Project: DRAGOON
From the very beginning, what would become the Studies and Observations Group (and later the SLDFiE) incorporated mixed Infantry and VTOL Assets. As the erstwhile Sigma-Mu Counter-Bandit Supernova, this originally included a star of mixed battle armour, a star of foot infantry and three mixed points of Anhurs and Star League and Pentagon-Vintage Cobra Transport VTOLs. But they quickly recruited additional forces on Galatea and this included additional Infantry and vehicle assets; some of which were VTOLs.
Their first two years as mercenaries saw SOG undertake contracts as both the insurgents and the counter-insurgents. Both experiences drove home the importance of high operational and tactical mobility for modern forces in these roles. While in “tight” conditions; guerillas could make little use of assets like VTOLs; but held back for a vital strike, they proved invaluable. In more “open” conditions with a vast wilderness and safe areas to hide in, well-equipped units could operate as independent bands of air-mobile bandits; descending with little warning onto unprepared outposts and vulnerable targets.
Just so in counter-insurgency; high mobility of all kinds was vital to imposing “tight” conditions on the enemy and eventually cornering and eliminating them.
By this time, SOG included roughly a light brigade of Infantry, of various forms and still built around a core of very experienced ex-Hell’s Horses troops, many now in junior and senior leadership positions. These were increasingly supplemented by growing numbers of very experienced veteran infantry, both coming up the ranks and recruited from other sources. Along with the rest of the unit; this light-brigade’s worth of troops was spread across several worlds and contracts.
Many of the officers in the unit were content to learn as they went and improvise on the fly, but self-styled “Commander Mckenna”; an improviser himself, imposed an uncharacteristic requirement for a “field study” to be carried out, beginning in on March 5th. This was to establish tactics and requirements for AirMobile forces and would take place with a Battalion of Light Infantry rotated out of the field for rest. This would normally include retraining and various camp and garrison duties in order to keep their skills sharp and maintain cohesion; instead they practiced and drilled with VTOLs, trying various tactical and operational schemes devised by SOG leadership and derived from what manuals could be obtained.
The goal was to provide an enhanced framework of SOPs for AirMobile units upon which sub-unit leaders could build their own solutions to tactical and operational problems.
The BLUE BELL Program
The BLUE BELL Program took what had been learned from Project: DRAGOON and laid out a series of requirements for the equipment and organization of AirMobile Infantry in the unit, up to the level of a full brigade, which itself was capable of operating dispersed across several star systems or concentrated to a single battlefield.
BLUE BELL reorganized a different SOG Infantry Battalion; this one formerly mechanized troops, into a skeletal formation capable of providing study data as a Brigade. Using live-fire, force on force and “paper” exercises; the force was tested and re-organized to be able to tackle different tactics on conventional, asymmetric and trans-orbital battlefields.
This took place on Keid; where SOG was undertaking a Garrison and Training Contract at the time; so much of BLUE BELL Occurred under those auspices and often included elements of the local militia in their exercises as OPFOR and BLUFOR elements.
BLUE BELL is completed and submits its findings while McKenna and other elements of SOG are undertaking a daring reconnaissance mission on WOB-occupied Terra during the calendar-winter of 3058/3059.
The entire force, collected from various completed contracts RVs on Keid, beginning on 18 February. There; the Studies and Observations Group is once again re-organized and enters a period of re-training, rest and refit alongside the ongoing Garrison/Training contract.
McKenna has baseline experience with AirMobile forces from his time as a Militia Scout in his youth, training at Belmont Military Academy and Finally with the Hell’s Horses in combined Bandit-Hunting Operations. A large infantry contingent, partly mobilized through VTOLs had been a goal of his since the break from Clan Society that occurred following Sigma-Mu’s final mission. He reviewed the recommendations, plans and organization schemata from BLUE BELL and made a few adjustments of his own.
Then it was time to go shopping.
The MAPLE KEY Mission
At this time, SOG possessed a motley collection of VTOLs of many types.
