Special forces of the Indian defence services
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Contents |
The special forces of the Indian Army
The Times of India
The Times of India
From: The Times of India
See graphics:
Special forces of the Indian Army
Indian Army's premier strike force
Paras deployed around the globe, 1971-2015
Status in 2018
Rajat Pandit, Special Forces get major weapons upgrade, July 19, 2018: The Times of India
From: Rajat Pandit, Special Forces get major weapons upgrade, July 19, 2018: The Times of India
From new longrange sniper rifles and manportable anti-tank weapon systems to high-speed underwater scooters and handlaunched micro drones, India continues to gradually modernise its clandestine warfare arm. But the long-proposed Special Operations Command (SOC), or even its truncated version in the shape of a much smaller directorate, is still nowhere on the horizon.
Defence ministry sources on Tuesday said several contracts worth “hundreds of crores” have been inked in recent months to equip the elite special forces of Army, IAF and Navy with more highlyspecialised weaponry and equipment from countries like Finland, Sweden, Italy, Russia, Israel and Germany. “More attention is being paid to the Special Forces after Para-SF commandos conducted the cross-border surgical strikes on terror launch pads in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir in September 2016,” said a source.
Contracts for new Finnish Sako sniper rifles, Swedish Carl Gustaf Mark-4 light weight rocket-launchers, Italian Beretta pistols with silencers, for instance, have been inked for the Army’s existing nine Para-SF battalions. Navy’s almost 1,000 marine commandos or “Marcos” are inducting Russian VSS suppressed sniper rifles, airdroppable rubberised inflatable boats, remotely-operated underwater vehicles for explosive disposal, combat freefall parachutes, hands-free power ascenders and opposed boarding equipment. Marcos are slated to get two “midget submarines” or “chariots” under a Rs 2,017 crore project.
Even as IAF is raising 12 new “flights” of Garud commandos to add to the existing 15 flights with 900 personnel, the force is earmarked to induct new sniper rifles, thermal sights, breaching ammunition and the like. “They have already inducted 65 micro-UAVs under a Rs 27 crore contract,” said an official. But SOC remains missing in action. Several committees, including the Naresh Chandra Taskforce in May 2012, strongly recommended the SOC to bring together disparate special forces under a unified command and control structure to execute strategic operations in tune with national security objectives.
A 2012-2013 proposal for a tri-service SOC was eventually whittled down to a smaller Special Operations Directorate, Defence Space Agency and Defence Cyber Agency, which is yet to be approved.
’Commandos’ (Special Forces)
See graphic:
Special forces and specialised equipments, Indian Army, as on March 1, 2017
Parachute Regiment: India
Para commandos
The Times of India, Jun 10 2015
From Sierra Leone to Sri Lanka, they have earned laurels across continents
Para Commandos, who carried out two surgical strikes across the bo rder in Myanmar early on Tu esday , are among the finest ke pt secrets of the Indian Army . Comprising a few thou sand specially trained com mandos, the seven Special Fo rces (SF) battalions are part of the Parachute Regiment. The latest operation in Myanmar completed without suffering any casualties adds another feather to the much-coveted history of India's most sea soned commando force.
Drawing its origins to an ad hoc commando unit formed during the Indo-Pak war of 1965, the Para Com mandos have operated across continents. The SF personne are also a key part of the Na tional Security Guard (NSG) which has specially trained units for anti-hijack and anti-terrorist operations.
The SF units of the Army are among the most decorat ed with several Ashok Chak ras and other gallantry awards under their belt.
In Sierra Leone in June 2000, they successfully res cued over 200 soldiers of 58 Gorkha Rifles who were being held captive by the Revolu tionary United Front rebels.
During the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) de ployment in Sri Lanka, SF units were in the forefront of operations against the LTTE The operations in Sri Lanka were among the bloodiest in the history of SF battalions.
During the 1971 war, 2 Pa ra (air-borne) carried out the first publicly recorded airborne assault by Indian troops. It was also the first unit to enter Dhaka.
During the 1999 Kargil conflict, SF personnel carried out several highly successful and high impact operations.
