DDC

Deep Development Capability

The Special Operations Forces (SOF) core business lies within a complex kind of environment. This environment is often described as VUCAT:

  • Volatile: rapidly changing situations
  • The capability has to be culturally diverse (language, sex, social background, age) because diversity in a team leads to a broader perspective and therefore to increased efficiency.
  • The capability needs to be modular, to make it possible to adapt the critical mass depending on the mission and the environment.
  • Ambiquous Ambiguous (Ambiguous): many interpretations of the situations we face
  • Turbulent: absence of stability, coupled with conflict, disorder and confusion

The complex environment in which we operate consists of a visible part, and another part of the conflict is invisible. The systems are often impacted far from the battlefields – if there are any. An example of such a complex environment could be the Sahel. The Sahel region faces problems that transcend national borders.
Areas of conflict are volatile or volatile. We do not always clearly know who the adversaries are, what their interests are or where they are. The stakeholders’ interactions with their environment and with one another are complex.

The way parties of interest are perceived is ambiguous; the difference between crime and terrorism is sometimes blurred.
In any mission, it is paramount to deeply understand a conflict and be able to make the right decisions leading to appropriate actions in the specific environment. The solution is to deeply understand the human domain and dynamics. The environment is human-centred by definition; conflicts are always about people.
People are at the origin of them; they are the actors in conflicts and the victims of them. The human domain is therefore always the core of conflict ecosystems.

That understanding requires not only desk research, but also a direct engagement with people in that human environment, to obtain more knowledge. However, it is also and mainly about reaching effects. The human domain is not only a subject of our research, it is also an object.

The end goal is to come up with actual solutions to achieve our desired effects based on sound analysis. So it’s not just about getting information, but more importantly doing something with that information, which is the main task of the Deep Development Capability

Profiles and education path

  • The capability is specialized in holistic analysis of human dynamics in order to identify opportunities.
  • The capability has to be culturally diverse (language, sex, social background, age) because diversity in a team leads to a broader perspective and therefore to increased efficiency.
  • The capability needs to be modular, to make it possible to adapt the critical mass depending on the mission and the environment.

A member of the Deep Development Capability must be able to work both integrated within a Special Forces team and as an independent element.

What we look for in our candidates is a rare combination of specific qualities. There are obvious objective criteria – present before the beginning of the course – such as physical fitness, language skills, general knowledge and tactical skills (autonomy). There are also subjective criteria – telling something about the potential – such as analytical mind, creativity, curiosity and social-emotional skills (empathy and communication skills for instance).

The education path starts with a selection week. This course consists of a series of physical and cognitive tests to evaluate candidates’ potential. Candidates then start the SOF basic course in Marche-les-Dames to obtain the SOF Enabler certificate. This part of the training lasts eight weeks and aims for candidates to become tactically and technically autonomous and embedded in a SOF team.

The DDC member do not need to be para-commando badged. After the tactical part of the education, the candidates start the SOF Human Domain (HD) course and the DDC specific phase of the track – around 16 weeks of courses followed by an assisted operational deployment (on-the-job training) of 4 to 6 weeks.

The missions and tasks of the Deep Development Capability

1.The ‘deep dive’ in the complexity of the Human Domain in order to achieve desired effects in the broader context of Military Assistance (MA).

The way we deploy SOF in a VUCAT environment in an MA context has similarities with the way to deploy a small (forward) SOF element for pre-conflict sensing. In fact, pre-conflict sensing could also be depicted separately and ‘left’ of the SOF spectrum since it might be the chosen way to identify opportunities and present options to SOF on ‘how’ and ‘what’. The core mission would be to map all relevant segments of the HD, design and maintain a network of stakeholders, investigate the stakeholders or the social groups of influence and analyse the contextual variables in the environment in order to facilitate and/or execute the engagements for effect.

2.The Deep Development Capability as an enabler in the context of Special Reconnaissance (SR) / low visibility operations.

DDC is more than just an additional capability within the broader context of social responsibility. It is a crucial factor if the Special Forces Group wants to become proficient in social responsibility in urban environments or in the theatres and contexts of today and tomorrow. DDC and its female members can be more than just an ad hoc tool. The training and education DDC-members have received allow them to analyse Human systems and social groups in depth. This would be the real added value, in addition to the tactical utility of women in a low visibility-mode, when having the ambition to navigate complex environments unseen or undetected. In order to navigate such complex human environments in subtle ways, these environments need to be understood and this understanding requires substantial ‘deep diving’.