They had a comparatively large number of transport and infantry-carrying models; with roughly 50 airframes serviceable in early 3059.
One of the Anhurs and both Cobras were still flying. Of the other three Anhurs; one had been destroyed in action and the other two had been cannibalized to keep the remainder flying absent regular access to the right spare parts and materials. If some became available, it would be economical to restore one of these to flight condition, but the other was basically a partial skeleton by this point.
Together with a baker’s dozen Karnovs, these rounded-out the Transport Squadron, alongside three KC-6 King Karnovs.
There were two very-mixed “utility squadrons” mainly grouped together for ease of maintenance. These Included Ferret and Marten Light Scouts, Peacekeeper SWAT Carriers, Sprint troop transports and Kestrels. Also included within the squadrons were the remains of the two Level-IIs of factory-fresh VTOLs, which were part of the ComStar payment for Sigma-Mu’s Union IIC. These were probably the best of the unit’s VTOLs in terms of serviceability and sophistication, excepting the surviving Anhur. By this time, of the original compliment; there were five Pintos and three Rippers remaining of the original half-dozen-each.
Rounding out this force were two understrength squadrons; one of gunships and the other dedicated to Medivac support.
In 3059; SOG had 10 gunships. A Cyrano, Two Nightshades and seven Warriors (an H-7C, two -7As, two original H-7s and two H-8s). The Squadron was rounded out with two Sprint Scout helicopters. Of all SOG’s VTOLs; this Squadron contained the most maintenance problems, with 4-6 gunships in flying condition on any given day of field operations.
Finally; the Medivac Squadron consisted of five RTC-215M Swiftrans, three SOAR (Search-Over and Rescue) VTOLs and one odd Ferret modified for the role.
Previously to Project: DRAGOON and the BLUE BELL program, these assets had been used on an as-needed and as-available basis shared between the entire unit, with partial Squadrons commonly split up among deployments. This had ensured that there was a widespread, but shallow familiarity with these assets, but that they often suffered from lacking maintenance. This in turn led to increased losses to accidents and enemy action. In addition, as there were no troops permanently assigned these assets; the unit lacked true infantry experts in their employment until DRAGOON and BLUE BELL and these were strictly ad-hoc arrangements.
Among the transports; the Cobras were most highly-favoured, but principally from the reputation of being “Lucky”. The King Karnovs were popular “asks” from other elements, alongside their smaller namesakes.
No-one; crews or commanders really liked anything in the utility squadrons. Not their equipment, not how they were organized and not what they provided the troops, in terms of capability. The Kestrels and Peacekeepers were the most detested for their high ratio of losses to enemy fire. A partial bright spot were the Pintos. Their crews liked those; their speed and weaponry were selling points. But it was found in DRAGOON and confirmed as part of BLUE BELL that carrying anything less than a platoon in each transport made for a very crowded LZ. Likewise; using the transport Squadron to forward-deploy infantry led to higher losses as the thin-skinned transports fell victim to enemy fire. In addition; these assets were highly valued by SOG officers and they were highly reluctant to see them exposed and lost in this way. Also; an AirMobile tasking of any magnitude tended to max-out the sum capabilities of the utility squadrons on any given day and this, too had a lot to do with moving AirMobile forces a squad at a time. Finally; Infantry Commanders found these missions to be exceptionally arduous in terms of the preparations in marrying-up drills and the organizational (and tactical) headaches caused by the way that different infantry carriers broke up their platoons and companies.
The gunship squadron was the most frequently tasked for combat-missions and the least-performing of all the unit’s VTOL assets. They also suffered the highest losses; having burned through several each of the Cyranos and Warriors and all of the Ki-Rin, Goshawk and Wyvern gunships the unit had been able to come across. Part of this was down to maintenance and part to tactics, but the root causes for both issues were the high-tempo of operations and exhaustion of the crews. BLUE BELL also found that a poor understanding of how gunships should be employed, operationally played a role as well.
