Who has the best Special Forces ?

The SBS was originally an SAS unit but they became a separate unit in mid-March 1943. I dont think that they are better then the SAS because each SAS sabre squadron (thus from the 22 SAS regiment) has a Boat Troop that specialises in all aspects of amphibious warfare.
In fact, the SAS has specialised units for all kinds of situations.

Originally posted by pokerbob

Don't rank them, thank them!!

I could relate to that if I only knew what they were doing, but I'm glad I don't, though. But I must say it feels safe in a way-- to know that they're busting their a55es 24/365.24 to secure the peace and to secure security itself. But may God forbid that I would somehow get them after me However, I tend to think that they're on our side so to speek. So we can do our Tai Chi Gong in the park and relate to dogs in a friendly manner.

Blessings,
Mikromarius

[Edited on 6-6-2003 by mikromarius]

Mossad, the Gurkhas, Spetznatz and our guys are my favorites.

With blessings,
Mikromarius

[Edited on 8-6-2003 by mikromarius]

Well a special Canadian sniper squad holds the world sniper record, if you want an assassination. Other than that I'd say each special forces team is superior in its own territory, since they're the only ones that train there. The Scottish also trained many of the allies for European warfare in WWII. The Green Berets have to be the best all around troops though.

Originally posted by Militiaman
Well a special Canadian sniper squad holds the world sniper record, if you want an assassination.

thats right canadian go JTF2 maybe we were invovled with the jfk assassination b/c canadian pm's nvr like the prez cept for mulroney and reagan

To get technical about this, one simply needs to look at the topic this is under.

I havn't followed this very closely, so if someone already mentioned Seal Team 6, or aka Red Cell.
Good Call!

ST6 is probably the best anti terror unit out there. These guys are so good, that none new they existed, just like the other best. Only difference, they act more like the guys they are after.

Effectively makeing them Anti-Terror

Link

I read that the Top Five Anti-Terrorists Schools and groups are. 1.Isreal 2. France 3. Poland 4. Russia 5. US
Based upon Training, operations and Hostage and Mission Succeses. But the best Op's are the ones you dont hear and see.

What about the small group of man armed with just knives and box cutters, destroyed 4 planes and a bunch of buildings. Or the little kid straped with explosives who can take more than 100 people. It's war and in war the enemy shoot back. You can call them terrorits but for many people they are heroes.

I know that JTF2 have the reputation to be one of the most effective unit in urban and sub-urban operations. They're training is almost similar to the us delta.

Originally posted by Zafadeaki
What about the small group of man armed with just knives and box cutters, destroyed 4 planes and a bunch of buildings. Or the little kid straped with explosives who can take more than 100 people. It's war and in war the enemy shoot back. You can call them terrorits but for many people they are heroes.

What has this got to do with the thread. THINK BEFORE YOU POST !!!

hello to all this is my very first post.
Well i think that the majority of the SF units posted here are were they should be at the very top, Australian, British, Russian, American, Israeli, Canadian, from what I see, Australians are probably the best at long range small infantry unit stuff, but I think that the best SF unit in the would have to be Israeli, they are always running operations against a very formidable foes in Israel and the surrounding areas, sometimes even in Europe and America.
We Americans are no slouches although we got to a rocky start at desert one I think we have made big strides when it comes to unconventional warfare, I think that the best American SF unit would have to be the CIA's Military Special Projects, or MSP from the Special Activities Staff or SAS

here is a small excerpt from Specialoperations.com


Note: The SAS's actual designation is Military Special Projects, or MSP. The unit was redesignated in 1995, when General Boykin assumed the Deputy Chief post after coming over from the US Army's Delta Force.

The Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) Directorate of Operations (DO), which is headed by a Deputy Director for Operations (DDO), is responsible for handling covert actions conducted on the Agency's behalf. Within DO are a number of subsections, including Counterterrorism, Counternarcotics, Counterintelligence Staff (CIS), Covert Action Staff (CAS), Special Operations, and others. Of these groups, the Special Operations unit is tasked with conducting paramilitary (PM) covert operations.

The Special Activities Staff (SAS)

The Special Activities Staff (SAS) is one of the least known covert units operating on behalf of the US Government. Operating in teams as large as 12, or as small as one, the SAS is considered to be among the world's top special operations units. SAS personnel have been described as being particularly skilled in counterterrorist/hostage rescue operations, and are said to capable of "taking down" any type of vehicle, aircraft, ship, building, or facility.

The SAS provides a pool from which the various divisions within the Agency may draw trained personnel to form a Special Operations Group, or SOG. SOG's are short-term teams that carry out paramilitary operations such as sabotage; friendly personnel/material recovery; threat personnel/material snatches; bomb damage assessment (BDA); counterterrorist (CT) operations; raids; hostage rescues, and other activities as directed by the President.

