict.
Timed to match the moment of the enemy’s least
readiness and thus create maximum shock and confusion, the SAS and SBS force
move into the camp having dispatched some of the guards. As they advance flying commandos and strike
drones appear from several directions at once and target each individually
identified ‘mark’. The Special Forces, now supported by the ground force, seize
the hostages and extract them.
Merlin helicopters, with advanced noise suppression
blades, move in behind the aerial human and intelligent machine attack ‘swarm’
so that the Royal Marines can escort the hostages to the ‘choppers’ and safety. The SAS and SBS simply retreat, job done, unknown,
unobserved, and back into the darkness from whence they came.
As the Merlin’s land four of HMS Prince of Wales’s F-35s from 809 Squadron Fleet Air Arm
obliterate the camp. Ten minutes in and it is all over.
All a bit James Bondish? Maybe. Just watch Royal Marine Richard
Browning and his Gravity Jet suit! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xL02e4L-RQo&feature=youtu.be
Some years ago I led a
significant project for the head of an important Allied navy into the future of
so-called ‘brown water operations’. Entitled Effect in the All Water Battlespace: Riverine Operations, and
without breaking confidence, the essence of the report was how best to reduce
the cost per naval platform per operation.
However, to meet its goals the study also combined strategy, innovation
and technology to form new partnerships and ideas. The ultimate aim was to understand
how a force could better fulfil its mission as quickly, effectively,
affordably, and as successfully as possible, as part of what is known in the
jargon as ‘ship to objective manoeuvre’. Some of you may think Richard
Browning’s Gravity Jet suit may have
little military application. Let me assure you it has. Let me also assure you
that right now defence agencies in China, Russia and elsewhere are also assessing
it.
Julian Lindley-French
