S.A.S Insignia
The Special Air Service or SAS is a special forces regiment of the British Army that has served as a model for the special forces of other countries. The Special Air Service together with the Special Boat Service (SBS), Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR), and the Special Forces Support Group (SFSG) form the United Kingdom Special Forces under overall command of the Director Special Forces.
The Special Air Service can trace its origins to 1941 during the Second World War, but gained fame and recognition world wide after they successfully assaulted the Iranian Embassy and rescued the hostages, during the 1980 Iranian Embassy Siege. Prior to that few outside of the military special operations community even knew the regiment existed.
The Special Air Service comprises 22 Special Air Service Regiment from the Regular Army and 21 Special Air Service Regiment and 23 Special Air Service Regiment provided by the Territorial Army. The three regiments tasks are special operations in wartime and counter-terrorism mostly but not restricted to peacetime.
Other known conflicts[]
- Malayan Emergency
- Indonesia-Malaya Confrontation
- Dhofar Rebellion
- Aden Emergency
- Northern Ireland
- The Falklands Conflict
- Bosnia
- Iraq War
- War on terror
Equipment[]
The Special Air Service use modern small arms like most other modern armies.
Rifles
Submachineguns
Sniper Rifles
- Accuracy International - L96A1
Support Weapons
- M72 Light Anti-Tank Weapon (LAW)
- Rocket
- Claymore Anti Personnel Mine
- L2A2 Combat Hand Grenade
- Stun Grenade/ Concussion Grenade/ 'Flashbang'
- White Phosphorus Grenade
- Satchel Charge
- Arwen 37mm Grenade Launcher
Machineguns
- L7A2 General Purpose Machinegun
- Minimi Light Machinegun
Shotguns
- Remington 870
Handguns
- Browning High Power
- Sig P228
- Heckler & Koch P11 Underwater Pistol
- Walther P99
Knives
- Ka-Bar 1222 USMC Fighting Knife
Equipment
- Bowman - Tactical Communications System
- SATCOM
- Magalan GPS Receiver
- Spyglass - Thermal Imaging Observation Aid
- HOME
- MIRA
- AN-PVS7