The Regiment Special Force (RSF) is a

Sri Lanka Air Force The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF; ; ) is the air force, air arm and the youngest of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces. It was founded in 1951 as the Royal Ceylon Air Force (RCyAF) with the assistance of the Royal Air Force (RAF). The SLAF played a major r ...

s elite special force unit, which is part of the SLAF Regiment. It was raised in 2006.The RSF Wing is an independent formation of the SLAF and commanded by a Commanding Officer who is responsible to the Commander of the Air Force through Director Ground Operations for the efficient and effective function.

History

The squadron was formed due to the Bandaranaike Airport attack by the

LTTE The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; , ; also known as the Tamil Tigers) was a Tamil militant organization, that was based in the northern and eastern Sri Lanka. The LTTE fought to create an independent Tamil state called Tamil Eelam ...

. Initially formed as ''Air Base Defence and Rescue'' ''Squadron'' at SLAF Base Hingurakgoda on 07 July 2003. It was later renamed as Regiment Special Forces Wing in 2006.Then shifted to SLAF Station Morawewa in the year 2007.

Role

* CA/CP/Reinforcement Operations. * Battlefield Rescue/ Recovery Operations with respect to downed aircraft/aircrew and passengers. * Sea/Air/Land disaster related search and rescue missions related to natural and man made disasters. * Securing landing zones/pickup zones for insertion extraction of special operations forces of Army/Navy/Air Force. * Recapturing air bases. *Provide defenses in an enemy attack as a rapid deployment force. *Rescue operations and recovering of downed air crew in enemy or friendly terrain. *Assist civil authorities in national emergency.

Capabilities

;CQB or Close Combat Fighting Most Air Bases are heavily built up due to availability of aircraft hangars and other related infrastructure. RSF skills on house clearance and close quarter fighting provides an added advantage for operating effectively with minimum collateral damage in Air Bases. ;Special Reconnaissance SR by the RSF can be highly effective when conventional or tactical collection assets are unable to collect information of operational significance. ;Explosive Ordnance Disposal ;Airborne Forces ;Combat Search and Rescue ;Security Warfare And Advanced Tactics Course

Training

The unit's personnel are trained in air base rescue operations, field craft, bomb disposal, fire fighting, water survival and rescue operations. Advanced training is carried out at the Sri Lanka Army Special Force training school at Maduruoya. * RSF basic course * Heli-born Course * Water-born Course * Tactical Urban Fighting Unit (TUF) * Special operations phase for advance Regt Cadets. * Jungle Survival Course for air crews * Orientation courses for Air gunners * Refresher courses for RSF * QRT Course * Leadership Training for out siders * Team building Corse for School cadets

Equipment

Source: ;Handguns *

Glock 17 Glock (; stylized as GLOCK) is a brand of polymer- framed, short-recoil-operated, striker-fired, locked-breech semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by Austrian manufacturer Glock Ges.m.b.H. The firearm entered Austrian military an ...

* M9 *

SIG Sauer P226 The SIG Sauer P226 is a full-sized service pistol made by SIG Sauer. This model is available in four chamberings: the 9×19mm Parabellum, .40 S&W, .357 SIG, or .22 Long Rifle. It has the same mechanism of operation as the SIG Sauer P220, but ...

* Bretta 92 * CZ-SP-01 ;Assault Rifles * M16 (M16A3 and M16A4) * M4 *

QBZ-95 The Type 95 automatic rifle () or QBZ-95 is a bullpup assault rifle designed and manufactured by Norinco, and issued since 1995 as the service rifle for the People's Liberation Army, People's Armed Police, and various law enforcement in China, la ...

SAR-21 The SAR 21 ("Singapore Assault Rifle - 21st Century") is a bullpup assault rifle designed and manufactured in Singapore, chambered for the 5.56x45mm cartridge. First revealed and subsequently adopted by the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) as its s ...

Type 56 The Type 56 (; literally; "Assault Rifle, Model of 1956") is a Chinese 7.62×39mm assault rifle. It is a licensed derivative of the Soviet-designed AK-47 (specifically the Type 3 variant). The Type 56 rifle was adopted by the People's Liber ...

-2 *

(Ceremonial purposes only) ;Sub-machine Guns * Uzi * MP5 (MP5A3, MP5SD6, MP5KA5) ;Machine Guns * Type 80 machine gun *

FN MAG The FN MAG (, , ) is a Belgian 7.62 mm calibre, 7.62 mm general-purpose machine gun, designed in the early 1950s at Fabrique Nationale de Herstal, Fabrique Nationale (FN) by Ernest Vervier. It has been used by more than 80 countries and it h ...

* PKM * FN Minimi ;Sniper Rifles * Accuracy International Arctic Warfare, L96A1 * Heckler & Koch PSG1, PSG1 * Zastava M93 Black Arrow, M93 * SIG Sauer SSG 3000 ;Grenade Launchers * M203 * Milkor MGL, MGL ;Rocket Launchers * Type 69 RPG ;Anti-Aircraft Weapons Systems * 9K38 Igla, SA-18 * Bofors 40 mm Automatic Gun L/70, L40/70 * ZSU-23-2 * TCM-20 ;Vehicles * Unibuffel * Land Rover Defender, Defender * Unicorn APC, Unicorn ; Mortars * W84 mortar, W84 * Type 89 mortar, Type 89

References

External links

Ministry of Defence Sri LankaSri Lanka Air Force
{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Sri Lanka Air Force Special forces of Sri Lanka Military units and formations established in 2003