Indian Special Forces

[Abingdonboy]

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There are reports of 4th battalion the Para Commandos SF being a part of the ongoing operation in Keran Sector of Jammu and Kashmir.

500 Infantrymen and unknow number of SF operators are fighting against 40 odd terrorists in the high altitude terrain which is spread across tens of kilometres.

Yeah you'd hope so. This has been going on for how many weeks now? The IA has had time to bring all their assets to the fight that they deem nessercary and surely SFs would be leading the fight. SFs have had time to plan and prep for this mission by now. I know this is not a simple op but the IA and IAF must have scores of UAVs overhead by now, there must be helos buzzing around for recon and transport etc etc

 

[Abingdonboy]

Look pretty decent! One of the better equipped SRU in India for sure.

 

[Dandpatta]

Could someone take the trouble of creating an entire list of SF / SRUs etc (those from military, paramilitary, police commandos etc).

I think it would be best if knowledgeable persons like Coldhearted Aviator or other thoroughly knowledgeables could put up a list organised in excel format :-

NAME (of Force) | Police, Mil, ParaMil, etc | Core Mission objectives | Approx Personnel
- COBRA
- OCTOPUS
- MARCOS
- GARUDS
- BLACK CATS
- etc
- etc
- etc

 

[Bang Galore]

There are reports of 4th battalion the Para Commandos SF being a part of the ongoing operation in Keran Sector of Jammu and Kashmir.

500 Infantrymen and unknow number of SF operators are fighting against 40 odd terrorists in the high altitude terrain which is spread across tens of kilometres.

That figure is probably understated. I was watching a Tv program last night where Praveen Swami was discussing this issue. According him, some army sources have put the figure at roughly company strength i.e. around 100. We are clearly not getting the full picture.There is certainly more here than meets the eye.

 

[Dillinger]

That figure is probably understated. I was watching a Tv program last night where Praveen Swami was discussing this issue. According him, some army sources have put the figure at roughly company strength i.e. around 100. We are clearly not getting the full picture.There is certainly more here than meets the eye.

The numbers may vary, the only way to have any clarity on that aspect will be to wait for the army to complete the op and sanitize the AO so that they can issue conclusive and final statements.

But, the time being taken is dictated by the terrain and scale of the op primarily-

Okay here we go again.

The above picture represents the AO-

Legend-

1) Black mark- the nullah, probable route of ingress for the infiltrators.

2) Crimson mark- the "abandoned village" situated in a clearing which is surrounded on all for sides by foliage starting roughly 200 meters from the center of the clearing.

The LOC is clearly visible.

The scope of the current operation entails two broad objectives. First, to contain the infiltrators in the clearing and the abandoned buildings. Secondly, to flood the surrounding foliage with boots to dominate the area in order to ensure that smaller groups cannot execute a break out. The reason that the infiltrators have been corned in that area is because the IA was able to act in a timely manner and with adequate speed. The infiltrators did no ingress to hunker down in an abandoned village. They were using it as a way point and a place for rest due to the virtue of it providing built up shelter sans any habitation on our side of the LOC, normally the infiltrators would have proceeded from this area deeper into the hinterland to either lie dormant or to attack designated targets. Before they could commence on said further ingress they were cut off by the IA. The time and scale of the operation is dictated by the nature of the terrain prevalent in the AO. With plenty of crevices and natural cover (which can be exploited to provide defilade) it behooves us to take our time and cordon off the area from the three sides (broadly speaking) from which we can operate. A further challenge is imposed by the fact that AO lies only 150 or so meters across the LOC and thus PA regulars on the other side may get tempted to exploit the dynamic nature of such exchanges of fire to inflict casualties upon our jawaan in a manner which shall be extremely difficult for us to trace back to them.

 

[Bang Galore]

The scope of the current operation entails two broad objectives. First, to contain the infiltrators in the clearing and the abandoned buildings. Secondly, to flood the surrounding foliage with boots to dominate the area in order to ensure that smaller groups cannot execute a break out. The reason that the infiltrators have been corned in that area is because the IA was able to act in a timely manner and with adequate speed. The infiltrators did no ingress to hunker down in an abandoned village. They were using it as a way point and a place for rest due to the virtue of it providing built up shelter sans any habitation on our side of the LOC, normally the infiltrators would have proceeded from this area deeper into the hinterland to either lie dormant or to attack designated targets. Before they could commence on said further ingress they were cut off by the IA. The time and scale of the operation is dictated by the nature of the terrain prevalent in the AO. With plenty of crevices and natural cover (which can be exploited to provide defilade) it behooves us to take our time and cordon off the area from the three sides (broadly speaking) from which we can operate. A further challenge is imposed by the fact that AO lies only 150 or so meters across the LOC and thus PA regulars on the other side may get tempted to exploit the dynamic nature of such exchanges of fire to inflict casualties upon our jawaan in a manner which shall be extremely difficult for us to trace back to them.