Candidates for the SAS are primarily drawn from two sources. The first of these is the US military's Special Mission Units (SMUs) such as the Army's Combat Applications Group (CAG) better known as "Delta Force" ( the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment-Delta), as well as the US Navy's Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU-formerly known as SEAL Team SIX). Other prospective candidates are drawn from former members of elite military units such as the USMC's Force Reconnaissance units; the US Army Special Forces; and Navy's SEAL teams, or from within the ranks of the Agency itself.

A SOG detachment would be comprised of members from one, or more the SAS's three sections, which include a Ground Branch, Air Branch, and Maritime Branch, depending upon the needs of the SOG, and its mission tasking. Once organized, a SOG would travel to its selected Area of Operations (AO), and execute its mission as directed by the DDO through the local Chief of Station, or whomever was tasked with carrying out the operation.

One successful operation conducted by the SAS occurred during Operation Desert Shield. During the operation a lone SAS operative repeatedly penetrated Iraqi defense in and around Kuwait City in order to deliver, and retrieve intelligence material from the besieged US Embassy. In another operation SAS operators, along with US Navy SEALs, were involved in the covert mining of Nicaraguan harbors during the 1980s.
you can read the resthere

i forgot about the other 2

Naval Special Warfare Development Group
Dev Group

and Red Cell

Above photo courtesy of (and property of) LOTI Group

(The following article is �1998-2000 Special Operations.Com. Do not reprint without permission.)

The Naval Special Warfare Development Group (formerly known as MOB 6, SEAL Team SIX, and MARESFAC) based at Dam Neck, Virginia, is responsible for U.S. counterterrorist operations in the maritime environment. Its origin can be traced to the aftermath of the failed 1980 attempted to rescue American hostages at the Iranian Embassy (Operation Eagle Claw). Prior to this, the SEALs had already begun CT training, including all 12 platoons in SEAL Team One on the West Coast. On the East Coast, however, elements of the SEAL Team Two had taken the issue one step farther. They formed a dedicated two-platoon group known as "MOB Six" (short for Mobility Six) in anticipation of a maritime scenario requiring a CT response and had begun training (including the development of advanced tactics such as "fast roping") to that end. Yet, as was the case with the US Army's initial CT unit - Blue Light - and Delta Force, only one group was needed and could be recognized as official. With the formal creation of SEAL Team Six (a name selected primarily to confuse Soviet intelligence as to the number of SEAL Teams in operation) in October1980, MOB Six was demobilized. A large number of members, however, including the former MOB Six commander, were asked to join the fledgling group. With prior experience from these operators, aggressive leadership, and an accelerated training program, SEAL Team Six was declared mission-ready just six months later.

Training for Six was conducted throughout the United States and abroad, both on military and civilian facilities on an extremely accelerated schedule. Exchange programs and joint trainings were expanded with the more experienced international teams such as Germany's GSG-9, Great Britain's Special Boat Squadrons (SBS), and France's combat divers. In all cases, emphasis was placed on realism in training, in accordance with the "Train as you Fight, Fight as you Train" philosophy popular amongst most of the world's leading special operations and CT units. Six participated in a number of operations, both overt and covert, throughout the 1980's (see list at the end of this section) before being revamped and renamed. The reasons for this transformation are vague, however the primary factor cited has been the need for the unit to evolved out of a poor reputation of the group within the Navy. A great deal of controversy was generated due to charges of misappropriation of funds and equipment by team members, as well as the conviction of unit founder Cdr. Richard Marcinko on charges of conspiracy, conflict of interest, making false claims against the government, and bribery. He was sentenced to nearly two years in a Federal penitentiary in addition to being forced to pay a $10,000 fine. Despite this turn of events, Marcinko is still revered in some SEAL circles as an almost mythical figure. This status was attained, in no small part, to a best selling-book series which centers around fictional maritime special operations and counterterrorism.

.....................................................................................................................

Red Cell
Note: The following text is an excerpt from an upcoming book from Special Operations.Com and IACSP on Red Cell. No release date yet.

This article is Copyright 2000 by Special Operations.Com.



Supplemental Information

Red Cell - Team Member Profiles

Beginnings

In early 1984, U.S. Navy Cdr. Richard Marcinko, former commander of the Navy's elite counterterrorist unit SEAL Team SIX, was summoned to the office of Vice Admiral James A. "Ace" Lyons, Jr., then-Deputy Chief of Naval Operations. During the course of the meeting, Admiral Lyons conveyed to the commander his concerns over the vulnerability of U.S. military bases to terrorist attack. Marcinko was then directed to draft a proposal for a new unit, specifically tasked with testing the security of U.S. Navy bases.

