Country Norway Size Classified | Branch Royal Norwegian Army | |
Active HFJS: 1962 - 1971
HJS: 1971 - 1997
HJK: 1997-2006
FSK/HJK: 2006 - 2014
FSK: 2014 - Current Type Army Special Operations Force Role Special Reconnaissance (SR)
Direct Action (DA)
Military assistance (MA)
Combat Search And Rescue (CSAR) | ||
Forsvarets Spesialkommando is a special forces unit of the Norwegian military. It is the armed forces competence centre for commando, airborne and counter terrorist duty in the Norwegian Army. Its headquarters are located 30 kilometres north of Elverum in the southeast of Norway, at Rena leir military base.
Contents
Etymology
Hærens Jegerkommando directly translated to English means:
English translations of the unit's name, include:
Name changes
The unit was established as Hærens Fallskjermjegerskole in 1962. It was renamed Hærens Jegerskole in 1968, and its location was Trandum (near Jessheim). The unit's current name was decided in 1997. In 2014 the name was changed from FSK/HJK to simply; FSK. Also in 2013 FSK left the Army branch and together with the MJK (Marinejegerkommandoen) was organised under one Norwegian Special Forces Staff (NORSOC).
Headquarters
Headquarters are at Rena leir military base, which received its first active units in 1997 after the base had been constructed in 1993–96.
Organization
FSK is a special operations force (SOF). (Another special operations force (SOF) of the Norwegian military is, MJK (Marinejegerkommandoen).)
FSK has a large HQ unit and a paratrooper unit, which trains personnel from all branches of the Norwegian military organization in parachute operations. The Pathfinder platoon is part of the HJK training cadre and consists of conscripts deemed suitable for service in the unit after a selection period. The role of this unit is to annually train one platoon of jump-qualified recce soldiers.
Chain of command
The Hærens Jegerkommando together with the Forsvarets Spesialkommando are under a command named FSK. The FSK itself is under direct command of the General Inspector of the Army.
In Kosovo
HJK was the first special forces unit to enter Pristina. The HJK's mission was to level the negotiating field between the belligerent parties, and to fine-tune the detailed, local deals needed to implement the peace deal between Serbian authorities and the Kosovo Albanians.
In Afghanistan
On 23 July 2007 HJK lieutenant Tor Arne Lau Henriksen was killed in a short and intense close quarters engagement between a Norwegian special forces reconnaissance patrol and hostile fighters in Logar Province, Afghanistan.
William H. McRaven, a United States Navy vice admiral, who serves as the commander of Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), said in an interview with a Norwegian newspaper in 2007 that he regarded the Special forces of Norway to be among the top special forces in the world and that one of his favourite operations was the Norwegian heavy water sabotage by the Norwegian resistance forces during World War II.