The Medivac squadron was popular, but problematic. The SOARs and lone modified Ferret made up less than half the squadron strength, but by late 3058, they were doing 80% of the work. This was due to the Swiftran’s often being down for repairs and maintenance. The crews loved their Swiftrans, when they worked; but these were early models and it felt like they rarely did. Most of the good working hours of the aircraft were used up in keeping up the crew’s flight hours. When it came to field missions, it seemed like something had either just been fixed or was in the process of going out of whack. As such; the Swiftrans were described as always either coming or going; they never stayed on the operational rolls for long.
The purpose of the MAPLE KEY mission was to collate the data from DRAGOON, BLUE BELL and SOG’s own VTOL crews and assess the portion of the open market which was effectively accessible to SOG in a reasonable timeframe. Next; MAPLE KEY would secure the purchase of an adequate supply of airframes and spare parts to meet SOG’s current and forecast near-future requirements to account for growth and losses.
Chief among these concerns was a degree of standardization to aid training and maintenance tasks.
Stated simply; SOG required VTOLs to fill the transport role. These could be any type so long as they could haul a decent amount of cargo and do it in a safe and efficient manner. But it was preferred they be as much the same type as possible. Read; Karnovs.
SOG needed more efficient troop carriers. These should be better protected than what they had now, reasonably fast and be well-armed.
There was a requirement; identified during BLUE BELL, but missed in DRAGOON for expanded scouting capabilities as well. SOG actually had so few scout VTOLs able to fill this role and free to fulfill the mission that it was difficult to assess how great the need truly was and whether or not any equipment currently held by the unit was adequate to the needs of their missions. Some officers advocated for the elimination of this mission from the AirMobile concept altogether; the unit had so little capability now and they’d operated without it this far; so, the argument went; they “couldn’t miss a place they had never been.” Eventually, however; the BLUE BELL committee, itself now a semi-permanent organization within the unit decided that scout VTOLs were something they wanted. Lacking experience, however; any acquisition would be small and tentative until they better understood their own needs.
Finally; The Studies and Observations Group had a requirement for additional and more effective gunship assets. This was the most urgent need, as the paucity of resources had seriously affected the Tactical and Operational trials of DRAGOON and BLUE BELL, such that there was suspicion, even in the official collected reports that their findings might be suspect.
On their own end; SOG would work to train and hire more technicians and assistant technicians to better serve the high maintenance requirements of the VTOL squadrons.
Ultimately, however; MAPLE KEY’s biggest challenge was finding the people to manage and run the mission itself. SOG already had several purchase agents; some on retainer, some working in the QM/Logistics section and a few private agents and agencies who freelanced in the trade, which they had contacts for through various means. These were already occupied in scouting limited purchases of other equipment; they and additional hires could select for test-pilots and evaluators for prospective purchases, but that was about it. Something of this magnitude was totally beyond the meagre means available to the unit at the time. What they really lacked though was the right person to build the team and lead such an endeavour.
This position required someone who could be spared to go and do a job that might take years. Someone with real or apparent clout, presence and deal-making ability. Someone with intelligence, charisma and probably at least some experience working at various social strata, up to the level of the nobility. This was not to be found in the unit and even Condorcet was at an immediate loss.
Lady Seleena Dwight was a very junior member of the Keid nobility through a cadet branch of the ruling Ling-Tao Family. She’d been basically “hanging around” since a few months after SOG elements arrived on-planet. You wouldn’t mistake her for a hanger-on or a camp-follower and she never tried to breach security, but she’d often insert herself among the mercenaries when they were on their off-time and act as a guide and social lubricator for the outsiders in Keid society. She made it a point to attend all the open social functions the unit held and most of the senior NCOs and Officers, as well as a number of the other ranks had met her personally by the time the entire unit collected itself.
