Compass Points - MARSOC Dogs
Marines Test Robotic Dogs
Compass Points - MARSOC Dogs
Marines Test Robotic Dogs
May 13, 2024
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Russia has made a dramatic push into Ukraine from the Northern border.
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The Russians launched battalion-strength attacks along a 60-kilometer stretch of the border on Friday, claiming to occupy several villages in what is known as the ‘gray zone’ along the frontier, after focusing much of their offensive capabilities this year on a grinding advance in Donetsk in the east that has seen incremental but significant progress.
As of Saturday, it appeared the Russians still held a handful of Ukrainian border villages, with intense aerial bombardment continuing in the Vovchansk area.
The cross-border attack is yet another example of what’s going wrong for the Ukrainians this year. Their forces are thinly stretched, with much less artillery than the Russians, grossly inadequate air defenses and above all a lack of soldiers. Their plight has been worsened by dry weather, allowing Russian mechanized units to move more easily.
-- CNN
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In unrelated news, while the fighting in Ukraine continues, the Tech Times is reporting that Marine Special Operations Command is testing robotic dogs.
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The United States Marine Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC) is now evaluating the recently developed killer robot dogs. Ghost Robotic's robot dogs are under testing and are made for surveillance, but the latest developments from Onyx equip the quadruped machines with remote weapons systems (RWS) that bring the attack.
. . . Onyx Industries confirmed that the US MARSOC has two weaponized robot dogs featuring its SENTRY remote weapon system that features AI. Additionally, Onyx shared a video of a robot dog equipped with its AI-targeting rifles in collaboration with AimLock, showing a remote-controlled dog and weapons system.
-- Tech Times
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MARSOC, the Marine Special Operations Command, has about 3,000 personnel, divided into the Marine Raider Regiment, a Support Group, and a Training Center. The Raider Regiment has a headquarters company and three battalions. Each battalion has four companies, and each company has four MSOTs, Marine Special Ops Teams. Each team has 14 Marines and is commanded by a Captain.
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The mission of MARSOC:
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Our mission is to recruit, train, sustain, and deploy scalable, expeditionary forces worldwide to accomplish special operations missions assigned by U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM). To accomplish that, we equip and train Marines to succeed in austere conditions against a wide range of adversaries. Marine Raiders execute complex, distributed operations in uncertain environments, achieving silent success and strategic impact.
-- Marine Forces Special Operations Command
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The Marines of MARSOC, like Marines in units all around the world, are doing great things. Marines everywhere have something special with them -- it is not a robot dog. The next time Marines find themselves in the kind of intense fighting ongoing in Ukraine, it will not be robot dogs that save the day, it will be Devil Dogs. Technology is always important, but it is the indomitable heart inside a Marine that makes the Marine Corps special. Devil Dogs!
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CNN - 05/11/2024
With a surprise cross-border attack, Russia ruthlessly exposes Ukraine’s weaknesses
Analysis by Tim Lister
https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/11/europe/ukraine-kharkiv-russia-attack-intl/index.html
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Marine Forces Special Operations Command
https://www.marsoc.marines.mil/
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Tech Times - 05/08/2024
Robot Dogs with AI-Targeting Rifles Now Under US MARSOC Testing
A new generation of lethal robot dogs.
By Isaiah Richard
Madness
And here it is: In China’s backyard: The New Marine Regiments Changing the Fight
https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/your-marine-corps/2024/05/13/in-chinas-backyard-the-new-marine-regiments-changing-the-fight/
The MLR “It’s just sized and purpose-built for its task, which is to be light, lethal and austere and to be able to stand in the weapons engagement zone when others are going to have to leave because of the threat,” he told War on the Rocks in 2023.
“They are exactly what we need in the Pacific,” Smith said. “It is the best solution to the task we’ve been given.”
And that task is to enable the Navy to fight the naval fight.”
The purpose of the MLR …”is to stand in the engagement zone when others are going to leave because of the threat”.
This is madness. A war in the Pacific will not be about control of engagement zones, it will be about control of SLOCs. The MLR is not going to control its own SLOCs with 100 mile area denial missiles. They are going to be easily isolated and neutralize. Wake Island surrendered; Corregidor surrendered; Rabual, (the largest Japanese base in the South Pacific) was neutralized and surrendered after the war.
This “purpose” represents a fundamental flaw in the strategic thinking of General Berger, (and now) General Smith, and the SECNAV. What will control SLOCs is the ability to seize advanced bases and airfields. A2/AD missiles (and drones) have a role but they will not be decisive. What will be decisive will be aircraft. The WW2 Pacific War was not about engagement zones. It was about air superiority. We seized islands for their airfields in order to capture, isolate and neutralize the enemy’s controlled SLOCs
Why do I feel like General Smith is fighting wind mills riding a General Berger horse named Rocinante. The United States Marine Corps purpose is simple and clear; it is amphibious assault.
Dog! OK recall Reckless the horse in Korea who saved a more than a few Marines. Program a dog to help there, too.
Next: my take away—-Ukrainians are out gunned. Are we now out gunned? We divested our tube artillery for rockets, which may not be as useful in for door to door, danger close situations. Just a musing from an old gunner-proudly so, old and gunner!