Suvarna Garge (Editor)

United Kingdom Special Forces

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Founded
  
1987 (30 years ago)

Type
  
Directorate

Part of
  
Ministry of Defence

Country
  
United Kingdom

Size
  
2,000 personnel (2009)

Role
  
Special operations coordination

The United Kingdom Special Forces (UKSF) is a Ministry of Defence directorate that provides a joint special operations task force headquarters. The UKSF is commanded by the Director Special Forces. The directorate commands 22 Special Air Service Regiment, the Special Boat Service, the Special Reconnaissance Regiment, the Special Forces Support Group, 18 Signal Regiment and the Joint Special Forces Aviation Wing.

Contents

Formation

The UKSF was formed in 1987 to draw together the Army's Special Air Service and the Naval Service's Special Boat Squadron, which was renamed the Special Boat Service during the formation, 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, 18 Signal 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
  • Unconventional Warfare
  • Covert reconnaissance
  • Special reconnaissance
  • Direct action
  • 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

    • Units

  • Special Boat Service (Naval Service)
  • Special Boat Service (Reserve; Naval Service)
  • 22 Special Air Service Regiment (British Army)
  • Special Reconnaissance Regiment (British Army)
  • 18 Signal Regiment (Royal Corps of Signals, British Army)
  • Special Forces Support Group
  • A Company
  • B Company
  • C Company
  • F Company
  • Joint Special Forces Aviation Wing
  • 7 Squadron (Royal Air Force)
  • Special Forces Flight of 47 Squadron (Royal Air Force)
  • 657 Squadron (Army Air Corps, British Army)
  • 658 Squadron (Army Air Corps, British Army)

    • Following the Army 2020 reforms, in 2014 21 Special Air Service Regiment and 23 Special Air Service Regiment were moved from the command of UKSF to 1st Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance Brigade.

    References

    United Kingdom Special Forces Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA