The Increment: The UK’s most clandestine special operations unit

One of the most clandestine of all British special operations units is E Squadron. It’s a small unit of United Kingdom Special Forces (UKSF) operatives handpicked to work for the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), better known as MI6. Both the UKSF Directorate and Secret Intelligence Service use E Squadron to carry out clandestine activities. They […]

Breaking down the British elite forces: Honorable mentions

Note: This is the fifth and final part of a multi-part series exploring elite components within the conventional British forces. To wrap up this series, we awarded honorable mentions to No. 2 Squadron RAF Regiment and Counter Terrorist Specialist Firearms Officers (CTSFOs). The most elite units in the U.K. military would be unable to do […]

Breaking down the British elite forces: The Pathfinder Platoon

Note: This is part four of a multi-part series exploring elite components within the conventional British forces. The Pathfinder Platoon (PF), also known as the Pathfinder Group, is an elite airborne reconnaissance unit within the 16 Air Assault Brigade. Pathfinders work as the Brigade’s eyes and ears, and operate far forward of the Brigade, behind […]

Breaking down the British elite forces: The Parachute Regiment (Paras)

Note: This is part three of a multi-part series exploring elite components within the conventional British forces. During WWII, the British military required an elite airborne unit trained to fight behind enemy lines, and so the Parachute Regiment was born. The elite airborne unit, also known as the Paras, jumped into occupied Germany. Their mission […]

Taliban leader Omar, hunted by Delta Force, lived next to US base

According to a Dutch journalist with extensive experience in Afghanistan, the Taliban leader and fugitive Mullah Mohammad Omar lived next to a major U.S. military base for years. In her latest book, The Secret Life of Mullah Omar, independent journalist Bette Dam asserts that the former No. 1 in the Taliban hierarchy lived just three […]

British Special Forces To Have Bigger Counter-Terror Role in Afghanistan

With the United States set to pull out most of their 14,000 troops in Afghanistan in the next three years, a bigger part of the ongoing counter-terrorism mission will fall to the British Special Forces. The SAS and the SBS are expected to be tasked to take on a bigger part of these operations during […]

SAS Commandos Wounded in Yemen, Highlight Humanitarian Crisis

Last week, as many of our readers know, two SAS operators were wounded in an IED blast in Yemen. The covert operation was a combined UK/US operation where the SAS along with a U.S. Special Forces A-Team were scouting out potential drop zones in the country. But what the drop zones were for highlights just […]

Special Air Service operators wounded during top-secret mission in Yemen

Two Special Air Service (SAS) operators were wounded by an IED during a recent clandestine operation inside Yemen. The two SAS troopers are part of a joint U.S-U.K. special operations team conducting reconnaissance for ideal drop-zones in case the West decided to provide much-needed humanitarian aid to the challenged Yemenis. However, the SAS operators weren’t […]