Do you believe that this is merely an attempt at infiltration or is an outright incursion ? I'm not too convinced on the pure infiltration angle. They are engaging & from what seems to be happening, they are being replenished, probably both in men & material from across the LoC. If it was just an infiltration attempt, do you not think it would have quietened down by now? This is speculation but I'm not too sure about what exactly is happening and I am not entirely convinced by the official line.

 

[Dillinger]

Do you believe that this is merely an attempt at infiltration or is an outright incursion ? I'm not too convinced on the pure infiltration angle. They are engaging & from what seems to be happening, they are being replenished, probably both in men & material from across the LoC. If it was just an infiltration attempt, do you not think it would have quietened down by now? This is speculation but I'm not too sure about what exactly is happening and I am not entirely convinced by the official line.

Rest assured that it is an infiltration. Shala Bhata lies a meager 200 meters into our side and is situated 4 km away from a major IA camp. It is not an area that presents any advantage. The issue arises due to two factors. A large group may enter en mass but after having covered some ground the group splits up, we have been rather particular about catching them before they could do so. Nonetheless the area is densely forested and while the foliage might obscure the details of the terrain it truly is dominated by ridges and nullahs. So the IA is proceeding at a very deliberate pace, which makes sense. Our first concern is containment, after which we can be cautious so as to limit casualties. Where will the infiltrators go? They can only either egress or stay put and slowly be neutralized. The second issue is that the Fidayeens are a death cult, they are very much inclined to stay put if for no other reason then to "embrace shahadat". The reason for the particularly large number of infiltrators is actually quite simple, having intel on the troop rotation in the area the infiltrators would have known that the forces deployed there were rotating out and because large scale infiltration attempts occur before the onset of winter to push in as many fidayeen as possible.

Basically the plan was to exploit the relaxation in patrols to push in a large number of fidayeen in one go, which makes sense since the window of opportunity is not particularly large so the enemy would want to exploit it to its maximum potential.

 

[Dillinger]

@Bang Galore Also, if someone or the other gets too uppity, there is a helipad just 4 Km away from the "ghost village". We can always send in Ninjas, that is if they are not leading the op even as I type.

 

[Abingdonboy]

Rest assured that it is an infiltration. Shala Bhata lies a meager 200 meters into our side and is situated 4 km away from a major IA camp. It is not an area that presents any advantage. The issue arises due to two factors. A large group may enter en mass but after having covered some ground the group splits up, we have been rather particular about catching them before they could do so. Nonetheless the area is densely forested and while the foliage might obscure the details of the terrain it truly is dominated by ridges and nullahs. So the IA is proceeding at a very deliberate pace, which makes sense. Our first concern is containment, after which we can be cautious so as to limit casualties. Where will the infiltrators go? They can only either egress or stay put and slowly be neutralized. The second issue is that the Fidayeens are a death cult, they are very much inclined to stay put if for no other reason then to "embrace shahadat". The reason for the particularly large number of infiltrators is actually quite simple, having intel on the troop rotation in the area the infiltrators would have known that the forces deployed there were rotating out and because large scale infiltration attempts occur before the onset of winter to push in as many fidayeen as possible.

Basically the plan was to exploit the relaxation in patrols to push in a large number of fidayeen in one go, which makes sense since the window of opportunity is not particularly large so the enemy would want to exploit it to its maximum potential.

After 2014 the Pakistanis were always going to have an issue with the miltants they trained and harboured being left effectively unemployed and like they say 'the Devil finds work for idle hands'. It seems Kayani/Pakistan has decided to outsource the problem to India and sent these guys to be dealt with by the IA who has become extremely proficient in detecting and subsequently neutralising these scumbags. The simple fact of the matter is this is a suicide operation but there seems to be very little actual objective. It's all too easy to contain and then methodically carry out "mop-up" operations in this case. And with SFs leading the charge it is only a matter of time.......

 

[COLDHEARTED AVIATOR]

Could someone take the trouble of creating an entire list of SF / SRUs etc (those from military, paramilitary, police commandos etc).

I think it would be best if knowledgeable persons like Coldhearted Aviator or other thoroughly knowledgeables could put up a list organised in excel format :-

NAME (of Force) | Police, Mil, ParaMil, etc | Core Mission objectives | Approx Personnel
- COBRA
- OCTOPUS
- MARCOS
- GARUDS
- BLACK CATS
- etc
- etc
- etc

Bro,this has been done earlier by @Abingdonboy if i am not wrong and in the very same thread.He can add Octopus and Cobra to the list.

 

[special]

look like our politicians fucked up the Special forces command proposal!!

