United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group

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US Naval Special Warfare Development Group
- NAVSPECWARDEVGRU -
- DEVGRU -
- NSWDG -

Naval Special Warfare Development Group.jpg

Badge of the DevGru
Lineup November 1, 1980
Country Flag of the United States.svg United States
Armed forces United States Department of Defense Seal.svg United States Armed Forces
Armed forces Seal of the United States Department of the Navy, svg United States Navy
Type maritime anti-terrorist unit
Strength Secret (estimated 200 emergency services)
Insinuation Navsoc logo.jpg United States Naval Special Warfare Command United States Special Operations Command United States Joint Special Operations Command
United States Special Operations Command Insignia.svg
Seal of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) .svg
Location Dam Neck Annex, Naval Air Station Oceana , Virginia
Nickname DEVGRU, SEAL Team Six
Calls SEAL Team Six

DEVGRU

The United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group ( NAVSPECWARDEVGRU or DEVGRU ) is a special unit of the US Navy for anti-terrorism and hostage rescue . The unit is operationally subordinate to the US Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), administratively and technically, however, the US Naval Special Warfare Command (NAVSOC) and was previously known as SEAL Team 6 and Mobility 6 (MOB 6). The name United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group is no longer used, but a new secret name has been chosen for the unit.

history

1983 was the SEAL Team 6 in the attack on Grenada ( Operation Urgent Fury involved), which was indeed won militarily, but blatant coordination problems and rivalries between the participating military special forces ( Special Operations Forces ), Navy Seals, Army Rangers and Special Forces revealed .

In the mid-1990s the Navy SEALs Team 6 (ST6) was disbanded and the forces restructured due to irregularities in the procurement of equipment and the resulting bad reputation for the US Navy. In the end, the unit known under the abbreviation DEVGRU was created , which is stationed in Dam Neck , Virginia .

Despite the Posse Comitatus Act , a federal law that bans the use of the military domestically, DEVGRU forces, along with the Delta Force , with special permission from the US President, have repeatedly worked with the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) on special Occasions also used in the United States .

According to reports, 30 members of the unit were killed during the War on Terror . The DEVGRU conducts its operations in countries such as Syria , Iraq , Somalia and Yemen .

Further missions

  • 1998: Undercover search for war criminals in Bosnia and Herzegovina . This included the hunt for Goran Jelisić , Simo Zarić, Milan Simić, Miroslav Tadić and Radislav Krstić .
  • June 2003: Participated in the rescue of Jessica Lynch in the Third Gulf War .
  • April 12, 2009: The hijacked ship Maersk Alabama is freed near Somalia .
  • May 2011: Participation in the commando operation Operation Neptune's Spear against Osama bin Laden .
  • August 6, 2011: During an operation in Afghanistan in Wardak Province , a Chinook transport helicopter was shot down by the Taliban with a reactive anti-tank rifle . All 38 inmates died, including 15 DEVGRU members .
  • January 2012: Participation in the liberation of the American Jessica Buchanan and a Dane who worked for the Danish aid organization Danish Demining Group in Adado, Somalia.
  • December 2012: Participation in the rescue of the US doctor Dilip Joseph, who was abducted with two local companions during a humanitarian mission in the province of Kabul. A member of the special unit was killed in the operation.
  • January 2017: Operation in Yemen to arrest the leaders of the terrorist organization " Al-Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)". About 30 people were killed in the operation, including a Navy Seal, several civilians and 14 Al Qaeda fighters.

assignment

Despite the new name, the unit's areas of responsibility have remained the same. In addition to the existing areas of hostage rescue , counter-terrorism , personal and property protection , the DEVGRU is to officially test new equipment, techniques and tactics.

organization

The exact number of staff in the unit is classified as secret. It is estimated that there are around 200 emergency personnel ("operators"). The structure is very similar to the Delta Force . The unit has the same training facilities, the same armament, the same vehicles and can also use the 160th SOAR for air transport. The DEVGRU is divided into the Blue, Gold, Red and Silver emergency trains, each with around 50 emergency services, and a special maritime unit called Gray . There is also a strategic reconnaissance squad called Black .

criticism

The New York Times published an article in June 2015, which arose from discussions with active and former members of the DEVGRU and other military personnel. This article criticizes that the unit has degenerated into a "global manhunt machine". The unit has been enlarged since 2001 on the occasion of the War on Terror and since 2006, when Stanley McChrystal took over command of ISAF , it has been increasingly used against the Taliban. The unit was used against minor targets such as street thieves. At the same time, between 2006 and 2008 there were around 15, with peaks of up to 25 kills per night.

Web links

Commons : United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. a b globalsecurity.org: Naval Special Warfare Development Group , accessed March 5, 2013
  2. Marc Ambinder: Delta Force Gets a Name Change. In: The Atlantic. The Atlantic Monthly Group, October 12, 2010, archived from the original on February 16, 2013 ; accessed on September 3, 2014 .
  3. a b c Navy Seals: Ex-soldiers criticize excessive killing missions in US special teams. One report said targeted killings have become routine for Team 6 of the Navy Seals. Ex-members are now criticizing the unit that killed Osama bin Laden. In: ZEIT ONLINE. ZEIT ONLINE GmbH, June 8, 2015, accessed on June 15, 2015 .
  4. ^ Smith, Michael (2008). Killer Elite: The Inside Story of America's Most Secret Special Operations Team. Macmillan. Pages 201-202. ISBN 978-0-312-37826-4 .
  5. Portraits of Navy SEALs killed in helicopter crash (English)
  6. Navy Seals Team 6: Legendary elite unit rescued hostages in Somalia
  7. faz.de: Navy Seals free development workers
  8. cnn.com: US Navy SEAL killed in operation to rescue American doctor in Afghanistan (English)
  9. Harold Hutchison: How SEALs were caught in 'ferocious' firefight during Yemen counter-terrorism raid. In: We Are The Mighty. February 2, 2017, accessed August 1, 2017 .
  10. Marine Corps News: SEALs in bin Laden raid drawn from Red Squadron , May 5, 2011 ( Memento of the original from May 10, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.marinecorpstimes.com
  11. Mark Mazzetti et al. a .: The Secret History of SEAL Team 6: Quiet Killings and Blurred Lines. In: The New York Times . June 6, 2015, accessed June 7, 2015 . (English)