Unsure of what her intentions were and who she really was, Major Franz (one of the more-talented surviving original Hell’s Horses Freebirth Infantry) invited her to a casual gathering of his Regiment’s Officers and Senior NCOs. Over drinks, Lady Dwight admitted that she was both terribly bored with her life on Keid and found the spectacularly foreign mercenaries terribly fascinating. She revealed that she was a well-educated woman; trained in business management, civil engineering and architecture, but mainly at the pleasure of her family. She was very far from any position of importance or responsibility among the family holdings and her position rendered her family incapable of accepting her taking a position in any white-collar job she might find.
So Seleena was left to the life of a debutante rapidly approaching the age where, for the sake of her family; she needed to either marry or retire to a life of quiet aristocratic obscurity. Neither really appealed as she was too outgoing for spinsterhood and as the Ling-Taos had basically come to dominate the planetary nobility; Seleena was staring down the daunting prospect of one of a shrinking pool of second-cousins, being too far down the rungs herself to risk on an extra-solar marriage.
Consulting no-one, least of all Lady Dwight, herself; Major Franz put forward that Seleena might be the perfect candidate to lead their purchasing mission. She seemed to have most of the skill and personal requirements. The trick would be ensuring the position was sufficiently played-up enough to appeal to her family. The job needed to be show-cased as high-profile and important, if not glamourous. As it was; it would entail a great deal of travel, negotiation, some of it at quite high levels and the handling of a great deal of money. It was a position of trust and somewhat high-profile, compared to what she could otherwise expect to find. Within the unit there were a very small number of other candidates for the job and none of those really wanted it. Prospective outside hires had not been impressive thus far and even from a distance, Lady Dwight blew them out of the water. These factors made the decision to approach her relatively easy to come to.
For her part, when approached, Seleena was enthusiastic at first. But then regretfully declined the offer, after her family rebuffed the initial feelers she put out. Fate intervened a month later, however when word reached Keid and the Keid tabloids of a distant cousin’s scandalous expulsion from Tharkad University on charges of plagiarism and cheating. Seleena dared a more formal presentation to her mother and father, who interceded on her behalf with her grand-aunt, who received tacit approval from 3rd-cousin; Duke Ling-Tao.
By this time, preparations were well underway to assemble a team for the purchasing mission, led by Captain Fred Myatt, another infantry officer from a Free Worlds conventional ground armour background. Captain Myatt gallantly offered to stay-on as a military Liaison, but Lady Dwight declined and he happily returned to his Motorized battalion.
Seleena had actually failed to pass the physical required in order to serve her time in the planetary militia and her martial skills were limited to trap shooting, equestrian sports and fencing. So, she knew little of practical value in regards to the materiel her mission was tasked with procuring. With the natural exception of enjoy a great many flights in Family-owned VTOLs, as a passenger, over the years. However, she proved a dedicated and earnest student. After a few weeks of crash courses on VTOLs, she still couldn’t reliably tell the difference between a Ferret and a Warrior, but with a few notes to work from; she could talk a good fight and understand those differences well enough to do what was required of her; namely negotiate and drop the right names while schmoozing.
MAPLE KEY never officially ended. Eventually, Lady Seleena Dwight accepted land grants and titles within the much later 3rd League (her family officially severed ties in 3085) and was appointed as Armaments Minister in the 3rd League Government shortly after it was formed. A post she has held ably ever since. As *Madam* Dwight still carries under her list of responsibilities matters of trade and procurement for the SLDFiE at the governmental-level, the argument could be made that MAPLE KEY is still going on as military operation today, having been vastly expanded over the interceding years. But Madam Dwight has not had cause to negotiate directly on behalf of the 3rd League in such matters in some time; instead focusing her efforts on maintaining the professional and diplomatic links with the Diamond Sharks, the few foreign shipping and manufacturing interests that will still trade with the 3rd League and coordinating as-needed with Homeward Bound and New Frontier Lines.
