New UK Special Forces Regiment to be operational tomorrow

UK Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon has todday announced the formation of a new special forces regiment in addition to the already annouced "Ranger" unit to be formed from 1 Para who will be given the role of support special forces. The new unit will come under the Director Of Special Forces based in Hereford home of the SAS.

The MOD has obviously decided the Special Forces will be a major focus of future UK forces, though one wonder how this new unit will impact/compare to the existing Special Forces (SAS, SBS etc.)

BBC News
A new special forces regiment is to be operational from Wednesday, Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon has announced.

The Special Reconnaissance Regiment, or SRR, will provide specialist support for overseas operations, particularly those against international terrorism.

Recruits have been drawn from all three services, with some of the regiment's posts open to women.

The new regiment will have its headquarters in Hereford, where the SAS is already based.

"The creation of the Special Reconnaissance Regiment demonstrates our commitment to shaping our armed forces to meet the ongoing challenge of tackling international terrorism," said Mr Hoon.

"The new regiment will help to meet the growing need for special reconnaissance capability."

The Ministry of Defence said "special reconnaissance" covered "a wide range of specialist skills and activities related to covert surveillance".

The SRR will be deployed to support both existing special forces and conventional forces in a variety of military operations.

Its creation is separate from that of the "ranger" unit, which will be formed from the 1st Battalion The Parachute Regiment and will also support special forces.

The need for a special reconnaissance unit was first identified by the Strategic Defence Review "new chapter" in 2002 and it will be a part of the UK Special Forces group.

Also

Sky News

Originally posted by Popeye
The MOD has obviously decided the Special Forces will be a major focus of future UK forces, though one wonder how this new unit will impact/compare to the existing Special Forces (SAS, SBS etc.)

I think special forces are going to play a larger part in military action in the future, the setting up of more Special forces is the only way to deal with the demand.

And concerning how they will compare to the SAS and SBS, I think the SRR (Special Reconnaissance Regiment,) will be a light almost diet version compared, they will be fast and due to theur reconnaissance role be designed to hit and run rather than hold their ground, they would proberly use fast veichles and rather than heavier support as well.

Is this the same as the Search and recon units they talked about forming a while ago (their job was to track and kidnap/capture terrorists and war criminals)?

ok just answered my own question
news.telegraph.co.uk.../news/2004/07/25/nrsr25.xml
www.timesonline.co.uk...





[edit on 5-4-2005 by paperplane_uk]

Its the support regiment or "rangers" for the SAS, SBS, moutain cadre, etc...
Its been covered in another thread in military projects...

Originally posted by devilwasp
Its the support regiment or "rangers" for the SAS, SBS, moutain cadre, etc...
Its been covered in another thread in military projects...

This is a separate unit to the the support Ranger unit which is being formed out of 1 Para

Originally posted by Popeye
This is a separate unit to the the support Ranger unit which is being formed out of 1 Para

Really???
Interesting.....
Lol it says so in the first 2 lines lol....


[edit on 26/02/2005 by devilwasp]

Originally posted by devilwasp

Originally posted by Popeye
This is a separate unit to the the support Ranger unit which is being formed out of 1 Para

Really???
Interesting.....
Lol it says so in the first 2 lines lol....


[edit on 26/02/2005 by devilwasp]

from bbc article:
Its creation is separate from that of the "ranger" unit, which will be formed from the 1st Battalion The Parachute Regiment and will also support special forces.

kinda sums it up

Originally posted by Popeye

Originally posted by devilwasp
Its the support regiment or "rangers" for the SAS, SBS, moutain cadre, etc...
Its been covered in another thread in military projects...

This is a separate unit to the the support Ranger unit which is being formed out of 1 Para

wow thats almost exactly like the german

Disivion Spezielle Operationen, which is made up by two parachuter brigades, parachute pioneer batallion, para recons and the german elite force KSK, this seems to be now common among western states

According the the Scotsman Newspaper the regiment is due to have a strength of 600 perrsonal.

The author (former second in command of 22 Rgt SAS) does worry about the pool that this regiment draws from as at the same time the army is being reduced by 20,000 (I am sure Devilwasp will especailly bemoan the reduction of the Scottish Regiments to a single unit as so many of our special forces are Scottish) and as it is the SAS have hard time find enough recuits of the desired quality.

I think envitable this be as referred to above a 'light version' with same type of training as the SAS but not to the same degree of expertise. Hopefully I will be proved wrong. It must be remember that most Regiments formed FRU (Forward Reconissance Unit) that operate undercover whilst in Northern Ireland and that these unit were often closely linked to the SAS

The new 'Ranger' unit will actually be raised from members of all parachute Battalions (1, 2 & 3) who have failled the SAS selection course. This unit was and still is the 'Pathfinder' Company. They are the 'Elite' of the Parachute Brigade.

As to the 'Special Reconaissance Regiment', a version of this unit exists already. I am almost certain that Hoon the Loon is expanding 'this' unit and may not be creating a 'new' SF. Creden Hill is the logical place as home for this unit as it brings it closer to the main SF units it will provide intel to.

Their mission is to locate and if possible, infiltrate terrorist organisations (such as the ALF who, by their very actions [planting firebombs] have been designated a terrorist organisation) within and outside the borders of the UK and her foreign interests.

To date, they have prevented at least one major terrorist attack on this country, the result of which was the arrest of the guy from Gloucester 2 years ago.

If any of you were wondering this is the new badge for SRR:

Nice badge
Love the helmet...

Originally posted by devilwasp
Love the helmet...

Its Spartan I believe, well at the least its Greek, but yes it does look good.

Hey Mr Wizard cool badge but, where did you find this out?

I think yes it is Spartan, and it is Greek.
A new unti for us British sounds cool, hope they can do a good job!

Originally posted by fritz
Hey Mr Wizard cool badge but, where did you find this out?

It's official don't worry, i got it from the MoD web site:

www.army.mod.uk...

MOD News

The SRR cap badge consists of a Corinthian helmet placed in front of a Special Forces sword with a scroll underneath depicting the word 'reconnaissance'. This reflects the SAS and SBS cap badges in design, ensuring conformity within the UK Special Forces Group. The Corinthian style helmet, favoured by the ancient Greeks, was used from the early 7th to the 4th centuries BC. The helmet is facing forwards and suggests the viewer is being watched, while the wearer behind the mask is anonymous.

[edit on 7-4-2005 by Popeye]