SEAL Team 6, the secret U.S. Navy special forces unit that killed Osama bin Laden in 2011, is training for a mission to support Taiwan in case of a Chinese invasion, according to people familiar with the preparations.
The Navy’s elite special forces, tasked with the service’s most delicate and difficult missions, have been planning and training for a conflict with Taiwan for more than a year at their Dam Neck headquarters in Virginia Beach, about 255 miles southeast of Washington.
The secret training highlights the U.S.’s increasing focus on preventing a Chinese attack on Taiwan while stepping up its preparations for such an eventuality.
Preparations have only intensified since then-US Indo-Pacific commander Phil Davidson warned in 2021 that China could attack Taiwan within six years.
While US officials stress that conflict with China is “neither imminent nor inevitable,” the US military is accelerating contingency preparations as the People’s Liberation Army rapidly modernizes in line with President Xi Jinping’s orders to be able to occupy Taiwan by 2027.
SEAL Team 6 is a “first tier” unit, alongside the Army’s famed Delta Force, the US military’s most elite division.It reports to the Joint Special Operations Command, part of Special Operations Command.
The Pentagon has sent more regular special forces to Taiwan in recent years for missions that also train Taiwan’s military.
Seal Team 6’s activities are more sensitive because they are top-secret missions.The person familiar with the team’s plans declined to provide details about the missions.
Special Operations Command, which says little about Seal Team 6, referred questions about the Taiwan plans to the Pentagon, but did not comment on specific details.The spokesman said the Pentagon and its units “train for a wide range of contingencies.”
CIA Director Bill Burns told the Financial Times last week that 20 percent of the budget is allocated to China, a 200 percent increase over three years.
“It’s not surprising that SEAL Team Six is planning Taiwan-related missions,” said Sean Naylor, author of the book Relentless Strike about Joint Special Operations Command and editor of the online national security publication Highside.
“Given the recent restructuring of the Defense Department to focus on great power competition, it’s inevitable that even the country’s most elite counterterrorism forces will seek a role in this area, because that path leads to prestige, missions and money,” Naylor added.
根據英國《金融時報》的報導，知情人士透露，曾經執行狙擊賓拉登任務的美國海軍精英特戰部隊「海豹6隊（SEAL Team Six）」正在秘密進行訓練，以協助台灣應對中共解放軍可能的侵台行動。
報導指出，海豹6隊在過去一年多的時間裡，一直在維吉尼亞州的壩頸（Dam Neck）基地進行針對台海衝突的規劃和訓練。
海豹部隊，又稱「美國海軍特種作戰開發群」（Naval Special Warfare Development Group），是美軍中最精銳的部隊之一，與陸軍的三角洲部隊（Delta Force）並駕齊驅，直接隸屬於聯合特戰司令部（Joint Special Operations Command）。
報導還提到，近年來美國國防部已派遣更多的正規特種部隊前往台灣進行訓練，但海豹6隊的具體行動屬於高度機密，外界難以獲知其任務細節。
五角大廈的發言人僅表示，美軍正在為各種突發事件進行準備和訓練，並未對具體內容作出評論。專家Sean Naylor指出，若海豹6隊針對可能的台灣任務進行準備，這並不令人感到意外。
