The United Kingdom Special Forces (UKSF) is a directorate comprising the

Special Air Service The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces unit of the British Army. It was founded as a regiment in 1941 by David Stirling and in 1950, it was reconstituted as a corps. The unit specialises in a number of roles including counter-terro ...

, the

Special Boat Service The Special Boat Service (SBS) is the special forces unit of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. The SBS can trace its origins back to the Second World War when the Army Special Boat Section was formed in 1940. After the Second World War, the Roya ...

, the

Special Reconnaissance Regiment The Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR) is a special reconnaissance unit of the British Army. It was established on 6 April 2005 and is part of the United Kingdom Special Forces (UKSF). The regiment conducts a wide range of classified activitie ...

, the Special Forces Support Group, 18 (UKSF) Signal Regiment and the

Joint Special Forces Aviation Wing The Joint Special Forces Aviation Wing (JSFAW) is a Royal Air Force (RAF) and British Army joint service organisation that coordinates the provision of aviation support to the United Kingdom Special Forces. The wing is under the peacetime comma ...

, as well as the supporting No. 47 Squadron.Special Reconnaissance Regiment, publications.parliament.uk
Retrieved 21 February 2014Elite special forces unit set up, BBC
Retrieved 21 February 2014. (SBS) In British

freedom of information law Freedom of information laws allow access by the general public to data held by national governments and, where applicable, by state and local governments. The emergence of freedom of information legislation was a response to increasing dissatisfa ...

, "special forces" has been defined as "those units of the armed forces of the Crown and the maintenance of whose capabilities is the responsibility of the Director of Special Forces or which are for the time being subject to the operational command of that Director". The

Royal Marine Commandos The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marines ...

and the

Ranger Regiment (United Kingdom) The Ranger Regiment is a special operations-capable unit of the British Army which was formed on 1 December 2021 under the Future Soldier reform and is part of the Army Special Operations Brigade. It is intended to be used primarily in an unconv ...

are special operations–capable forces, however they do not form part of the UKSF. The

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

and Ministry of Defence (MOD) have a policy of not commenting on the UKSF, in contrast to other countries including the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. In 1996, the UKSF introduced a requirement that serving members sign a confidentiality contract preventing them from disclosing information for life, without the prior approval of the MOD, following the publication of several books written by ex-service members.

Formation

In 1987, the post of Director SAS became

Director Special Forces Director Special Forces (DSF) is the senior British Armed Forces officer responsible for Special Forces. The post is a senior role within the Ministry of Defence (MoD). As Director, the incumbent is responsible for the provision of United Kingdo ...

. From that time, the director has had control of both the

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

and the

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral zone, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and ...

's Special Boat Squadron, which was renamed the

during the formation. The directorate has since been expanded by the creation of the

, the

, 18 (UKSF) Signal Regiment and the Special Forces Support Group. In 2015, the

Royal Marines The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...

reported that approximately 40% of all UK Special Forces personnel are recruited from the Royal Marines. On 1 September 2014, the two

Army Reserve A military reserve force is a military organization whose members have military and civilian occupations. They are not normally kept under arms, and their main role is to be available when their military requires additional manpower. Reserve ...

SAS regiments, the 21 (Artists) Special Air Service Regiment (Reserve) and the 23 Special Air Service Regiment (Reserve) were removed from the UKSF and placed in 1st Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Brigade (1 ISR Bde) under the command of

Force Troops Command Force Troops Command was a combat support and combat service support command of the British Army. Its headquarters was at Upavon, Wiltshire. It was formed in 2013 as a re-designation of the previous Headquarters Theatre Troops. Force Troops Comma ...

. Their role as part of 1 ISR Bde was to conduct Human, Environment, Reconnaissance and Analysis (HERA) patrols. By April 2019, the two reserve regiments had returned to the UKSF.

