United Kingdom Special Forces

The United Kingdom Special Forces (UKSF) is a UK Ministry of Defence Directorate which also has the capability to provide a Joint Special Operations Task Force Headquarters. UKSF is commanded by Director Special Forces (DSF), a Brigadier.

Contents 1 Formation 2 Roles and tasks 3 Insignia 4 Special forces units 4.1 Special Air Service 4.2 Special Boat Service 4.3 Special Reconnaissance Regiment 5 Support units 5.1 Special Forces Support Group 5.2 Signals 5.3 Aviation 6 See also 7 References

Formation

UKSF was formed in 1987 to draw together the Army's Special Air Service (SAS) and the Special Boat Squadron Royal Marines (SBS), which was renamed the Special Boat Service at the same time, into a unified command, based around the former Director SAS who was given the additional title of Director Special Forces. The Directorate has been expanded by the creation of the Joint Special Forces Aviation Wing, the Special Reconnaissance Regiment and the Special Forces Support Group.

Roles and tasks

UKSF assets undertake a number of roles, with a degree of interaction and interoperability:

• Counter Terrorism

• 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
• Human intelligence (HUMINT) collection
• Defence Diplomacy

• Training of other nations armed forces

Insignia

The badge of each UKSF unit shares a representation of the Sword of Damocles (or Excalibur) in common.

Special forces units

Special Air Service

Main article: 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 (although it uses terminology more associated with the cavalry - it has "regiments", "squadrons" and "troops" as opposed to battalions, companies and platoons, and private soldiers are called "Troopers"). 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):

• 21 Special Air Service Regiment (Artists) (Volunteers)
• 22 Special Air Service Regiment
• 23 Special Air Service Regiment (Volunteers)

Special Boat Service

Main article: Special Boat Service

The SBS is a naval 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 UKSF selection before being permitted to attempt SBS selection. 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.

Special Reconnaissance Regiment

Main article: Special Reconnaissance Regiment

The SRR is a special forces regiment of the British Army which recruits men and women from all three armed 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.

Support units

The UKSF is supported by a number of units:

Special Forces Support Group

Main article: Special Forces Support Group

The SFSG is a unit of the United Kingdom Special Forces whose primary task is to provide dedicated light 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 1st Battalion, Parachute Regiment, one company of Royal Marines and one platoon of the RAF Regiment.

Signals

Signals support is provided by 18 (UKSF) Signal Regiment which includes 63 (SAS) Signals Squadron (Volunteers) of the Territorial Army and a Royal Marines Signals Squadron.

Aviation

The Special Forces Air Wing provides fixed-wing and rotary-wing support to the UKSF. Four units of the Army Air Corps (AAC) and the Royal Air Force (RAF) are thought to have the task of supporting British Special Operations^[6] :

• 8 Flight Army Air Corps, which has four Agusta A109A helicopters and two Aérospatiale Gazelle helicopters. The aircraft are painted in civilian colours (which are regularly changed) and are rumoured to be used in counter-terrorist missions.
• 657 Squadron (AAC), which uses Lynx AH.7 helicopters
• The SF flight of 7 Squadron (RAF), uses Chinook HC.2 heavy-lift helicopters (equivalent to the CH-47D Chinook). This squadron took part in Operation Barras in 2000, and is earmarked as the operator of the eight Chinook HC.3s (intended to be equivalent to the US Army's MH-47E Chinook) ordered in 1995, but not yet operational.
• The "SF Flight" of 47 Squadron (RAF), operating special forces versions of the C-130 Hercules. These are six Hercules C.1 (C-130K), modified after the Falklands War (an RWR and AN/ALQ-157 infra-red countermeasures device 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]

See also

• United Kingdom Special Forces Selection
• British Army
  • Structure of the British Army
  • Modern equipment and uniform of the British Army
  • 16 (Air Assault) Brigade
• Royal Navy
  • Royal Marines
  • 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines
• Former special forces units:
  • Long Range Desert Group
  • 14 Intelligence Company
• List of special forces units

References