JSOC Covert Ops in the Philippines?

"Who, or what guided it to its target?"

A PI OV-10C, I hardly think so.

A MQ-9 with a GBU-39/B JDAM would do the trick quite nicely. Now who flies those things against a target such as the one destroyed in Sulu Province?   One can only guess...   As far as verification of target(s) for weapon release, well, once again we can only guess.

Just to add, the Phil Air Force has the capability to use precision guided weapons using OV10s even before that fateful day in Feb.

http://www.timawa.net/forum/index.php?topic=30346.0

http://www.timawa.net/forum/index.php?topic=30346.30

It is highly likely indeed, that Americans were present on ground the ground too to. But to answer some posts 8 months ago, we (the Pinoys) have very credible SOF units in all the three branches (and the National Police too). They are all very experienced since they've been fighting this war for a long time. And despite the lack of some equipment or other support that could've made a difference in combat, alot of time they (SOF) came through. The Pinoy SOFs and the AFP establishment in particular did learn alot from the Americans especially in the C3 level which made the employment of SOF units more efficient and effective in the past 10 or so years.

But whether Americans, Aussies, Brits, or Filipinos, they have one goal, one enemy. And like what was said in one of the articles here, one team, one fight.

Cheers!

Cool article and good posts from the guys. One of the reasons I like this site because of all the dots being  found, examined, and connected. And on another, totally immature note, would the aircrew or whoever targeted the bomb be considered MILF Hunter's now? Lame, but I couldn't resist.

Same shit that has happened with operation Neptune in Abottabad ... direct speeches:

Pakistan\Philippines : It has been our operation

U.S.: no it's me, it wasn't you

P\P: no it was me.

U.S.: ok it was you but I did everything important

P\P: no you didn't we did the intelligence you just did something stupid

... and so on ...

Jack, Good job putting the puzzle together, your on ABC's web site. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/03/secret-us-role-revealed-in-anti-terror-op-report/

SOFREP out hustling the MSM

alinaustex

I drive taxis in Austin Tx . And one new group that seems to be showing up here in our community is Sri Lakans refugees .

One of my friends from Bangalore was wondering if any of these Sri Lankas coming stateside could be former Tamil rebels seeking asylum . Then this Bangalore friend said there were real concerns that a diaspora of former trained Tamil Tigers might be going overseas in support of other terrorist operations. Could this be why Sri Lankans might have been at the Philipine site that got bombed ? ( If there were Sri Lankans there)

By the way guys, as a sign of respect to the ferocity of the Philippine Moro warriors (and I do not wish to rob them of this title) The .45 ACP was created for them. I remember this Filipino muslim marine I came across. I was wondering why he spent so much time cleaning his gun, lubing it and putting plastic wrapping on it (the works). He told me that his father taught him 2 lesson in life. 1. its ok to be hungry as long as you have a rifle and bullets 2. always take good care of things that will save your life. That told me alot about the people and the land called mindanoa, the promise land.

Great posts guys! Learned alot. Anywho I will just see what I dig and just throw them on here for you guys to work on. Definitely Philippines has alot of drama esp in the Mindanao muslim controlled area. Everyone has their own agenda going on. I think its worse than Iraq and Afghanistan when it comes to the drama part. I guess Its just that the people are so used to it that it has become a part of the daily routine kind of thing to not really care about what goes on in the south. Great post Leonard and Sean! Thanks again guys!

Jack,

I think you are right to suspect that the Pred is patrolling with surgical precision. Aerovironment has developed a micro weaponized UAS called the "switch blade". It's in proof of concept phase as far as I know but capable of Pod launch via predator. A ground operator can take control of the switch blade/s and steer them into a vehicles window, house, etc. There is also a "swarming" function that let's an operator take control of 10+ switchblades and steer them into someones living room....At least this is what I heard from a little elf....

