Origins in Vietnam
The idea behind Delta Force came from the elite 22nd Special Air Service of Great Britain. The SAS became famous for their desert raids against the German Afrika Korps during WWII. Specialized jeeps bristling with machine-guns sped out of the desert wastes in lighting fast raids to destroy airfields and airplanes. The SAS continued their unconventional attacks throughout the war and brought their lessons into Malaysia. Under a personnel exchange program between the British SAS and the American Special Forces, Green Berets Charlie Beckwith was exposed to the counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism tactics of the SAS. During a tour in Malaysia, he recognized the special role of the SAS and he saw that the Special Forces could not fulfill this role. Upon returning to the US, he pressured to create an American SAS-style unit. His requests fell on deaf ears until the escalation in Vietnam.
Beckwith was deployed to Vietnam with the Special Forces and immediately began creating his SAS-style unit. He
Project Delta recon members, 1964. called it Project Delta with the specific mission of locating Viet Cong forces and personnel networks. Once they were
Image from Project Delta discovered, the recon teams would call in conventional forces to destroy them. One such reconnaissance mission
(http://www.projectdelta.net/1964/ resulted in the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley. Delta teams located the massive build-up of Viet Cong and North
misc_1964.htm) Vietnamese Army units in the valley area. Their reports put the 7th Cavalry into action. The cavalry conducted an air assault into the valley and after 3 days of intense fighting they had destroyed a majority of the Vietnamese forces. Project Delta teams expanded their operational zones and worked through out the war to provide intelligence for the Alpha Teams and their South Vietnamese allies. They were highly adaptable and worked to understand their enemy. Knowledge was power in guerrilla warfare and Delta worked hard to gain that power. Their greatest downside came not from the unit or the enemy but from the Green Berets allies in the US military. The conventional forces failed to adapt along with the Green Berets and tried to fight a conventional enemy and war. They had been blinded by their early success like Ia Drang and despite their domination of the battlefield they failed to prevent the loss of the home front. Like most of the special units in Vietnam, Project Delta was disbanded.
Beckwith was deployed to Vietnam with the Special Forces and immediately began creating his SAS-style unit. He
Project Delta recon members, 1964. called it Project Delta with the specific mission of locating Viet Cong forces and personnel networks. Once they were
Image from Project Delta discovered, the recon teams would call in conventional forces to destroy them. One such reconnaissance mission
(http://www.projectdelta.net/1964/ resulted in the Battle of the Ia Drang Valley. Delta teams located the massive build-up of Viet Cong and North
misc_1964.htm) Vietnamese Army units in the valley area. Their reports put the 7th Cavalry into action. The cavalry conducted an air assault into the valley and after 3 days of intense fighting they had destroyed a majority of the Vietnamese forces. Project Delta teams expanded their operational zones and worked through out the war to provide intelligence for the Alpha Teams and their South Vietnamese allies. They were highly adaptable and worked to understand their enemy. Knowledge was power in guerrilla warfare and Delta worked hard to gain that power. Their greatest downside came not from the unit or the enemy but from the Green Berets allies in the US military. The conventional forces failed to adapt along with the Green Berets and tried to fight a conventional enemy and war. They had been blinded by their early success like Ia Drang and despite their domination of the battlefield they failed to prevent the loss of the home front. Like most of the special units in Vietnam, Project Delta was disbanded.
Terrorism
Charlie Beckwith knew that Project Delta needed to become a permanent force in the US Army. They had developed unique skill sets and had formed a team with surgical precision. The 1970s brought a new enemy that could only be dealt with through precision and violence. The Middle East was quickly destabilizing and militant groups were looking for ways to strike out at Israel and its western allies. The first of these attacks came in the 1972 Munich Olympic Games when Palestinian terrorists from Black September captured Israeli athletes and held them hostage. The German rescue attempt failed and all the hostages were executed. The western world was shocked and they scrambled to create forces to defeat terrorists. 24 The British turned to their SAS and Beckwith saw his opportunity.
