How might the SOF service components (Air Force Special Operations Command, Marine Special Operations Command, U.S. Army Special Operations Command, Naval Special Warfare Command) and Joint Special Operations Command best optimize themselves for strategic competition and integrated deterrence mission sets? Is there a need for new Joint Force training and exercises to determine or develop best practices for the integration of SOF and SOF enablers across services to best support mission requirements? What are the mission-critical capabilities for strategic competition and integrated deterrence within each SOF service component? Given each SOF service component’s unique capabilities, how might they best utilize new technologies? Do any of these capabilities require adjustments for optimal effectiveness in the current strategic environment? Are there requirements for new SOF capabilities that do not currently exist? If so, which SOF service component is best suited to meet each new requirement, and why?
- Bañez,, Col. Justin, "Evaluating Air Force Special Warfare for the Contested Fight: Kill Chain Advantages as a Stand-In Force," AF Fellows (Institute for Defense Analysis), 2025.
- Evaluates Air Force Special Warfare (AFSPECWAR)—a specialized ground force trained to Special Operations Force (SOF) interoperable standards—as a critical "stand-in" force capable of executing and enabling the F2T2EA (Find, Fix, Track, Target, Engage, Assess) kill chain within highly contested, Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) environments. He argues that by utilizing organic mobile command and control (C2), small unmanned aerial systems, and low-observable techniques, dispersed AFSPECWAR teams can provide real-time targeting updates, maintain target custody, and deliver or direct kinetic and non-kinetic joint fires from the forward edge. This persistent, ground-based sensing allows the joint force to prosecute complex, deliberate, and dynamic strikes against adversary systems without over-relying on vulnerable high-value airborne assets that might be pushed out by long-range surface-to-air missiles.
- Flori, Alexander D., "'Back to the Future': Using History to Define the Key Characteristics of Special Operations Aviation," SAASS thesis, 2025, 114 pgs.
- Flori answers these topics by proposing specific doctrinal and organizational command and control (C2) updates to guide Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) in its post-Global War on Terror (GWOT) transformation. To optimize for strategic competition and improve joint interoperability, Flori recommends that AFSOC redefine its core missions, replacing AFSOC-specific jargon with doctrinally defined joint terms (e.g., replacing "SOF strike" with "Close Air Support (CAS) and Air Interdiction (AI)", and "SOF air mobility" with "air movement"). Organizationally, he recommends updating Joint Publication 3-05 to properly synchronize new Special Operations Task Groups (SOTGs) with existing Joint Special Operations Air Components (JSOACs) and forward air detachments (FADs) to streamline convoluted C2 structures across the joint force.