Commandement des Opérations Spéciales

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The Commandement des Opérations Spéciales (Special Operations Command, COS) is the French organisation which coordinates the use of the French special forces of all military branches (Army, Navy, Air Force and Gendarmerie). The COS was created on 24 June 1992, following the the Gulf War. Its role is to direct and coordinate missions for special forces units; these are permanently under its direct command and, immediately available for action.

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[edit] Organisation

The COS is organised in two so-called "circles":

  • the first circle is composed of units under permanent COS command
  • the second circle regroups units that may be called in reinforcement, if necessary.

Besides the complement of the two Circles, the COS can also "requisition" any unit of the French military for specific missions.

[edit] First circle

COS is the exclusive (Army units) or main (Navy units) user of these special forces :

[edit] Armée de Terre (Army)

The French Army special operations forces are under command of Brigade des Forces Spéciales Terre (BFST, army special forces command).

[edit] Marine Nationale (Navy)

[edit] Armée de l'Air (Air Force)

  • Commando parachutiste de l'air n°10 (CPA 10, Air Parachute Commandos No.10)
  • Division des Opérations Spéciales (DOS, special operations division)
    • Division des Opérations Spéciales / Transport (DOS/T, special operations division, airlift), which uses C-130 Hercules and C-160 Transall
    • Division des Opérations Spéciales / Hélicoptères (DOS/H, special operations detachment, helicopters), which uses helicopters

[edit] Second circle

The COS frequently uses special operations forces or special operations capable forces of the second circle :

[edit] Armée de Terre

  • Groupement des Commandos Parachutistes (GCP, parachute commandos grouping) : pathfinders of the 11e Brigade Parachutiste (11e BP, 11th parachute brigade)
  • 17e Régiment du Génie Parachutiste (17e RGP, 17e parachute engineering regiment), the only engineering regiment of the 11e BP

[edit] Gendarmerie Nationale

Special forces of the Gendarmerie are under Groupement de Sécurité et d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale (GSIGN, grouping of security and intervention of the national gendarmerie), which includes :

[edit] Third circle

The COS can use any unit of French Military, some having interesting specialisations.

  • paratroopers of the 11e BP
  • units of the Brigade de Renseignement (BR, intelligence brigade) : units of the 54e Régiment de Transmissions (54e RT, 54th transmitters regiment, in fact a communications intelligence unit) was used to provide intelligence to the units which arrested Momčilo Krajišnik
  • Plongeurs de Combat du Génie (PCG, engineering combat divers) : combat divers acting in riverine and brown waters, on the contrary of Navy's Commando Hubert
  • recon units of other conventional forces :
    • Unité de Recherche Humaine (URH 27, human recon unit) : recon unit of the 27e Brigade d'Infanterie de Montagne (27e BIM, 27th mountain infantry brigade)
    • Équipes d'Observation dans la Profondeur (EOP, long range observation teams) : forward observation teams of artillery regiments

The Police Nationale and the Direction générale de la sécurité extérieure (intelligence service) have special units but these are not included in COS circles.

[edit] External links

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