Special forces of Australia

Since 1941, the Australian military has raised a range of special forces and special operations units, including:^[1]^[2]

Commando units such as the Independent and Commando Companies raised during World War II, and the 1st and 2nd Commando Regiments which were raised post-war.^{[Note 1]}
Reconnaissance and intelligence gathering units such as M and Z Special Units of the Services Reconnaissance Department (SRD) and the Allied Intelligence Bureau (AIB) during World War II,^[4]^[5] and later the Special Air Service Regiment (SASR).^[6]
Clearance divers in the Navy during World War II, and the Clearance Diving Branch formed after the war, also trained in combat diving such as shipping raids/sabotage, and later trained in maritime counter terrorism for piracy patrols on Navy vessels.
Counter-terrorism units such as the Tactical Assault Groups formed from the SASR for domestic and overseas and from the 2nd Commando Regiment for domestic (with maritime element including clearance divers).^[7]
Air coordination support for Commandos and SASR from No. 4 Squadron Air Force Combat Controller Teams CCT who are Commando qualified.^[8]^[9]
Non-special forces support units such as the Special Operations Engineer Regiment (SOER),^{[Note 2]} Special Operations Logistics Squadron (SOLS),^[10] 171st Aviation Squadron,^[11] and No. 200 Flight RAAF.^[12]

All the Australian Army special forces units have been grouped together under the Special Operations Command since December 2002.^[10] The Navy divers are under the command of the Navy and the Combat Controllers are under the command of the Air Force, however, they are attached to Army units operationally.

Notes

Footnotes

^ The 2nd Command Regiment was previously called the 4th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (Commando).^[3]
^ SOER was previously called the Incident Response Regiment (IRR).^[10]

Citations

^ Horner 2002, pp. 19–35.
^ Kuring 2004, pp. 259–260 & 432–435.
^ "New Name for Sydney Commandos" (Press release). Department of Defence. 19 June 2009.
^ Kuring 2004, p. 259.
^ Horner 2002, p. 25.
^ Lord & Tennant 2000, p. 27.
^ Hill, Robert (25 May 2004). "Australia's Response to Terrorism". Department of Defence (Australia). Archived from the original on 15 March 2011. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
^ Allard, Tom (17 March 2008). "New squadron will aim to cut civilian deaths". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 19 September 2008.
^ Air Power Development Centre (June 2014). "Combat Control in the RAAF". Pathfinder: Air Power Development Centre Bulletin (Issue 224). Royal Australian Air Force. Retrieved 8 June 2015. {{cite journal}}: |issue= has extra text (help)
^ ^a ^b ^c Blaxland 2014, p. 328.
^ "6th Aviation Regiment". Department of Defence. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
^ RAAF Historical Section 1995, pp. 174–175.

References

Blaxland, John (2014). The Australian Army from Whitlam to Howard. Port Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9781107043657. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
Horner, David (2002). SAS: Phantoms of War. A History of the Australian Special Air Service (Second ed.). Sydney, New South Wales: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1-86508-647-9. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
Kuring, Ian (2004). Redcoats to Cams: A History of Australian Infantry 1788–2001. Loftus, New South Wales: Australian Military Historical Publications. ISBN 1876439998. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
Lord, Cliff; Tennant, Julian (2000). ANZAC Elite: The Airborne and Special Forces Insignia of Australia and New Zealand. Wellington, New Zealand: IPL Books. ISBN 0-908876-10-6. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
RAAF Historical Section (1995). Units of the Royal Australian Air Force. A Concise History. Volume 4 Maritime and Transport Units. Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service. ISBN 0-644-42796-5. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

Special forces of Australia

See also

Notes

References

Further reading