Growing pains: equipment shortages undercut U.S. Special Operations Forces.

• Author: Jean, Grace V.
• Position: Special Operations

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The U.S. Special Operations Command has seen its budget and personnel nearly double since 2001. But analysts caution that the command may be stretching itself thin because it has not acquired enough additional equipment to support a larger force.

The Pentagon in 2006 approved a 15 percent increase in the size of special operations forces. It authorized the creation of a new Marine Corps Special Operations Command, an Air Force Special Operations Predator unmanned system squadron and five more Army Special Forces battalions.

Of the 13,000 people expected to bolster the ranks of those forces, 3,700 will help to expand the civil affairs and psychological operations units. The expansion will continue through the new Obama administration and is slated for completion by 2013.

As far as equipment is concerned, of particular note are shortages of airlift--both in the form of rotary-wing and fixed-wing aircraft, said Robert Martinage, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments.

"That is a key capability issue that needs to be addressed," he said.

The helicopter fleet has not increased in proportion to the expansion of special operations units, so SOF troops in Iraq rely heavily on conventional Army aviation, which provides nearly two-thirds of their lift requirements, said Roger Carstens, a retired Army Special Forces lieutenant colonel and a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security.

If not addressed, he added, the deficit will only worsen over time, especially when troops begin to take on more missions around the world.

"We have to right-size this growth so that when we want to fly a Special Forces soldier on a mission, either in training back at home station, or in combat, there should be enough rotary-wing aviation support to make that happen," he said.

Special operations forces need "dedicated air," said Carstens. "They prefer SOF air, but they'll take any air as long as it's dedicated" to get troops in and out of hot spots at a moment's notice, he explained.

Special operators also need more unmanned aerial systems, said Michael Vickers, assistant secretary of defense for special operations, low intensity conflict and interdependent capabilities.

A Predator squadron last year transferred to Air Force Special Operations Command to provide streaming video to units on the ground. This appetite for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, especially at higher altitudes, is...