The Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) are the armed forces of the Republic of Kenya. They are made up of the Kenya Army, Kenya Navy, and Kenya Air Force. The current KDF was established, and its composition stipulated, in Article 241 of the 2010 Constitution of Kenya; it is governed by the KDF Act of 2012. Its main mission is the defence and protection of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Kenya, recruitment to the KDF is done on yearly basis. The President of Kenya is the commander-in-chief of the KDF, and the Chief of Defence Forces is the highest-ranking military officer, and the principal military adviser to the President of Kenya.
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 small-unit special operation missions in maritime, jungle, urban, arctic, mountainous, and desert environments. SEALs are typically ordered to capture or kill high-level targets, or to gather intelligence behind enemy lines. SEAL team personnel are hand-selected, highly trained, and possess a high degree of proficiency in direct action (DA), and special reconnaissance (SR), among other tasks like sabotage, demolition, intelligence gathering, and hydro-graphic reconnaissance, training, and advising friendly militaries or other forces.
India has several Special Forces (SF) units, with the branches of the Indian Armed Forces having their own separate special forces units. The Indian Army has the Para SF, the Indian Navy has the MARCOS, and the Indian Air Force has the Garud Commando Force. There are other special forces which are not controlled by the military, but operate under civilian organisations, such as the National Security Guard under Home Ministry and Special Group under RAW. Small groups from the military SF units are deputed in the Armed Forces Special Operations Division, a unified command and control structure.
Marinejegerkommandoen (MJK) is the maritime/naval special warfare unit of the Norwegian Armed Forces and was established in 1953.
The Canadian Airborne Regiment was a Canadian Forces formation created on April 8, 1968. It was not an administrative regiment in the commonly accepted British Commonwealth sense, but rather a tactical formation manned from other regiments and branches. It was disbanded in 1995 after the Somalia affair.
The Marine Commandos, abbreviated to MARCOS and officially called the Marine Commando Force (MCF), are the special forces of the Indian Navy. The MARCOS were originally named Indian Marine Special Force, which was later changed to Marine Commando Force to impart "an element of individuality" to it, according to the Indian Navy. The abbreviation 'MARCOS' was coined afterwards.
The Garud Commando Force is the special forces unit of the Indian Air Force. It was formed in February 2004 and has a current strength of over 1500 personnel. The unit derives its name from Garuda, a Hindu deity.
The special forces of the Australian Defence Force are units of Special Operations Command and associated units of the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force that conduct and or support special operations to advance and protect the national security of the Commonwealth of Australia. The special forces of Australia have a lineage to a variety of units raised in the Second World War such as the Independent and Commando Companies, Z Special Unit, Navy Beach Commandos, and the Coastwatchers. Australian special forces have most recently been deployed to Iraq in Operation Okra as the Special Operations Task Group, as the Special Operations Task Group in Afghanistan, in Afghanistan in support of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service and regularly for counter-terrorism pre-deploy to locations of major domestic events throughout Australia in readiness to support law enforcement such as the 2014 G20 Brisbane summit.
The Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (NECC) is an echelon III command of the United States Navy, which serves as the single functional command to centrally manage current and future readiness, resources, manning, training and equipping of the United States Navy's 21,000 expeditionary forces who are currently serving in every theater of operation. The NECC was established in January 2006. NECC is a subordinate command of the Navy's Fleet Forces Command.
The Kenya Navy is the naval branch of the Kenya Defence Forces. It is headquartered in Mombasa.
The 202nd Coastal Ranger Company is an amphibious special operations capable ranger unit within the Swedish Amphibious Corps, which is the maritime land force arm of the Swedish Navy.
The Pasukan Khas TUDM – it is better known as PASKAU – is the special operations force of the Royal Malaysian Air Force.
The Marine Commandos are an elite unit of the Lebanese Army. They are part of the Lebanese Special Operations Command. Established with assistance from the United States Navy SEALs and the British Royal Marines, they are tasked with conducting a variety of missions, particularly in a maritime environment, which include: sabotage, raids, beach landings and maritime counter-terrorism. The Marine Commandos were established in 1997, then got their administrative independence in July 2001.
The Kenya Army is the land arm of the Kenya Defence Forces.
The Pasukan Khas Laut, commonly abbreviated to PASKAL, is the principal special operations force of the Royal Malaysian Navy.
The Special Forces and Elite Forces include both a specially and higher trained unit and a small percentage of personnel from a specific Malaysian military branch, law enforcement or government agency. In Malaysia, the term 'Special Forces' is widely used by uniformed services for special forces, special operations forces and 'special' trained units while 'Elite Forces' for units that more trained and capable combat. Regular personnel must undertake specialized and higher training to be able to join the units of the 'Special and Elite Forces'. These "Special Elite Forces" are denoted by different beret colours, shoulder tabs, unit patches, skill badges and uniforms.
The Naval Special Operations Force also known as Maritime Commando(đặc công nước) is an elite special force of the Vietnam People's Navy trained to attack enemy water targets such as harbors, ships, etc. and targets that can only be accessed via water: Isolated bases, naval bases, etc. Compared to the ground commandos, some view the naval special forces as even more advanced, with the belief that "fighting in the water is much more difficult than on land", and the equipment and weapons are also different than their land variant. This is the most elite special forces of the Vietnam People's Navy.
The Army Special Operations Brigade is a special forces unit of the Kenyan Army, tasked with airborne operations, commando raids, reconnaissance, counter-insurgency, infiltration and other specialized forms of warfare.
Kenya