75th Ranger Regiment trains to disable rogue nuclear weapons

After some recent reorganization, both the 75th Ranger Regiment and Special Forces have taken a renewed interest in countering weapons of mass destruction, especially as it pertains to "hard targets" like underground bunker systems. Special Forces "Critical Threat Advisory Companies" or CTACs have this mission in addition to the 75th Ranger Regiment while working in tandem with members of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) and the 20th CBRNE Command's Nuclear Disablement Teams (NDT).

One recent training exercise took place between NDT-1 and 7th Special Forces Group in which team members had to disable a simulated radiological dispersion device. A second exercise was held on June 6 and also handled by NDT-1 but this time working with the Ranger Regiment.

The more recent exercise saw the Rangers and NDT-1 train to seize an underground nuclear facility in an unspecified location, although an Army press release described the facility as a decommissioned pulse radiation site. This is possibly the decommissioned pulse reactor at Sandia National Labs in New Mexico. “This training location challenges the force for planning, execution and especially communications,” explained NDT-1 leader Maj. Aaron J. Heffelfinger. “Being a former reactor site, it also has the security measures in place to make it a realistic target.”

In a real-world scenario, adversaries will have heavy security around weapons of mass destruction facilities so in this training event, the Rangers and NDT-1 used simulated fire while entering and clearing the facility. This type of training requires soldiers to wear specialized CBRN protective gear while also using their weapons, sometimes explosively breaching, as well as employing the various detection devices and the equipment used to finally save the WMDs.

The NDT also has the additional mission of augmenting the FBI's National Technical Nuclear Forensics Ground Collection Task Force, which can collect nuclear forensics in the aftermath of a detonation.

The main effort behind the recent training exercises between Special Forces, Rangers, and the NDT is to improve interoperability between units as well as demonstrate the real-world capability that is ready if ever called upon by policymakers.

"The highlight of the exercise was the integration of the NDTs and 75th Ranger Regiment teams," Maj. Heffelfinger said. "Both have a vested interest in radiological and nuclear issues, so being able to train together and learn each other’s tactics, techniques and procedures provided both with additional skills.

"It also ensured that if we train together or respond to a real-world crisis in the future the teams are already familiar with each other’s capabilities."