Indian Special Forces

[Marliii]

Close encounters of the covert kind

An all-out war with Pakistan? Not feasible. Diplomatic offensive to isolate the enemy? Recommended, but may not be effective. Surgical air strike? Runs the risk of escalating tension. Covert operations? Good idea, but how battle-ready are our special forces? THE WEEK investigates

www.theweek.in

Here you go @shuvo@y2k10

 

[rkhanna]

Sure, but we have problems there too.

Firstly, we have severely limited number of satellites (of any kind, including civilian). Believe it or not, the UK with no independent launch capability of its own has more satellites currently in orbit than we do.

We have a grand total of 1 geostationary satellite providing services to the whole Indian Navy, and that's not even a High-Throughput sat (HTS) and one has to wonder the bandwidth limitations for how many concurrent transmit/receive requests it can fulfill. The GSAT intended for Army lost contact and far as I can recall, no replacement has been launched yet.

Not to mention sats in GSO can be limited by line-of-sight due to being fixed point in sky and can be restricted due to terrain & high mountains (provided one is using some form of satphone terminal type device).

What we need in order to ensure unimpeded secure satellite-based high bandwidth two-way communication for troops on the group would ultimately have to be our own version of something like Starlink in Low Earth Orbit, owned & operated by the newly formed Defence Space Agency (DSA).

Currently, if you want large-scale guaranteed secure comm without breaking the bank, its far cheaper to just run a RAN network, with only a few SATCOM uplinks somewhere in the loop.



I've heard of this, but have no idea how secure or repeatable it was (or what they were using), or if they were lugging around some form of manportable SATCOM terminal - and if so then what satellite they were communicating with (Indian or foreign, military or piggybacking on civilian) and how secure that was from eavesdropping.

True.

For the simplest look at how these support units work one can see the units that UKSF is comprised of:

United Kingdom Special Forces - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Namely:

Special Reconnaissance Regiment - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Special Forces Support Group - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

18 (UKSF) Signal Regiment - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I have to assume a large part of why these courses aren't conducted is the typical turf war mentality among the brass of the various services. Unfortunately I don't see much improving until & unless we have theaterization of the forces across the board, and the new C&C regimens become mandated by law.

Goldwater–Nichols Act - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

As a note. The SRR along with SAS and SBS are Englands tier I unit. They function like the ISA of JSOC. Their job is CTR and Prepping the battlefield for the DA unit

 

[rkhanna]

Can you elaborate about this raid?

Nothing to elaborate there is a plan already on file to hit Kahuta in a joint indian/Israeli raid which was thought about in the early days but was scraped as per news reports.

IMO It would have been an excerise in futility. It would have provided the same escalation as an Airstrike. An Airstrike would have been more successful.

 

[Aditya Ballal]

@AVINASH4061 sir, during the AFS Pathankot attack, when the terrorists were cornered into the woods in or at the perimeter of the AFS by DSC, Garuds and NSG, was it the right call to let NSG finish the job of eliminating the terrorists? AFAIK the NSG were brought in case there would be hostage situation near the family quarters of the AFS and to defuse bombs and boobytraps they may have left behind. Wouldn't the mandate here of eliminating the terrorists be for the Garuds and not the NSG. If I'm not wrong the terrorists were cornered in a secluded part of the AFS away from strategic assets and civilians. Also the Garuds theoretically are especially kitted with weapons to deal with such situations whereas here the NSG would theoretically be more suited in case it was a hostage situation or in a built up area. Was it done since at the Garuds are a relatively unproven force or are they really incapable of doing so or a case of higher ups not understanding how to employ resources properly? There has been criticism and support for the decision to use NSG for this task instead of the Garuds in this thread in the past , so hence it would be nice to hear your practical input. Thanks in advance.
Others can also comment.

 

[Aditya Roy]

We have an oppurtunity after 1982 when the Israelis had proposed a joint air strike on Kahuta plant but India chickened out at the last minute.

However, even if the operation was allowed and succeded, that would not hamper Paki nuclear programme. Pakis would still have gotten ready made low yield nuclear warheads from China for free.

In 1982, the element of surprise was lost, everybody came to know about the plan. The CIA, KGB even American news media. India received a lot of bad press(things haven't changed now either). The Reagan administration pressured India to back out. Also, PAF increased its presence in the area significantly. They even threatened to bomb Indian plants in retaliation. The 1984 plan too went nowhere.

 

[Aditya Roy]

Nagaland Police Commandos

 

[shuvo@y2k10]

Nothing to elaborate there is a plan already on file to hit Kahuta in a joint indian/Israeli raid which was thought about in the early days but was scraped as per news reports.

IMO It would have been an excerise in futility. It would have provided the same escalation as an Airstrike. An Airstrike would have been more successful.

I think you misquoted me.

I was referring to another post from @Marlii about a SG raid during Kargil war.