This would not be the only mission of this new team. In fact, testing of Naval; security was primarily a cover for the unit's primary function - covert counterterrorist missions conducted around the world. In this way, a portion of the unit would deploy overtly to a given Naval base to carry out its security mandate, while a small element would covertly infiltrate a foreign nation to carry out whatever counterterrorist activity was required. This "activity" as to be very much in line with the practice of aggressive neutralization of known terrorists carried out on a regular basis by nations such as Israel and Great Britain.

In order to provide the maximum educational benefit for both the installation commander (as well as to verify Red Cell's claims of penetration - which were sometimes disputed by base commanders), it was decided that a video crew using low-light equipment would have to be incorporated into the planning and execution of each mission. This was no easy feat, as the video crew itself would also have to be able to penetrate the base in order to remain close enough to Red Cell to video its actions. To remedy this problem, three former SEAL Team SIX operators were hired to film every operation. This had a dual benefit in that not only were these men able to secretly enter the installation without giving away the location of the team, but having been trained in exactly the same techniques as the Red Cell members (some of whom they had already worked with in SEAL Team SIX) they could anticipate the moves of the team, and thus be in a position to provide superior video surveillance of the events as they unfolded.

In a short time, Marcinko chose the name "Red Cell" for this new unit (formally designated OP-06D) and set about selecting personnel. According to his non-fiction book Rogue Warrior: "There were fourteen plank owners in the unit, three officers and eleven enlisted men - one platoon, two boat crews, seven pairs of swim buddies. It was a classic SEAL design." (RW, p. 293) Thirteen of the fourteen SEALs were from Marcinko's former command, SEAL Team SIX. The only non-SEAL accepted into the unit was Steve Hartman, a former member of the USMC's Force Reconnaissance teams.

Red Cell team members were expected to maintain their SEAL qualifications in diving, parachuting, and demolition. Beyond this, however, they were given great latitude in virtually all regards. Marcinko's command style with regard to physical training conformed to that of numerous other elite special operations units around the world, such as the British SAS. There was no required, formalized fitness program. Instead, members were expected to train individually and expected to maintain a high level of physical fitness.

Originally posted by Zafadeaki
What about the small group of man armed with just knives and box cutters, destroyed 4 planes and a bunch of buildings. Or the little kid straped with explosives who can take more than 100 people. It's war and in war the enemy shoot back. You can call them terrorits but for many people they are heroes.

you know what id like to see? i would like to see how they would do against real soldiers like any one from SAS, or SBS, SAR, GSG9, RAID, Delta force, any of the SEAL teams, thats what id like to see, not them against unarmed civilians.

Those terrorists did catch some innocent people by surprise. But look at some troopers - those on the flight that crashed in the PA They re-grouped, kept cool, counterattacked and foiled the plot. Civilians yes, but SPecial Forces op all the way. Accomplish the mission regardless of what may happen to you.

LET"S ROLL

That is bravery, that is sacrifice-true ideals for any warrior!

Good call by the writer who mentioned Red Cell and The Cia spec ops units. As I will also mention-(since it was probably stated by someone earlier)-we will not know the successes because nothing will happen that effects the ordinary person-only the non action or failures-i.e., desert one, 9/11, etc...

1. America (because of the technology edge)
2. England, much better than America if they did not have the tech.
3. Israel Very efficient and effective.
4. Poland, believe it or not.

Once upon a time, not everyone knew who SPECIAL FORCES were or what they did...guess what?..."There is much which is unknown about todays SPECIAL FORCES also!"

I agree.....i think thiers so much thats not known about the worlds special forces.
Im sure the best ones out thier are they ones that we never see. If you think the SAS, NAVYSEALS, are among the elite, i could only begin to immagine how powerfull the unknown special forces must be.
Deep

America doesnt have the tech edge, i think you'll find most of the weapons and equipment are made outside the USA, German guns, british sniper rifles etc

German guns, british sniper rifles etc Posted by David

I will agree that Heckler and Koch tends to have the lock on SpecOps submachine guns, although a surprising number of soviet weapons are used on missions where "plausible deniability" is required. This is also why there is a dearth of american made weapons even on normal missions: you dont want to leave something behind in a foreign country that you essentially just performed an act of war on that says "Made in USA"

There are many who say that the HK weapons are now so ubiqutous as to be considered "sterile" and "deniable".

As for sniper rifles, the Springfield Armory M25 (sniperized M14) is alive and well, as well as the Remington 700 PSS in either 7.62mm NATO or .300 WinMag, both being standard issue weapons. The Remington is also being developed in the new .300 Ultra Mag, which is starting to compete head to head with the .338 Lapua, favored in European circles.

www.springfield-armory.com...

www.alphadogweb.com...

Originally posted by dragonrider
German guns, british sniper rifles etc Posted by David


There are many who say that the HK weapons are now so ubiqutous as to be considered "sterile" and "deniable".

The same could be said for much of America's military equipment ie. most of their assault rifles, mortatrs etc.