BW

http://www.militaryplaques.com/images/Patches/OV-10-Mission-Patch-Plaque%20Med.jpg

Here's some historical readings:

http://philippineamericanwar.webs.com/stallingmororesistance.htm

And

1904 St. Louis World's Fair

Muslim Rulers and Rebels: Everyday Politics and Armed Separatism in the Southern Philippines

By Thomas M. McKenna

Chapter 5

America's Moros In his 1983 work on early American colonial rule in the Muslim Philippines, Peter Gowing cites a passage from a 1909 report to General Tasker Bliss, the second governor of the "Moro Province": "I find that the Moros who attended the St. Louis Exposition bought and brought in, apparently without question, no less than fifty rifles and revolvers of the very latest models... [M]any of them have changed hands, thus making it a very profitable business for the Moros who were lucky enough to have visited the United States" (Lt. Jesse Gaston to Bliss, January 8, 1909, cited in Gowing 1983, 177). While not remarked upon by Gowing, this short passage says much about the responses of Philippine Muslims to the early American occupation of the southern Philippines.

http://publishing.cdlib.org/ucpressebooks/view?docId=ft0199n64c

It refers to the one hundred "Moros" (certainly many datus among them) who, with representatives of other subject groups of the American-held Philippines (one thousand individuals in all), were brought to the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair and placed on exhibit. The report complains of the behavior of the Moros, who apparently did not content themselves with their assigned roles in a "living ethnological display" but also spent their time shopping for the most sophisticated firearms that American industry had to offer (Rydell 1984, 162). It is tempting to imagine them making their way from their "ethnological village" in the "Philippine Reservation" to the Palace of Manufactures, there to regard those gleaming, high-calibered benefits of Western technological progress (1984, 167). This depiction of subjugated Philippine Muslims as both objects of colonial intentions (quite literally so in this instance) and strategizing subjects is characteristic of political relations in Cotabato throughout the American period, especially those between Muslim notables and colonial agents.

Update on Oplan Nemesis: Malaysian Team are enroute to Southern Phil to identify the bodies but the Phil Mil and LE are still looking for the bodies and pleading to the imams to point them to the grave site. The "rat" was supposedly a villager living in the area according to Phil mil intel. Either the bodies got blown to pieces, they were buried immediately, or they survived and escaped through the help of the MILF(?). - No corpus - means no evidence that the mission was a success and no payout.

Terrorist side of the Story: As far as why the ASG and JI were there. According to a human rights watch rep/middle man who got an SMS from one of the relatives of Doc Abu, the terrorists were performing a medical mission (recruiting? planning?) in the MILF grounds. The relative claimed that a Bangladesh citizen was amongst the killed.

Just some points guys: the area where the bombing occurred is under MILF control which means MOST are all loyal to each other and most likely would NOT rat on their own (that would mean instant death to them and their families - law of the land in these areas). So I find it very unlikely that it was a villager (although I cannot rule out poverty could have driven someone to rat). Another note also is that the Philippine OV10s are not capable of/modified to deliver bombs that accurate. In one interview of the CO Lt. Col Cabangbang, mentioned that there was infact a small number of troops with in the area monitoring the activities (lazing?). Unofficially: a Fil SF friend operating in the area said there was a drone. Why are the Malaysians so eager to join in the fun? whats their part on this? Im sure the imams will give the green and point to the graves once a cut is made.

Will keep you guys posted on the progress. No photos have surfaced as of yet. Seems like this is going to die quick (like the maguindanao massacre) since there are alot of other major things going on in the PI currently. Earthquakes, prosecution of the Chief Justice for corruption, increased bombings, extrajudicial killings, rebel activities so on and so forth. Take care and God bless!

Just a couple of thoughts here.

1) It's hard for good pilots to drop dumb bombs in a mountainous jungle with a high canopy. The target can be next to impossible to see visually, so bad pilots have even less of a chance. So, I agree that it probably was a smart bomb. OV-10s can drop those with the right gear and WSO on board. It might have been a Phillipino pilot with an AF or Navy WSO in back. Boeing has been working on a modernized light attack AC called the OV-10X with smart bomb capabilities and electronics. It could have been one of these. Can't think of a better way for Boeing to sell them than a demonstration like this.