Delta Force Operators. Image from Sofrep (http://sofrep.com/8654/book-review-inside-delta-force/)
Project Delta would be retooled as a multi-role strike force to stop terrorist and rescue hostages. As US commanders recognized the threat they supported Beckwith's new unit. With official support, the unit was christened the First Special Forces Operational Detachment- Delta under the command of Col Beckwith in 1977. 25 Delta was not given much time before they needed to be mission capable because terrorists were attacking Americans. In 1979 Delta was called up to deal with the Iranian Hostage Crisis. The Delta operators were more than prepared to conduct the raid and rescue American embassy workers now held captive in Tehran. The big question was how to get them there. Revolutionary Iran under the Ayatollah Khomeini was hostile to the US. The Delta operators would have to sneak into Tehran for the mission. The plan called for helicopters to fly the men into Tehran but the distance to fly required refueling. A refueling point was selected and code-named Desert One. C-130 refueling tankers landed at Desert One but 2 helicopters never arrived and another was mission incapable. Delta was missing too many helicopters too continue. The complex mission had already failed and the weather was worsening. Upon evacuation, one helicopter lost visibility in a sandstorm crashed into a C-130. The ensuing fire spelled the end of the mission. Delta's first attempt to fight terrorism failed from an overly complex mission, poor coordination and poorly prepared helicopters. 26
Delta learned from the Desert One disaster and the Special Operations community coordinated and trained together. A new unit of special pilots called the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment would fly all specops teams. A Joint Special Operations Command would coordinate and plan all future missions. Delta was called out to rescue American civilians during the Invasion of Grenada in 1983 and hunted down Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega in 1989.
Delta Force Operators. Image from Sofrep (http://sofrep.com/8654/book-review-inside-delta-force/)
Project Delta would be retooled as a multi-role strike force to stop terrorist and rescue hostages. As US commanders recognized the threat they supported Beckwith's new unit. With official support, the unit was christened the First Special Forces Operational Detachment- Delta under the command of Col Beckwith in 1977. 25 Delta was not given much time before they needed to be mission capable because terrorists were attacking Americans. In 1979 Delta was called up to deal with the Iranian Hostage Crisis. The Delta operators were more than prepared to conduct the raid and rescue American embassy workers now held captive in Tehran. The big question was how to get them there. Revolutionary Iran under the Ayatollah Khomeini was hostile to the US. The Delta operators would have to sneak into Tehran for the mission. The plan called for helicopters to fly the men into Tehran but the distance to fly required refueling. A refueling point was selected and code-named Desert One. C-130 refueling tankers landed at Desert One but 2 helicopters never arrived and another was mission incapable. Delta was missing too many helicopters too continue. The complex mission had already failed and the weather was worsening. Upon evacuation, one helicopter lost visibility in a sandstorm crashed into a C-130. The ensuing fire spelled the end of the mission. Delta's first attempt to fight terrorism failed from an overly complex mission, poor coordination and poorly prepared helicopters. 26
Delta learned from the Desert One disaster and the Special Operations community coordinated and trained together. A new unit of special pilots called the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment would fly all specops teams. A Joint Special Operations Command would coordinate and plan all future missions. Delta was called out to rescue American civilians during the Invasion of Grenada in 1983 and hunted down Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega in 1989.