But in reality there was a SG raid planned and cancelled but it was during during Kandahar hijacking.

 

[rkhanna]

I think you misquoted me.

I was referring to another post from @Marlii about a SG raid during Kargil war.

But in reality there was a SG raid planned and cancelled but it was during during Kandahar hijacking.

Apologies. Yes there was supposedly a plan for SG to take down the plane while NSG engaged the Taliban at the airport if needed. The thought of the plan must have lasted 2 mins when intel must have got back sayinf 300+ Taliban surrounded the airport.

If that's whwt you are referring. Too not sure about an SG raid into pakistan during Kargil as such.

 

[shuvo@y2k10]

Apologies. Yes there was supposedly a plan for SG to take down the plane while NSG engaged the Taliban at the airport if needed. The thought of the plan must have lasted 2 mins when intel must have got back sayinf 300+ Taliban surrounded the airport.

If that's whwt you are referring. Too not sure about an SG raid into pakistan during Kargil as such.

As pointed out by @Marliii, SG was planning to engage terrorist surrounding the plane, while NSG was supposed to storm the plane itself.

I knew about the NSG part, but the SG part is what I am hearing for the first time.

Close encounters of the covert kind

An all-out war with Pakistan? Not feasible. Diplomatic offensive to isolate the enemy? Recommended, but may not be effective. Surgical air strike? Runs the risk of escalating tension. Covert operations? Good idea, but how battle-ready are our special forces? THE WEEK investigates

www.theweek.in

 

[Aditya Roy]

As a note. The SRR along with SAS and SBS are Englands tier I unit. They function like the ISA of JSOC. Their job is CTR and Prepping the battlefield for the DA unit

Interesting fact about the SRR, they also recruit females.

 

[Aditya Roy]

As pointed out by @Marliii, SG was planning to engage terrorist surrounding the plane, while NSG was supposed to storm the plane itself.

I knew about the NSG part, but the SG part is what I am hearing for the first time.

Close encounters of the covert kind

An all-out war with Pakistan? Not feasible. Diplomatic offensive to isolate the enemy? Recommended, but may not be effective. Surgical air strike? Runs the risk of escalating tension. Covert operations? Good idea, but how battle-ready are our special forces? THE WEEK investigates

www.theweek.in

Yes, SG was supposed to infiltrate and engage the terrorists, making way for the NSG to enter the aircraft. This op was aborted too due to sheer pressure from the Indian media. The families of the hijacked individuals were interviewed on television where many begged the government to release the terrorists. Simply too much pressure on the government, opposition leaders too favoured releasing the terrorists. There was even some dharna in Delhi by the family members if I am not wrong. 1999, was a kid back then.

 

[Raaakisazih]

Yes, SG was supposed to infiltrate and engage the terrorists, making way for the NSG to enter the aircraft. This op was aborted too due to sheer pressure from the Indian media. The families of the hijacked individuals were interviewed on television where many begged the government to release the terrorists. Simply too much pressure on the government, opposition leaders too favoured releasing the terrorists. There was even some dharna in Delhi by the family members if I am not wrong. 1999, was a kid back then.

Saala jab apna hi sikka khota ho to kya hi kar sakte h vo hafiz saeed ko agar nhi chodte to 2008 nhi hota

 

[FalconSlayers]

Spoiler: Cope karo mitrrooo, cope karo!!!

 

[rkhanna]

Interesting fact about the SRR, they also recruit females.

ISA and Delta of JSOC are also rumoured to have female operators specialising in Urban CTR

 

[COLDHEARTED AVIATOR]

Yes, SG was supposed to infiltrate and engage the terrorists, making way for the NSG to enter the aircraft. This op was aborted too due to sheer pressure from the Indian media. The families of the hijacked individuals were interviewed on television where many begged the government to release the terrorists. Simply too much pressure on the government, opposition leaders too favoured releasing the terrorists. There was even some dharna in Delhi by the family members if I am not wrong. 1999, was a kid back then.

I dont see how SG could have overpowered Taliban in 99 unless the entire Brigade in Agra would have been air dropped.

 

[rkhanna]

I dont see how SG could have overpowered Taliban in 99 unless the entire Brigade in Agra would have been air dropped.

If I remember the images from them they had Manpads and AAs as well

 

[rkhanna]

Spoiler: Cope karo mitrrooo, cope karo!!!

View attachment 97542

SSG?

 

[COLDHEARTED AVIATOR]

If I remember the images from them they had Manpads and AAs as well

I dont think we would have pulled that op even in 2045.

 

[FalconSlayers]

SSG?

SSG-N

 

[Aditya Roy]

I dont see how SG could have overpowered Taliban in 99 unless the entire Brigade in Agra would have been air dropped.

They may have had planned something on the lines of Entebbe or maybe in a coordinated attack the SG would infiltrate by land and engage the Taliban while NSG arrives by air to take over the rest. Something or the other, who knows..