2) With so many people in the target area, I'm almost certain that there was a ground team with 'eyes on' to make sure the they weren't bombing a wedding or some other social function. The bomb might have been lazed from the ground. If you've got a AF Combat Control Team embedded with a PA special forces unit watching the target area for the arrival of the HVTs, you still have a Phillipine operation for publicity purposes.

Update Folks: The Malaysian govt is now sending their own team to the Philippines to identify the dead bodies. First let me paint the picture. After the bombing, the nearby MILF took the bodies and buried them. The bombing apparently took place near or within MILF grounds (MILF is in the process of having a peace/ceasefire agreement with the govt). on top of that local muslim clerics/imam do not want to desecrate the grave site - muslim law traditions beliefs play here. Another angle also to consider is that one of the HVT is a Malaysian - the Malaysian govt (or some of its radical citizens) has been know to fund the ASG, JI and MILF to wreak havoc in the region to take away the focus from the disputed "spratlys islands" which some of you might know falls in the saba region and is very rich of oil deposits. This Spratlys topic is very hot right now since China, vietnam, malaysia and the Philippines are all claiming ownership - but clearly according to the UN official map it falls inside the territorial lines of the Philippines (and the residents there are filipinos.) As far as the Singaporean rebel leader goes, the Singaporean disowned and discredited him.

We all, I think agree, this is a smart bomb. What I really want to know is that who ratted these people out. Was it the malaysian? Indonesians? Filipino muslims? fellow asg/milf/JI? Was it really good intel (mind you recon drones have been flying in the PI for a while). Keep in mind guys there is alot of money dangling on these 3 HVTs. $5 Mil, + $150k, + $50k and + $50k. To us this maybe a small amount but to those guys its alot.

I would as a person looking from the outside in that you would hope that 12 years of the CIA/SEAL's advising in the area, you would find competent operators. But Agenda's rule the day...I was having a discussion with an individual that is heavily involved in Advising in certain parts of the world that Advising can be productive but is often times a Dual Agenda with no real intent to foster competency and that the host countries are more interested in the funding that comes along with it than developing their army. Perhaps more often than not, Advising is more of an avenue for our intelligence agencies to gain a foothold in an area than really doing their job.

The PI military, their Marines, Army, etc etc are a JOKE. And also the most corrupt in the world, if it was done write,

chances are there were NO, I mean Zero, Philippinos involved. I've deployed there one too many times to know this.

They do know where to party, get girls and basically get laid, fed and paid by citizens. It's sickening.

Going back a few years to the kidnapping of the missionaries the Burnhams, it was revealed the Gold Team on DEVGRU was present in the takedowns of the Abu Sayeff cowards at sea. Footage shows them in a backup role in case things went wrong but the attack was actually done by PI Marine Operators. Other information leaked that the SEALs and CIA/SAD had men on the ground training, advising and actively recce'ing all of the messenger routes. One instance had two members of GOLD in a canoe, 30 meters away from the missionaries as they were being transported through some swamps.

The PI govt has bleated very loudly that no Americans can fight on PI soil. For PR sake, they continue to stick to the story and I'm sure that the training level over the last 12 years has gotten some highly competent phillipino operators. There are pics out there of SEAL's leading patrols just like in Colombia although Colombia acknowledges and has no problems with Americans firing bullets on FARC, etc.

Seriously, though, an OV-10 on a HVT? A chance to take them down after probably months if not years of trying to bag the most people in one shot? No one knows what level of Drone training or assets the PI Marines have but it probably went down like this. An American probably flew the drone to the location and had a PI marine hit the joystick button for fire, thereby sticking to the rules. I don't see them seriously relying on an OV-10 for such a prime opportunity.

Others may be more informed on what an OV-10 can be equipped with in terms of laser guided bombs, painting the target, etc. But this article probably is on point by raising the question of REALLY??? D.R. Tharp author of Task Force Intrepid: The Gold of Katanga