Desert Storm and Mogadishu
During Desert Storm, Saddam Hussein launched a new form of terrorism against the Coalition forces. He launched Soviet SCUD missiles into Saudi Arabia and Israel. The missiles were intentionally targeted against civilians in the hope that Israel would retaliate. An Israeli attack on Iraq would split the coalition with many Arab states siding with Iraq against Israel. The SCUD missiles had to be stopped. Coalition aircraft had destroyed the fixed launch facilities but Iraqis had mobile SCUD launchers. These launchers could fire and disappear into the desert before coalition aircraft could track them. Elite units needed to be on the ground to find and destroy the SCUDs before they fired. This task was given to Delta Force and their SAS counterparts. The unique training of the units allowed them to deploy hundreds of miles behind Iraqi lines to hunt and kill the SCUDs. The teams roved across the desert in special humvees and patrol vehicles. They located SCUD sights and called in airstrikes to permanently disable them. Unlike many Delta missions, the SCUD hunt was publicized for propaganda. The coalition believed that publicly destroying the SCUDs would reassure Israel that they didn't need to intervene. The SCUD hunters were successful and kept Israel out of the war allowing Desert Storm to proceed. 27
Delta Force SCUD hunters in 1990, Image from American Special Ops (http://www.americanspecialops.com/photos/delta-force/delta-force-scud-hunting.php)
In 1993, Delta Force was deployed to Somalia as a portion of Task Force Ranger. Civil war and clan violence had destroyed the country and caused widespread famine. The UN stepped in but their humanitarian aid was attacked by the clans. The clans needed to be removed for an effective Somali government to take control. Task Force Ranger's mission was to capture the Somali warlord Mohammad Farah Aidid and dismantle his clan. The Task Force conducted raids against the clan but when two of their Black Hawk helicopters were shot down the situation descended into a free for all. American forces were surrounded at the crash sites and after a night of fighting 18 Americans and several hundred Somalis were dead. Washington failed to understand the counterinsurgency operation and pulled the Task Force out of Somalia, leaving it as a failed state to this day. This Battle of Mogadishu has become known as the Black Hawk Down incident after the Mark Bowden book and movie.
Delta Force SCUD hunters in 1990, Image from American Special Ops (http://www.americanspecialops.com/photos/delta-force/delta-force-scud-hunting.php)
In 1993, Delta Force was deployed to Somalia as a portion of Task Force Ranger. Civil war and clan violence had destroyed the country and caused widespread famine. The UN stepped in but their humanitarian aid was attacked by the clans. The clans needed to be removed for an effective Somali government to take control. Task Force Ranger's mission was to capture the Somali warlord Mohammad Farah Aidid and dismantle his clan. The Task Force conducted raids against the clan but when two of their Black Hawk helicopters were shot down the situation descended into a free for all. American forces were surrounded at the crash sites and after a night of fighting 18 Americans and several hundred Somalis were dead. Washington failed to understand the counterinsurgency operation and pulled the Task Force out of Somalia, leaving it as a failed state to this day. This Battle of Mogadishu has become known as the Black Hawk Down incident after the Mark Bowden book and movie.
Iraq and Afghanistan
Many of the recent operations involving Delta Force remain classified but a few examples reveal the nature of Delta's missions. In Afghanistan, Delta members formed Advanced Force Operations that gathered intelligence and allowed US troops to enter the country in 2001. Utilizing CIA and AFO intelligence, operators launched raids against High Value Targets in the Taliban and Al Qaeda networks. They were the main force hunting down Osama bin Laden and tracked him into the mountains of Tora Bora. An outnumbered Delta squadron attacked the Al Qaeda forces and killed hundreds of fighters through constant airstrikes. They could not seal the area off and Washington commanders denied their requests for reinforcements and Ranger forces to cut off bin Laden's escape route. Delta and their Afghan allies captured the valley which the Soviets had failed twice to capture but the real target, Osama bin Laden escaped.
In Iraq, Delta was committed to capturing strategic facilities as well as hunting Saddam Hussein. Delta members of Task Force 121 captured Hussein on December 13, 2003 in Ad-Dawr, Iraq. In addition to Hussein himself, the Task Raid on Uday and Qusay Hussein, Delta Force killed Saddam's two sons, Uday and Qusay in July, 2003. Delta continues its classified mission against HVTs
Operators wearing black helmets in front, in Afghanistan.
2003. Image from en.Wikipedia
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Airborne
AndSpecialForcesUdayQusayRaid.jpg)
In Iraq, Delta was committed to capturing strategic facilities as well as hunting Saddam Hussein. Delta members of Task Force 121 captured Hussein on December 13, 2003 in Ad-Dawr, Iraq. In addition to Hussein himself, the Task Raid on Uday and Qusay Hussein, Delta Force killed Saddam's two sons, Uday and Qusay in July, 2003. Delta continues its classified mission against HVTs
Operators wearing black helmets in front, in Afghanistan.
2003. Image from en.Wikipedia
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Airborne
AndSpecialForcesUdayQusayRaid.jpg)