The old MAPLE KEY team has long since disbanded, most of its members gone on to retirement or other pursuits in the SLDFiE or civilian life. Over time; MAPLE KEY came to have purchasing and procurement responsibility for all of SOG and later; the New Model Army and later still: the SLDFiE. After a certain point; the level of experience, recognition and overall track record of Lady Dwight’s MAPLE KEY team made any other choice seem moronic by contrast. As time went on and at different points, MAPLE KEY was even sub-contracted out by SOG to provide similar services for co-belligerent militias and fellow mercenaries. By 3070, a sufficient cover as independent contractors had been established that there were no public or direct links back to what had been the Studies and Observations Group and Maple Key Holdings/Maple Key Intergalactic Imports and Exports became fairy well-known and quite well-regarded as independent purchasing factors. This, in turn brought much associated prestige to Lady Dwight’s branch of the Keid Nobility. The infamy came later, of course.
During and after the Jihad; Maple Key Intergalactic provided invaluable assistance to SLDF Intelligence in tracing the origins and supply routes used to build and supply the Word of Blake Militia.
In late 3059, however; this was all in the future. In the present; Lady Dwight had a significant mission ahead of her.
She began with a flurry of HPG messages to known dealers in military equipment on the mercenary market. She additionally dispatched a large number of agents to try and trace down the huge list of potential, unconfirmed and suspected contacts and sources passed up by SOG’s multivariate personnel. Leaving instructions to forward her mail, she set off with her core team, leaving a contact team behind on Keid and dispatching additional teams to Outreach, Galatea and Atreus.
Few of the solicited Original Equipment Manufacturers were willing to meet with her initially, but they all received her cordially eventually. However, there was simply too much demand and too little spare capacity at the time to make such meetings productive. One exception was Lockheed-CBM, who not only agreed to supply a quantity of new and remanufactured Warrior Attack Helicopters, but also additional trainers, technicians and spare parts. Some additional luck eventually came up through running down the “Hit List” supplied by SOG, itself. But when Seleena returned to Keid in late 3060, leaving her teams in place, scattered around the Inner Sphere (with some contact in the Taurian Concordant and Magistracy of Canopus); it was with very little to show for her efforts. The new Warriors, parts and personnel from Lockheed-CBM had yet to arrive and would not for some time.
By this stage, SOG had only a skeleton force on Keid; maintaining their garrison and training contract with a mixed force (Some of which were the proto Air-Cavalry troops which had been formed in the wake of BLUE BELL) and the large base they had established was a ghost town. Seleena spent her days wandering around the empty hangers, barracks and administrative buildings thrown up so hastily only two years before. Sometime in early 3061, Lady Dwight emerged from her ennui and took stock of MAPLE KEY.
Her teams had established a large network of contacts throughout the Federated Commonwealth. This network spread through the Free Worlds League, parts of the Draconis Combine and Capellan Confederation and had made inroads into the Taurian Concordant and Magistracy of Canopus.
She took stock of these and other assets, devised a skeletal plan and fired off several exploratory messages by HPG and a small number of verigraphed proposals. She sent additional enquiries to SOG elements on Keid and elsewhere (those which could be reached) and finally she reached out to SOG’s modest manufacturing concern; Integrated Comprehensive Systems or; ICOM.
By this time, ICOM had various small facilities in parts of the Capellan Confederation, the old Federated Suns and Chaos March. They had an office on Outreach doing little business and a factory on Galatea. Most of these amounted to little more than workshops or cottage industries producing small spare parts, ammunition and personal equipment. Their largest whole product was a trickle of proprietary Heavy Flamers (some of which went through the Solaris office for sale to local stables). R&D was primarily focused on a project for an automatic grenade launcher, which looked to be abortive.
She was additionally surprised to learn by accident that the unit itself had a small R&D team working on a laser weapon on Outreach and reachable through ICOM’s office there. Otherwise; the Outreach concern only turned out interior vehicle crash pads of various types and polymer buckles and clips, most of which were sold locally. This would seem odd with most other mercenary units. But once you looked at SOG in the main and saw a fairly large combined-arms, but infantry-based force with dozens of small, specialist units and cells; having an R&D team of their own working on various projects, as well as buying facilities and founding a small self-owned company to manufacture some of what they needed most, in-house; which again had it’s own R&D team; why then it didn’t seem so odd at all.
