New Special Forces unit will spy on the terrorists
By Thomas Harding
(Filed: 06/04/2005)

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/graphics/2005/04/06/nterr06.jpg
Regimental cap badge

The Army's first new regiment in more than three decades begins operations today to provide covert surveillance for Special Forces fighting the international terrorist threat.

The Special Reconnaissance Regiment will draw on the experience of undercover soldiers who have conducted successful operations in Northern Ireland.

The new unit, the first to be formed since the Ulster Defence Regiment in 1970, will have an international and domestic role to provide intelligence to fight terrorism.

Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, said yesterday that the unit was been formed to meet a worldwide demand for "special reconnaissance capability".

It will incorporate the surveillance skills learnt by the SAS and other units over decades of carrying out close target reconnaissance missions in enemy territory.

The formation of the regiment will free up a large portion of elite fighting troopers in the SAS and Special Boat Service to carry out the "hard end" of missions.

The SAS is finding it difficult to recruit enough soldiers to pass its tough selection course. But an equally rigorous selection test is likely to be used by the new unit, whose troops will have to undertake the arduous task of acting behind enemy lines.

It will absorb the 14th Intelligence Company, nicknamed "14 Int", which was formed to gather intelligence on Ulster terrorists. Recruits undergo a rigorous selection course, equivalent to the Paras' "P Company" training, and are trained by the SAS in close quarter battle.

The detachment, which is still operating in Ulster and the Balkans, recruited men and women from all three Services. At its height, 14 Int numbered about 200 troops. The new regiment could have up to 300 troops and will be based alongside the SAS.

The new cap badge shows a Corinthian helmet with a sword inserted in the mouth and coming out of the back of the head. A scroll reads: "Reconnaissance".

The Ministry of Defence said the cap badge design was related to the SAS and SBS badges, "ensuring conformity within the Special Forces Group.

"The Corinthian-style helmet, favoured by the ancient Greeks from the early 7th to 4th centuries BC. The helmet faces forward and suggests the viewer is being watched while the wearer behind the mask is anonymous."

'New regiment will support SAS'
BBC News

A new special forces regiment has been set up to support overseas operations - particularly in the fight against terror. Analyst Charles Heyman explains what he thinks the Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR) will do.

Announcing the creation of the SRR on Tuesday, the Ministry of Defence gave little away.

It spoke of a unit to "meet the growing need for special reconnaissance capability", adding that it would offer "a wide range of specialist skills and activities related to covert surveillance".

Specific details were not up for discussion, because it could "compromise security".

Mr Heyman, a senior defence analyst for Jane's Consultancy Group and former Army major sees the regiment as principally supporting the SAS.

"The best way to describe the new unit would be halfway between the SAS and normal infantry," he said.

"The SAS is really organised, equipped and trained for highly surgical small unit missions.

"But at the end of the day, there's a gap between what the SAS can do, because there's so few of them, and normal infantry."

Mr Heyman compares the role of the new unit, which he estimates will be between 500 and 600-strong, with the American Rangers formation, which operates in large groups.

"These groups can do things like take airfields and get behind the lines - the sort of things you need a lot of people for."

Mr Heyman speculated that the "backbone" of the SRR would be made up from one of the already existing parachute regiment battalions.

The SRR could support the "very small" SAS numbers by "getting in and out of an operation", he added.

The new unit had been "necessary for a long time".

"The truth is it's very difficult for the SAS to keep up with all the demands placed on them.

"With the new unit, you will be able to prioritise the really difficult things that only the SAS can do.

"You can give other operations to the SRR, thus freeing up the SAS."

Will this regiment be part of the Army? And when will we know the proper new name for this "rangers" unit?

Excellent news.

Dont we have MI5 etc already doing this.

Dont we have MI5 etc already doing this.

MI5 are a civilian security service and have many of the anti-terrorist responcibilities that the FBI have in America.

MI5 are not a military organisation and do not go on to the battlefield, this unit is an army unit made up of soldiers to provide military recconissance for the SAS and other Special Forces.

Btw MI5's proper name is the Security Service and it provides internal inteligence, whilst MI6's who provide global civilian based inteligence to the foriegn office are reffered to as SIS or the Secret Inteligence Service, and SIS's role is similar to that of the CIA in America, finally GCHQ the Goverment Communication Headquarters has a similar role to the US NSA.