India Evades Action on Special Forces Command | Defense News | defensenews.com

 

[Abingdonboy]

look like our politicians fucked up the Special forces command proposal!!

India Evades Action on Special Forces Command | Defense News | defensenews.com

Oh well, what's a year in these cases?

 

[Abingdonboy]

Could someone take the trouble of creating an entire list of SF / SRUs etc (those from military, paramilitary, police commandos etc).

I think it would be best if knowledgeable persons like Coldhearted Aviator or other thoroughly knowledgeables could put up a list organised in excel format :-

NAME (of Force) | Police, Mil, ParaMil, etc | Core Mission objectives | Approx Personnel
- COBRA
- OCTOPUS
- MARCOS
- GARUDS
- BLACK CATS
- etc
- etc
- etc

I had made this post over a year ago:

I'll have a crack at it.


Firstly there are ONLY THREE actual/true Special Forces (SF/SOF) in India-
IAF-Garud
Garud Commando Force - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
IA-PARA (SF)
Para Commandos (India) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
IN-MARCOs
MARCOS - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

+note- the PARA (SF) are part of the PARA regiment that also has regular PARA (airborne) btns as part of it who are well trained but not SF just like regular airborne forces found in other armies like 82nd Airborne of US.

By and large Indian SOFs very much like to keep to themselves and let their actions speak for themselves, this is sort of their unofficial mantra. As such, unlike with other SOFs, you won't find too much info on them.


+There is also the RR (Rashtriya Rifles)- a dedicated Counter Insurgency force of the IA who operate mostly in J&K. They are drwan from all arms of the IA although it is mandated 50% of the force must be from the infantry and all members are deputated to the force for a period of time before returning to their parent units.

Rashtriya Rifles - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia




Then there are a other specilzed forces-
-Ghataks (In western lexicon they would be reffered to as "Special Operations Capable") are Special Operations Capable infantry platoons attactched toevery Infantry battalion in the Indian Army .

Ghatak Force - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


-SFF/Special Group-Under remit of RAW and act in similar ways to the SAD of CIA. Whilst SFF were made up of mainly Tibetan refugees, Special Group (a counter terror unit within the SFF whose existence is officially denied by GoI) is manned by mostly Indian SOF personal on deputation. Very little is actually known about these unit but whenever you here of RAW lifting some bad guy in the region say Nepal,BD or SL it is more likely than not this is SFF/SG.

Special Frontier Force - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

-NSG (a special intervention force) split in two groups (Special Action Group, SAG and Special Ranger Group,SRG), SAG is made up of IA guys on 3 year deputation tours and are the actual "shooters" who carry out any sort of domestic counter terror action and on the whole remains elusive and shadowy. SRG are the more camera-friendly guys whose sole responsibility is VVIP protection and members of SRG are CaPFs on deputation. It should be noted that despite NSG being initially set up as a dedicated CT force because of the babu nature in India the number of personal in SRG now vastly outnumber the number of "shooters" in SAG.The SAG atleast could be understood to be similar to the FBI's HRT in remit and training.


National Security Guard - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Then there are the numourous CaPFs who also have specilized units:

-CRPF COBRAs: A dedicated anti-Naxal force which has grown in both size and capabilty and are actually delivering tangible results in the field. Armed with ever increasing tactics (notably recently the induction of dedicated sniper-spotter teams for intel gathering and other such sniper related work) and weaponary including recently the X-95.

Commando Battalion for Resolute Action - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

-ITBP Commandos: A specilised unit within ITBP which is well trained and,relatively, well armed. The force has been deployed (for whatever reason) to protect the Indian diplomatic mission in Afghanistan after targetted bobmbings.

Indo-Tibetan Border Police - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


-BSF: The BSF has mulitple "commando" units including the Crocidile commandos (seriously this is thir name!) whose responsiblty is patrolling creeks and water bodies close to Pakistan.

Border Security Force - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


-RPF: The Railway Protection force too has their own dedicated commando unit. I'm not too clued up on them tbh so can't really give a fair analysis of their training/equipment.






These days most states have Special Response/Emergency response units especially in response to 26/11. Surprisingly it does seem like most of these are well trained and well equipped.


There needs to be a further understanding of what the true definition of Special Forces and Commandos are to stop this unneeded and pointless proliferation of the "commando" identity it cheapens it for all those units that are truly deserving of the title and have worked bloody hard to earn it.




To note, the SPG is NOT a special/commando force as TOO many people claim. They are an incredibly well trained and equipeed executive protection agency for PM/ex PMs, Pres and their families- THAT IS ALL.


Special Protection Group - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It makes no sense to add every single SRU of every single police dept though.As this is pretty much the norm these days and actuallt expected not anything worth highlighting. JMHO.

 

[Unknowncommando]

 

[Unknowncommando]