[img]http://www.portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/graphics/2001/09/18/wwarbig.jpeg[/img]

Will this work?

Snatch teams ready to move in at first light
By Michael Smith, Defence Correspondent
(Filed: 18/09/2001)


ONCE Osama bin Laden's hideout in the Afghanistan mountains is located by Western intelligence, a US-British special forces team is likely to be sent in to snatch him.

 
Click to enlarge
The mountains, close to the borders with the old Soviet Central Asian republics, are riddled with ravines and wadis that would make any such operation a nightmare for planners and troops alike.

But the SAS has experience of similar terrain from its campaigns in Oman during the 1960s and 70s, when it was forced on occasion to flush communist insurgents out of mountain caves. One of the Sabre squadrons of 22 SAS Regiment has already returned to its old stomping ground in the Dhofar region of western Oman, under cover of participation in a previously planned exercise.

Having worked alongside the Jamiat-i-Islami mujahideen guerrillas - now fighting the Taliban - during the Soviet invasion, they have the trust of the key men on the ground.

The forward operations base would have to be large and would almost certainly be at one of the airfields dotted around Tajikistan's border with the Badakshan region controlled by Jamiat-i-Islami. It might even be inside Afghanistan.

The joint special forces team, expected to involve the US Delta Force and the SAS, who worked together on the Scud-busting missions of the Gulf war, would wait there, practising operation scenarios together.

Once bin Laden's location was pinpointed, the force would have to move fast to ensure that he was given no chance to move on. Small teams would move in to recce the area around the hideout. They would be checking how it was protected, and where sentries were posted.

They would also have to check that the positions planned for the main force, which would provide covering fire, were viable and that landing zones were adequate.

A large force of up to 300 men would most likely be moved into the region by US Pave Hawk helicopters, landing the previous evening far enough away to go undetected. The Pave Hawk's versatility makes it the preferred transport of special forces.

The main force would take up pre-planned positions in the mountains overlooking the hideout to wait for the snatch squads. These would almost certainly move in at first light, their number depending on the size of the base.

Speed would be of the essence, with the method used depending heavily on the surrounding terrain. They might be landed by rope on to the heights above the caves, abseiling down to the target.

If the hideout was particularly well defended, they might also be supported by Apache helicopter gunships, although this would remove the element of surprise. The snatch squads and their prisoners would be flown to the rear base, and from there to America.

Will it work?
We're not tellin'.

Yes of course!  That's it!  The elite media figured it out!  Now all Osama has to do is stay in a house instead of a cave.

Okay okay, sorry about that.  I really doubt you'll see 300 D-boys and SAS troopers in the same op.  Those types of units don't operate that way.  The fact is that anyone can speculate (and that usually makes me snicker).  But what actually goes down is a matter of OPSEC.

-SARguy

What's missing from this picture?

GOATS, lots of goats.


Why not just serve two meals on airline flights
1) Pork
2) Goat

Arrest anyone ordering goat.

I just want to know what a "Pave-hawk" is.
{graft two}

A Pave Hawk is a just modified Blackhawk (in-air refuling capability, etc).  It's designed to be an SOF-specific platform.  It's used a lot for SAR operations and SF insert/extract.

[url]http://www.af.mil/news/factsheets/HH_60G_Pave_Hawk.html[/url]

Hope this helps

-SARguy

I think that I would just throw grenades into the cave. Then blast the entrance to cave it in. No way I'd order anyone to go into a cave like that!

Shit.  Lets call him up on the phone, let him know what day we are comming, and how many, so he can put a pot of coffee on. [heavy]

From the looks of it we will be using AK's.

I vote we just send in two people that could take care of Bin Laden.  We send in OJ and he can slice and dice for us and get away scott free and then send in Gary Condit to hide the body.  

That's hilarious!

Do you think the guy with the pistol is about to shoot his comrade before he buttstrokes Osama?  "Dude, I don't care what he did, he deserves a fair trial."

The other two guys in the cave must be in on the op, they aren't firing at any of the SpecOps guys.

Why are his hands tied?  (You should know what I'm getting at [:)].)

Why does this "news" article remind me so much of the Sgt. Rock comicbooks from my childhood?!

Some of those special forces guys need to grab some of those Taliban guys and say, "You VC!.. You VC!"

Sorry guys.  I guess I've just seen Apocalypse Now too many times.
"It's my dream.. It's my nightmare..."

Hey Smeghead,
Please post the link where you found this.

One thing for sure is the Improved Extended Forward Avionics Bay or (IEFAB) bays. They are considerably larger on the Longbow then "A" models.

Really though, it looks as if the "artist" here pasted in the Millimeter Wave (MMW) transceivers on "A" models.

P.S. how did you come up with your handle Chaingun (wink-wink)

I can't remember the exact story headline but it was at:

[url]http://www.telegraph.co.uk[/url]

It's funny, but this looks exactly like the comic book/instruction manual that came with my old GI Joe "Capture Copter".