Page 26 - Falcon Issue 1 2024

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G COMPANY – NTC
In early 2023, two teams from G Coy, 4 RANGER undertook a joint exercise with US Special Forces in the National Training Centre (NTC), California.
The exercise tested team’s ability to operate at reach and integrate EW assets in a large-scale combat operation.
The teams initially deployed to
the US for two weeks of integration with the US Company they would
be working under. Emphasis was placed on familiarising ourselves
with both the HUMVEE 1.1 mobility platform, as well as the range of EW assets provided by attached enablers. Integration training continued with haste following the flight from Kentucky to Fort Irwin, deep in the Mojave Desert. It was here that the teams received their pre-deployment brief and mission. A hostile state had just invaded a non-NATO allied nation. The in-country Ranger teams were
to partner with host nation SOF and conduct a discreet infiltration behind
G Coy at the end of their Mojave mission
the enemy lines to act as a sensor in the deep.
Such a mission posed novel challenges to the Ranger teams;
they would conduct a partnered discreet infiltration at night through enemy lines in an unfamiliar vehicle platform and operating environment. All the while, the teams would have to employ communications masking to prevent being compromised by the considerable EW assets being employed against them.
Unfamiliar challenges were undertaken with familiar relish. First, they successfully undertook a discreet night infiltration to 35km behind the FLET and established a series of OPs overlooking the avenues of approach. The sheer scale of the Mojave training area was staggering and added much to the realism of the training.
Throughout the following 10 days, the teams acted as sensors to observe and disrupt the advance of the enemy armoured Bde. UK EW assets served
The sheer scale of
the Mojave training
area was staggering and added much to the realism of the training
as a useful sensor, enabling Teams
to detect enemy targets through
their EM emissions. Once detected, teams were able to strike targets by calling in Div fires. When such fires were unavailable or risked excessive collateral damage, the teams used their mobility platforms to conduct partnered raids on enemy targets, disrupting the enemy logistics chain and – through the destruction of Air Defence Systems - opening mobility corridors for allied air. 10 days into this action, the teams received orders to conduct an RPOL through Host Nation forces. With the risk of fratricide this was no easy feat, but robust control measures ensured that both teams returned unscathed.
NTC 22-2 provided G Coy with
a fantastic opportunity to test interoperability with 5th US SFG (A) while partnering with host nation SOF in a large-scale combat operation. Many thanks to our US counterparts for being such welcoming hosts.
G Coy and our Green Beret partners from 5th SFG
Rangers surveying the AO