Tactical Assault Group (Australia)

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Members of TAG (E) during a demonstration for the media in 2002.

The Tactical Assault Groups are the premier counter-terrorism units of Australia. The two TAGs, East and West, are structured to conduct offensive domestic counter-terrorist (CT) operations focusing on incident resolution and the recovery of hostages. They maintain a short notice capability to conduct military operations beyond the scope of State and Federal Police tactical teams. These aims are achieved through various highly specialised skill sets, niche capabilities and supporting Australian Defence Force (ADF) units.

The two units: TAG West, and the other TAG East; each protect a different geographical area. The units draw their members from other elite units within the Australian Defence Force, with each TAG unit drawing from different parent units.

TAG West is responsible for the areas of Western Australia, South Australia, Northern Territory and other outlying Australian island territories. TAG West draws it’s members from the Special Air Service Regiment. Due to the SASR’s position as the most elite unit in the Australian military, TAG West has the reputation of being the senior of the two TAG units.^{[citation needed]}

TAG East is responsible for the areas of Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, Jervis Bay Territory, Australian Capital Territory and other outlying Australian island territories. TAG East draws its members from the 4th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (Commando), supplemented by a small number of selected SASR personnel and the Royal Australian Navy's Clearance Diving Teams. The royal Australian Navy component consists of an Operations Officer, a Clearance Diver (CD) assault platoon, one team of CD maritime snipers, and an Underwater Medic [1].

Both TAG's have their own world class training facilities including advanced outdoor close quarters battle ranges, MOUT villages, urban CT complexs, full size aircraft mock-ups, and sniper ranges [2].

1 History
2 Operations
3 See also
4 Sources

[edit] History

The Sydney Hilton bombing on 13 February 1978 was the catalyst for the Commonwealth Government to initiate an urgent review of security procedures to combat the threat of international terrorism.

The anti-terrorist agencies (the Federal Police and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation) were placed on heightened alert and a Protective Services Coordination Centre was established. The Prime Minister proposed the establishment of a Standing Advisory Committee on Commonwealth State Cooperation for Protection against Violence, which would be primarily responsible for the coordination and funding of various organisations involved. He also directed that police forces around Australia absorb the CT role. However, a study by Sir Robert Mark, at that time recently retired from the London Metropolitan Police, concluded that this was a task for ‘sophisticated soldiery’ and should not be given to the police but rather to the Army. Sir Robert’s advice was further strengthened by the Ironbark Report, written by Colonel John Essex-Clark, in which he advised the urgent formation of a special CT force within the Army.

In August 1978, it was proposed to allocate the task of raising, training and sustaining the CT force to the Special Air Service Regiment to follow similar lines from the British Army with their CT team from within their SAS. The force was to be called the TAG and was to be commanded by the Commanding Officer SASR. On 3 May 1979, the Government approved the raising of a dedicated CT force in the SASR. On 31 August 1979, final authorisation was given for the raising of the TAG.

The tasks allocated to the group included:

The neutralisation, including capture, of terrorist groups, which might include snipers, hijackers, kidnappers, bombers or assassins, and the neutralisation of aircraft or ships;
The recovery of hostages and property held by terrorists; and
The recovery of buildings and installations held by terrorists.

The training began officially in March 1980 and the force became fully operational in the following May. In July 1980, the SASR was directed to develop an offshore (maritime) capability, concerned primarily with retaking Bass Strait oil rigs in the event of terrorist capture. These operations were to be handled by a dedicated water operations team which included 17 Navy personnel from the RAN’s Clearance Diving Teams, who were placed under operational control of the SASR from 4 August 1980 as part of the TAG [3].

Raised on 22 July 2002 in order to increase the ADFs domestic CT capability, TAG-East was born. TAG(E) complements and mirrors Tactical Assault Group (West) [TAG(W)] manned by the Special Air Service Regiment (SASR). The dual basing enables the ADF to readily respond to simultaneous and geographically separate domestic incidents [4].

[edit] Operations

Pon Su boarding: 2003

The Pong Su incident occurred during April 2003 when members of the Australian Special Operations Command intercepted and boarded the Pong Su, a 4000 ton North Korean ocean freighter in Australian territorial waters. The ship was flying the flag of Tuvalu at the time, known as flying a flag of convenience [5].

The reason for apprehending the ship was that it was suspected of being involved in smuggling almost 125 kg (300 pounds) of heroin into Australia.