Discussion on Indian Special Forces

[wig]

https://theprint.in/defence/new-tri-ser ... fbclid=IwA
New tri services special ops division, meant for surgical strikes, finishes 1st exercise today

The week-long exercise in Gujarat saw personnel of the Army, Navy commando unit and Air Force’s Garud test drills of the division.
excerpts

The new division will be capable of carrying out crippling attacks against enemy targets miles away, even inside enemy territory. It will have about 2,000 commandos drawn from the Special Forces of the Army, Marine Commando unit (MARCOS) of the Navy and Garud of the Air Force.
An accomplished special forces operative and Sri Lanka war veteran Major General A.K. Dhingra heads the tri-services division. He is from the elite 1 Para Special Forces Regiment.

strenght

While the Army has a strength of around 6,000 special forces personnel, both Navy and the IAF have around 1,000 each.

[rkhanna]

So a Unit or a "Task Force" announced a year ago is already conducting Joint Exercises?

So does this confirm that there is no selection / training regime for this unit?

IMO Missed opportunity

[wig]

https://www.news18.com/news/india/elite ... 35661.html

Elite Commandos Airdropped in Kashmir’s Ganderbal Forests After Militants Sighted on Trek Route to Srinagar
excerpts

The massive military operation to locate ‘hiding militants’ has been underway since the last ten days.

and

The Paras have spread across the mountainous terrain fearing that there might a big group of militants, who have infiltrated LoC from remote Gurez area of Bandipora district and are trying to move towards the Tral town in south Kashmir on this traditional militant-route.

“Two militants got killed in sequel operations after contact was established around 9pm on September 27,” Ganderbal SSP Khalil Poswal told News18, adding that this is first encounter in the district since 2014. One militant, he said, was killed on the same night and another was killed on the third day.

This is one of the biggest anti-militancy operation launched in the Kashmir Valley after the central government stripped Jammu and Kashmir of its special status and divided the state into two union

[wig]

https://zeenews.india.com/india/nationa ... 40283.html

NSG hub at Pathankot soon, 500 commandos to tackle terror threats

The Special Action Group of NSG also known as 51 SAG will be deployed in Pathankot. The hub will have a force of 500 NSG commandos who will be stationed permanently in Pathankot. The proposed Pathankot hub of NSG will be able to secure airbases, Army stations and other important assets in Punjab as well as respond much more quickly to tackle hostage like situations.

[MeshaVishwas]

Special Forces hold wargames in Andamans against `intruders`
https://zeenews.india.com/india/special ... 9.html/amp
AFSOD seems to be shaping up well.

[rkhanna]

Special Forces hold wargames in Andamans against `intruders`
https://zeenews.india.com/india/special ... 9.html/amp
AFSOD seems to be shaping up well.

IMO a seriously missed opportunity. The powers that be are missing the forest for the Trees. How can a new unit that was ANNOUNCED a year back already be doing operational readiness exercises.

All they are doing is taking MARCOS/GARUD/SF and making them work together. We have serious holes in our SOF capability (training/ kit/ infrastructure) and tasking.

With SOD we have an opportunity from raising a unit from scratch but instead (i fear) we are just putting lipstick on a pig.

[Nikhil T]

Disagree. We don't want to keep adding manpower to Armed Forces and worsen our capital-to-revenue expenditure ratio. Converging existing units under one umbrella makes sense.

Coming to different training/kit/infrastructure, we don't *have to* task a mixed unit comprising all 3 services to conduct an operation. It could be very well be tasked to a unit comprised of one service, at least in the short term. Over time, training and kits will be unified as well. What's important is that a big step has been taken with AFSOD by GoI and the three services, who finally seem to be on the same page. I hope that AFSOD soon becomes a full Command.

[srai]

https://zeenews.india.com/india/national-security-guard-nsg-hub-at-pathankot-soon-500-commandos-to-tackle-terror-threats-2240283.html

NSG hub at Pathankot soon, 500 commandos to tackle terror threats

The Special Action Group of NSG also known as 51 SAG will be deployed in Pathankot. The hub will have a force of 500 NSG commandos who will be stationed permanently in Pathankot. The proposed Pathankot hub of NSG will be able to secure airbases, Army stations and other important assets in Punjab as well as respond much more quickly to tackle hostage like situations.

After the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, five hubs of NSG were established in Gandhinagar (Gujarat), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), Kolkata (West Bengal), Mumbai (Maharashtra) and Hyderabad (Telangana).

Out of the major Indian metro cities, Bengaluru still doesn’t have one.

[MeshaVishwas]

Out of the major Indian metro cities, Bengaluru still doesn’t have one.

OT.But BLR have their own police unit dedicated to CT ops."Garuda" units were raised under the watchful eye of our current NSA, IIRC.
Trained by NSG and Ex Army, they also hold exercises with NSG periodically.

[sajaym]

Out of the major Indian metro cities, Bengaluru still doesn’t have one.

I read somewhere on this same thread that Bengaluru already has Para Commandos based here at the Para Training center. So Bengaluru is already a Para Commando Hub I guess.

[Bala Vignesh]

Yup, BLR has the PRTC which is the home of all Para SF Bn and will have adequate manpower to mount operations when required and also BLR is supposedly home to a Para SF Bn as well, not sure if that's true.