Structure

The structure of the United kingdom Special Forces Group (UKSF Group) is as follows: *HQ Directorate Special Forces (HQDSF) **Specialist component ***SBS, 22 SAS, SRR **Support component ***Special Forces Support Group ***18 (UKSF) Signal Regiment ***SF air component ****

, No. 47 Squadron RAF **Reserve component ***SAS(R), SBS(R), 63 (UKSF) Signal Squadron

Component units

The following units are part of UK Special Forces and UK Special Forces (Reserve).

Royal Navy

**C Squadron **M Squadron **X Squadron **Z Squadron ** Special Boat Service (Reserve)

British Army

* 22 Special Air Service Regiment (22 SAS)Overstretched SAS calls up part-time troops for Afghanistan, www.telegraph.co.uk
Retrieved 21 February 2014 **A Squadron **B Squadron **D Squadron **G Squadron **L Detachment (SAS Reserve) * 21 Special Air Service Regiment (21 SAS) **A Squadron **C Squadron **E Squadron * 23 Special Air Service Regiment (23 SAS) **B Squadron **D Squadron **G Squadron *

Royal Air Force

*Special Forces Flight, 47 Squadron

Joint service units

* Special Forces Support Group ** A Company ** B Company ** C Company ** D Company ** F Company ** G Company **Support Company * 18 (UKSF) Signal Regiment **SBS Signal Squadron **264 (SAS) Signal Squadron **267 (SRR) Signal Squadron **268 (SFSG) Signal Squadron **63 (SAS) Signal Squadron (Reserve)

Joint Special Forces Aviation Wing

* No. 7 Squadron (Royal Air Force) * No. 658 Squadron (Army Air Corps, British Army)

Special operations–capable forces

The Armed Forces have raised special operations–capable forces that will conduct special operations to train, advise and accompany UK partner countries' forces in high threat environments. The special operations–capable forces will not form part of the UKSF. The

formed the Ranger Regiment on 1 December 2021 within a new

brigade A brigade is a major tactical military formation that typically comprises three to six battalions plus supporting elements. It is roughly equivalent to an enlarged or reinforced regiment. Two or more brigades may constitute a division. Br ...

, the

Army Special Operations Brigade The Army Special Operations Brigade (Army Spec Ops Bde) (previously called the Specialised Infantry Group) is a formation of the British Army, initially created as a result of the Army 2020 Refine reorganisation, intended to Military advisor, tr ...

, established on 31 August 2021, that will take on some tasks traditionally done by special forces and work with partner forces. The Ranger Regiment's

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...

s are to be restructured by April 2023. The Chief of the Defence Staff has said that the Ranger Regiment will be similar to the

United States Army Special Forces The United States Army Special Forces (SF), colloquially known as the "Green Berets" due to their distinctive service Berets of the United States Army, headgear, are a special operations special operations force, force of the United States Ar ...

, known as the "Green Berets". Two of the four Ranger Regiment battalions will be deployed to Africa, the third will focus on Eastern Europe and the fourth will be deployed to the Middle East. The

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

is transforming the

through the

Future Commando Force The Future Commando Force (FCF) is an in-progress (as of February 2022) modernisation programme and model of the future role and operations of the Royal Marines. The FCF essentially retasks 40 Commando and 45 Commando with implementing the infantr ...

concept, changing its role of amphibious infantry held at readiness to a versatile special operations–capable force. The Marines will often be permanently deployed in two new

Littoral Response Group A Littoral Response Group (LRG) is a Royal Navy task group consisting of at least two amphibious warfare ships, a company of Royal Marines and supporting elements primarily tasked with amphibious warfare from the littoral areas. They were first d ...

s, with one in Northern Europe and the other in the Indian Ocean.

References

External links

Official UKSF (Reserve) website
{{The British Army 1987 establishments in the United Kingdom Military units and formations established in 1987 Organisations based in Hertfordshire

Formation

Structure

Component units

Royal Navy

British Army

Royal Air Force

Joint service units

Joint Special Forces Aviation Wing

Special operations–capable forces

See also

References

External links