Lt. Gen. Jonathan Braga, commander of the U.S. Army Special Warfare Command, spoke to Army Times about the possibility of adding a Military Occupational Specialty Code (MOS), and the one that U.S. Army Special Forces is considering is a cyber specialty.
"Lt. Gen. Jonathan Braga"
“The way we deploy our forces is for counter-terrorism missions, and we see that a lot of things have to change to be ready for a large-scale war,” he told Army Times, adding that he could not imagine a future of warfare without the increased use of drone technology and artificial intelligence (AI).
It is well known among Special Forces personnel that there is no room and career path in the organization for personnel with knowledge in using and modifying small drones, using 3D printing, including programming, artificial intelligence and other related things. This is something that Lieutenant General Braga wants to change. He also spoke about the possibility of changing the force structure and various courses.
"British Navy and small surveillance drones"
“We are currently testing the combat design… what will the future special forces combat look like?” he asked. “Will it be 20 drones to two personnel? Or will it be one personnel to 100 drones?”
The U.S. Army Special Forces still uses a 12-person to 1-person ratio, which has been in place since 1952, when there were only three areas of combat: land, sea, and air.
"A 12-man US special operations unit during the Vietnam War"
“Today, the same organization is operating in the land, the sea, the air, and the cyber and information environment, and they have to do it all in the way that they are organized,” Braga added. “Do you think you can ask these people to do more of those things? … That’s something that I think we have to look at very deeply.”
It is possible that in the near future we may see 2-3 new special forces units of the US Special Forces.
Article from Army Times: New MOS and formations could come to Army spec ops in tech-savvy era (29 Jun 2022)