[ParGha]

PRTC is for basic recruit training and administrative elements, and it is in operational readiness of a peace establishment. They will pitch in if things go bad, but it is unrealistic to keep a peace posting under the constant stress of operational readiness - it is unfair to them and their families, who have definitely earned their 2 years of normalcy after 4 years of operational and field training postings. Given the terrible traffic conditions in Bangalore, it is probably better for Bangalore to rely upon a heliborne QRT from the new brigade being established in KA.

[rohitvats]

^^^NSG hub was not set-up in Bangalore because a Para (SF) battalion was located in the city. As for location, its not co-located with PRTC. The Military Farm, located adjacent and north of Hebbal lake, was closed down (as part of overall closing down of Military Farms establishment) and this became location of Para (SF) battalion. I'm surprised Bangalore people don't know this.

2 Para (SF) was the first occupant. And might still be there as SF battalions don't change their location. Teams are sent out to regions on deputation.

There was even an article on this:

http://tarmak007.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-predators-sf-rock-stars-share-their.html

[tsarkar]

^^^NSG hub was not set-up in Bangalore because a Para (SF) battalion was located in the city. As for location, its not co-located with PRTC. The Military Farm, located adjacent and north of Hebbal lake, was closed down (as part of overall closing down of Military Farms establishment) and this became location of Para (SF) battalion. I'm surprised Bangalore people don't know this.

2 Para (SF) was the first occupant. And might still be there as SF battalions don't change their location. Teams are sent out to regions on deputation.

There was even an article on this:

http://tarmak007.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-predators-sf-rock-stars-share-their.html

Not happy with 2 Para given a SWAT/NSG role. They’re the only battalion to have participated in an airborne para drop and battle at Tangail in 1971. The Marathas Paras could have certainly been better used.

[Bala Vignesh]

Well, I was aware but was told by my paanwala not to share the exact location. Hence the obfuscation, if you could call it that. Didn't know the information was public domain already.

[wig]

https://www.timesnownews.com/india/arti ... ons/519009

In a first, Army, Navy and Air Force special forces deployed in Kashmir for joint counter-terrorism operations

extracts

In a major step towards enhancing joint collaboration among the three services, the special forces of the Army, Navy and Air Force have been deployed in the Kashmir Valley to carry out joint counter-terrorism operations.

The Army's Para (special forces), Navy's Marine Commandos (MARCOS) and Indian Air Force's Garud special forces are being deployed in the Kashmir Valley under the Defence Ministry's newly-raised Armed Forces Special Operations Division (AFSOD).


Induction of the joint special troops of the three forces has already started as the Army Para (SF) elements have already been inducted into an area considered to be a traditional terror hotbed near Srinagar, an Army official told news agency ANI.

As per reports, the elements of the MARCOS and the Garud would soon be getting fully inducted into the anti-terrorist operations.

Earlier, small teams of Navy's MARCOS and IAF's Garud used to operate in the Kashmir Valley, however, with this development, this will be the first time when the three services would be deployed jointly in the Valley.

While MARCOS commandos have been deployed in and around the Wular lake area, the Garud teams have been operating in the Lolab area and Hajin.

and

The main reason behind this decision to deploy joint Special Forces in the Kashmir valley is to give them the exposure to operating jointly in real operations. The AFSPD has already carried out two exercises at different locations by practising assault on strategic enemy positions and taking back captured areas.

The first exercise of the AFSOD was in the Kutch region codenamed 'Ex Smelling Field' while the second was in Andaman and Nicobar Islands codenamed 'DANX-2019'.

Major General Ashok Dhingra has been appointed as the first head of the Armed Forces Special Operations Division (AFSOD).

[Zynda]

Does anybody what Special Forces of other countries do to protect against snake bites while wading through waters in marshlands etc? Any special kind of protective trousers etc?

This info may be a little outdated but apparently in desh, (dunno which unit or even times lines and all those details), they used to fill up their trousers with wet mud and tape their pants just above the ankle. Yes, this would add lot of weight penalty but they found it effective against snake bites. Snake bites do happen but the fangs rarely are able to reach the skin. Probably this was during training and stuff & may not be during missions but I am not 100% sure.

[ArjunPandit]

what could be the reason for utilizing SF on CT operations is it to widen their scope, utilize the existing resources to the max in light of fiscal prudence or give them some battlefield experience before actual action..

[darshhan]

Does anybody what Special Forces of other countries do to protect against snake bites while wading through waters in marshlands etc? Any special kind of protective trousers etc?

This info may be a little outdated but apparently in desh, (dunno which unit or even times lines and all those details), they used to fill up their trousers with wet mud and tape their pants just above the ankle. Yes, this would add lot of weight penalty but they found it effective against snake bites. Snake bites do happen but the fangs rarely are able to reach the skin. Probably this was during training and stuff & may not be during missions but I am not 100% sure.

Every Special forces squad worth its salt has a medic. These medics are highly trained almost to surgeon levels. I am very sure for jungle warfare and marshland missions these medics would definitely be factoring snake bite injuries.

[CalvinH]

what could be the reason for utilizing SF on CT operations is it to widen their scope, utilize the existing resources to the max in light of fiscal prudence or give them some battlefield experience before actual action..

I guess it would be for the similar reason why US SF operators are embedded with regular units in AFG or Iraq where US Army is in holding position. Tracking high ranking terrorists, intelligence gathering etc. Don the gear and be part of the operation that one initiated and supplied the information for?

We see SF resources in pics taken during regular operations and mistakenly think that they are being used as common infantry soldiers . Many similar pics exist for US operations in Iraq.