The Special Warfare Diving and Salvage ( bn, স্পেশাল ওয়ারফেয়ার ডাইভিং অ্যান্ড স্যালভেজ) or SWADS is an elite special operational unit of the

Bangladesh Navy The Bangladesh Navy ( bn, বাংলাদেশ নৌবাহিনী, Bangladesh Nou Bahini) is the naval warfare branch of the Bangladesh Armed Forces, responsible for Bangladesh's of maritime territorial area, and the defence of imp ...

. Members are professional soldiers and are recruited through the Bangladesh Navy. The SWADS is organized, trained and equipped along the lines of SEAL/UDT teams of the

United States Navy SEALs The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the U.S. Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main functions are conducting sma ...

and the Republic of Korea Navy UDT/SEAL. As of 2014, SWADS is believed to number a few hundred strong, and is based in the southern port city of

Chittagong Chittagong ( /ˈtʃɪt əˌɡɒŋ/ ''chit-uh-gong''; ctg, চিটাং; bn, চিটাগং), officially Chattogram ( bn, চট্টগ্রাম), is the second-largest city in Bangladesh after Dhaka and third largest city in B ...

. Its base is formally known as "BNS Nirvik".

History

Although Bangladeshi Navy personnel were trained on American soil since the 1970s, United States Navy instructors were instrumental in creating SWADS in late 2008. SWADS was formally created in 2009 with 150 commandos and 200 divers recruited. US Ambassador to Bangladesh

Dan Mozena Dan Mozena (born May 1, 1949 in Dubuque, Iowa) is a United States Foreign Service Officer and a member of the Senior Foreign Service. He served as the United States Ambassador to Angola 2007–2010 and as United States Ambassador to Bangladesh 2 ...

provided assistance in the creation of the unit. The unit's lineage is traced back to the Nou Commando

frogmen A frogman is someone who is trained in scuba diving or swimming underwater in a tactical capacity that includes military, and in some European countries, police work. Such personnel are also known by the more formal names of combat diver, comb ...

Sector 10 Sector may refer to: Places * Sector, West Virginia, U.S. Geometry * Circular sector, the portion of a disc enclosed by two radii and a circular arc * Hyperbolic sector, a region enclosed by two radii and a hyperbolic arc * Spherical sector, a po ...

during the country's Liberation War against Pakistan. SWADS operators have participated alongside American Navy SEALs in Joint Combined Training Exchange programs under the Tiger Shark exercises.

Selection

SWADS operatives are volunteers from the Navy and are trained in Bangladesh and abroad. They do the Naval Commando Basic Course (similar to BUD/S of US Navy SEALs) from SWADS Training area at Rangamati and complete their airborne qualification course from army's

School of Infantry and Tactics School of Infantry and Tactics is a Bangladesh army infantry and special forces training institute. The institute was founded in 1973 and is based in Jalalabad Cantonment. History The institute was formed on 19 March 1973 at Comilla Cantonment. I ...

, Sylhet. Further specialist courses are held in various naval and army training bases in Bangladesh as well as in abroad. The average drop rate of NCB is 95%, and this is only the first step of becoming a SWADS operator. SWADS operators receive training from

Republic of Korea Navy The Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN; ko, 대한민국 해군), also known as the ROK Navy or South Korean Navy, is the naval warfare service branch of the South Korean armed forces, responsible for naval and amphibious operations. The ROK Navy in ...

UDT/SEALs, UK's SAS & SBS, US Marine

Force Recon Force Reconnaissance (FORECON) is one of the United States Marine Corps' special operations capable forces (SOC) which supplies military intelligence to the command element of the Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF). Force Reconnaissance compa ...

US Navy SEALS The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the U.S. Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the Naval Special Warfare Command. Among the SEALs' main functions are conducting sma ...

and Turkish

SAT The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and scoring have changed several times; originally called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, it was later called the Schol ...

Duties

SWADS commandos are currently deployed in South Sudan as Bangladesh Force Marine Unit, part of

UNMISS The United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) is a United Nations peacekeeping mission for South Sudan, which became independent on 9 July 2011. UNMISS was established on 8 July 2011 by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1996 (201 ...

. They were the first SF unit to respond during Holey Artisan Bakery attack in Dhaka and later assisted the Army's 1 Para-Commando Battalion in Operation Thunderbolt, by securing the lake side and cutting of the possible escape route of the terrorists. SWADS has also performed several Anti-Drug raids in the Bay of Bengal and captured some major drug shipments. They have also conducted Anti-Human Trafficking operations off the coast of Teknaf.

Weapons and equipment

The range of weapons and equipment used by members SWADS's is extensive. SWADS members are trained to handle all types of light & medium weapons with proficiency. Because of their close relations with US & ROK SEALs, SWADS mostly use 5.56 caliber weapons unlike other Bangladeshi SOF units. Some of the weapons used by SWADS are: *

SIG Sauer P226 Sig used as a name may refer to: *Sig (given name) *Sig, Algeria, a city on the banks of the Sig River *Sig Alert, an alert for traffic congestion in California, named after Loyd Sigmon *Sig River, a river of Algeria also known as Mekerra sig (lo ...

Colt M4A1 The M4 carbine (officially Carbine, Caliber 5.56 mm, M4) is a 5.56×45mm NATO, gas-operated, magazine-fed carbine developed in the United States during the 1980s. It is a shortened version of the M16A2 assault rifle. The M4 is extensively ...

SOPMOD The Special Operations Peculiar MODification (SOPMOD) kit is an accessory system for the M4A1 carbine, CQBR, FN SCAR Mk 16/17, HK416 and other weapons used by United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), though it is not specific to SOCO ...

Daewoo K2 Daewoo Precision Industries K2 assault rifle is the standard service rifle of the South Korean military. It was developed by the South Korean Agency for Defense Development and manufactured by S&T Motiv (formerly Daewoo Precision Industries) and ...

Assault Rifle *

Daewoo K7 The Daewoo Telecom K7 is a 9×19mm Parabellum submachine gun with an integral suppressor used by the Republic of Korea Armed Forces. It is based on the Daewoo K1A assault rifle, but is simplified by utilizing a blowback action rather than the ...

silenced SMG * Norinco Type-56-2 * Knight's Armament Company SR-25 *

M249 SAW The M249 light machine gun (LMG), also known as the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW), which continues to be the manufacturer's designation, and formally written as Light Machine Gun, 5.56 mm, M249, is the American adaptation of the Belgian F ...

M24 Sniper Weapon System The M24 Sniper Weapon System (SWS) or M24 is the military and police version of the Remington Model 700 rifle, ''M24'' being the model name assigned by the United States Army after adoption as their standard sniper rifle in 1988. The M24 is ref ...

Besides these weapons, SWADS personnel uses Level-III & Level-IIIA bulletproof vests and ballistic helmets as standard issue. SWADS divers use various European diving and hydrographic research equipment.

History

Selection

Duties

Weapons and equipment

References

Further reading