United Kingdom Special Forces
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The United Kingdom Special Forces (UKSF) is a brigade-equivalent formation encompassing the special forces units of the British Armed Forces. UKSF is commanded by Director Special Forces (DSF), a Brigadier.
Contents |
[edit] Formation
UKSF was formed in 1987 to draw together the Army's Special Air Service (SAS), the Royal Marines' Special Boat Service (SBS), the Special Forces Flights of the Army Air Corps and Royal Air Force, and a Royal Navy/Marines squadron into a unified command, based around the former Director SAS. This generated operational efficiencies and allowed unified selection and training. The Directorate has been expanded by the creation of the Special Reconnaissance Regiment and the Special Forces Support Group.
[edit] Roles and Tasks
UKSF assets undertake a number of roles, with a degree of interaction and interoperability:
-
- Covert reconnaissance
- Special reconnaissance
- Offensive action or capture
- Close Protection
- Counter Revolutionary Warfare
- Reconnaissance of the deep battlespace
- Offensive operations in the deep battlespace
- Battlespace preparation in Transition to War
- Infrastructure disruption
- Capture of subjects of interest
- HUMINT collection
- Defence Diplomacy
-
- Training of other nations armed forces
[edit] Insignia
The badge of each UKSF unit shares a representation of the Sword of Damocles (or Excalibur) in common.
[edit] Special forces units
[edit] Special Air Service
The SAS is the largest special forces organisation of the British Armed Forces, listed in the British Army Order of Precedence as an infantry regiment. One of the most famous military organisations in the world it is recognised to have had outstanding success in many operations, world-wide. The SAS was formed by David Stirling in July 1941 to conduct raids behind German lines in North Africa[1] and today serves as a model for similar units fielded by many other countries[2].
The SAS regiment is the most secretive in the British Army due to the nature of its employment, but attracts a disproportionate amount of media coverage. The service comprises one regular army regiment and two reserve regiments in the Territorial Army (TA):
- 21st Special Air Service Regiment (Artists) (Volunteers)
- 22nd Special Air Service Regiment
- 23rd Special Air Service Regiment (Volunteers)
[edit] Special Boat Service
The SBS is a maritime-focused special forces unit predominantly manned by Royal Marines[3]. Formerly recruiting solely from the Royal Navy and Royal Marines, the SBS now accepts applications from all branches of the armed forces who must first complete SF selection before being permitted to attempt SBS selection[citation needed].
The regular SBS is a battalion-sized formation and is supported by a reserve formation, the (SBS(R)), which provides individual reservists to support the regular service[citation needed].
[edit] Special Reconnaissance Regiment
The SRR is a special forces regiment of the British Army which recruits men and women from all three services[4]. The regiment is trained to conduct special reconnaissance, relating to covert surveillance, missions worldwide[5], predominantly in a counter-terrorist posture in support of both special and conventional force tasking.
[edit] Support units
The UKSF is supported by a number of units:
[edit] Special Forces Support Group
The SFSG is a unit of the United Kingdom Special Forces whose primary task is to provide dedicated infantry support to SF Operations. Because of a perceived similarity to the US Army Rangers, the unit was initially dubbed the British Rangers. The formation is battalion-sized, and comprises Parachute Regiment companies, one company of Royal Marines and elements of the RAF Regiment.
[edit] Signals
Signals support is provided by 18 (UKSF) Signal Regiment, including the TA 63 (SAS) Signals Squadron (Volunteers),and by a Royal Marine signals troop.
[edit] Aviation
The Special Forces Air Wing provide fixed and rotary wing support to UKSF.
Several units of the Army Air Corps (AAC) and the Royal Air Force (RAF) are believed to be tasked to support British Special Operations[6] :
- 8 Flight (AAC), which has four Agusta A109 helicopters and two Aérospatiale Gazelle helicopters. The aircrafts are painted in civilian colours (which are regularly changed) and are designed to be used in counter-terrorist missions.
- 657 Squadron (AAC), which uses Lynx AH.7 helicopters
- A flight of the 7 Squadron (RAF), using Chinook HC.2 (equivalent to the CH-47D Chinook). This squadron took part to Operation Barras in 2000, and is earmarked as the operator of the eight Chinook HC.3s (intended to be equivalent to MH-47E Chinook) ordered in 1995 but not yet operationnal.
- The "SF Flight" of 47 Squadron (RAF), operating special Hercules airplane variants. These are six Hercules C.1 (C-130K) modified after the Falklands War (a RWR and AN/ALQ-157 infra-red countermeasures were added) ; two have been lost. Six Hercules C.3 (C-130H-30), upgraded in C.3A standard (with more countermeasures and navigation systems), were added to the "SF Flight" because of SF needs after September 11, 2001 attacks[7]
[edit] See also
- United Kingdom Special Forces Selection
- British Army
- Royal Navy
- Royal Marines
- 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines
- Former special forces
[edit] References
- ^ Ken Connor, Ghost Force: The Secret History of the SAS, Orion Books, 1999, p.10-11
- ^ Special Air Service#Other Special Forces based on the SAS
- ^ Adrian Weale, Secret Warfare: Special Operations Forces from the Great Game to the SAS, Coronet Books, 1997, p.242-3
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4412907.stm accessed 26 July 06
- ^ Hansard 6th Apr 2005 This regiment has been formed to meet a growing worldwide demand for special reconnaissance capability. Consistent with the SDR new chapter, this regiment will provide improved support to expeditionary operations overseas and form part of the defence contribution to the Government's comprehensive strategy to counter international terrorism. The SRR will bring together personnel from existing capabilities and become the means of the further development of the capability.
- ^ http://www.eliteukforces.info/air-support/
- ^ Jon Lake, "Herculean service", Air Forces Monthly, september 2006 ; Tim Ripley, "The doomed Hercules", Air Forces Monthly, march 2006
