Slow delivery: special operations command: it takes too long to get equipment.

• Author: Magnuson, Stew
• Position: Special Operations - United States Special Operations Command

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"The bottom line for us is: we need planes," said Lt. Gen. Donald Wurster, who heads the Air Force Special Operations Command.

In addition to airplanes, the U.S. Special Operations Command will be needing a vast array of new equipment, senior leaders said. They noted that the demand for hardware will grow as SOCOM continues to expand.

Plans call for the addition of five Army Special Forces battalions, four Ranger companies, 300 more Navy SEALs and the 2,500 members of the new Marine Special Operations Command. SOCOM's overall numbers are increasing by 41 percent from 2004 through 2013.

Furthermore, the demand for the command's services is not expected to slacken. Even if regular forces draw down in Iraq, special operators are expected to remain, said Adm. Eric T. Olson, SOCOM commander.

"As conventional forces decrease in Iraq, there is no similar decrease in demand for SOF," he told the National Defense Industrial Association special operations/low intensity conflict conference.

Lt. Gen. Robert Wagner, commander of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, agreed. "When the conventional forces pull out, we're not pulling out. We'll be left there and become more visible and [have] a more difficult task," he said.

To carry out their mission in Iraq and other hotspots, special operators will need better sensors to find the enemy. They will need more and better aircraft to replace SOCOM's aging fleet. The command's fleet of tactical trucks also will need to be replenished and increased, officials said.

It's a long shopping list at a time when budgets could shrink in the not too distant future.

"Right now, we are existing on the war emergency supplement," said Wagner. The command has used war appropriations to buy equipment that was habitually under-funded, he said. "When the supplement goes away, we'll lose that. We can't revert back to an under-funded situation."

At the Air Force Special Operations Command, the recapitalization of aircraft is lagging, Wurster said.

AFSOC is slated to begin operations with the tilt-rotary wing V-22 Osprey before the end of the spring. Wurster said the command has four aircraft, and they are performing as advertised, but deliveries are "too few and too slow." AFSOC will have only seven aircraft by fiscal year 2009, he said. Meanwhile, the fleet of 35 MH-53 helicopters will all be retired by that time. That will leave the seven V-22s as the only long-range vertical take off and landing...