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Land, Air & Sea: How Special Forces Get the Job Done

Special Operations forces are trained to perform wherever hostilities call, on land, in the air, and above or below the surface of water. Their duty requires sophisticated transportation options, for insertion and extraction and for in-mission mobility.

Vehicles available for each SOF mission are adapted and designed to provide maximum firepower, speed, stealth, and armor, plus advanced mobile communication and integrated computing equipment.

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LAND

Ground Mobility Vehicles (GMVs)

The U.S. military has used variations of the Humvee since the 1989 invasion of Panama. Based on the lessons learned in Operation Desert Storm in 1991, SOF added heavier suspensions, rugged tires, improved ground clearance, an open bed, removable armor plating, and a towing winch to the nearly three-ton 4×4.

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A 12-man Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) will typically patrol with four GMVs, which can be mounted with .50-caliber machine guns, belt-fed machine guns, grenade launchers, and SAW 5.56 machine guns. The GMV has a cruising range of 275 miles, allowing forces to operate far behind enemy lines. Operators undergo extensive training in in-field repairs and off-road handling.

This is a preview story. To view the entire article, check out the latest issue of SPECIAL OPERATIONS magazine by subscribing here. Also, keep an eye out for the full article in the future on Tactical-Life.com.

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