Back to the Ocean for U.S. Navy SEALs

Technology employed by Naval Special Warfare (NSW) shows the elite unit’s transition back to the ocean from the deserts of Iraq and mountains of Afghanistan.

Naval Special Warfare has spent over a decade running and gunning far from a frogman’s home; the sea.  SEALs have focused on Close Quarters Combat (CQC) and Military Operations on Urban Terrain (MOUT) instead of workups filled with combat swimmer and Over the Beach (OTB) techniques, tactics, and procedures.

With the two wars of the Middle East coming to a close, Naval Special Warfare will be sending these operators back into their element; trading their high speed Crye combat uniforms for a wetsuit, fins, and Ka-Bar knife.

Specifically, NSW will be revisiting programs that have been shelved such as small underwater drones, maritime sensors, and faster and more powerful combat boats.  “As the greater demand for Naval Special Warfare shifts from Afghanistan back to its original and primary maritime focus, Naval Special Warfare will be looking at its ‘spectrum of capabilities,'” a NSWC spokesman says in an email to U.S. News.

Read more about the NSW underwater drone program courtesy of U.S. News & World Report.