How Good is Para Special Forces as Compared to British SAS and American SF?

Let us see which is better, Para SF or British SAS.

American SF​

The American forces conduct 3 Army exercises with the Indian forces on a regular basis. The annual Ex. Yudh Abhyas, the Bi-annual and lesser known Ex. Vajra Prahaar and more covert Ex. Shatrujeet.

These exercises often see participation from the Special forces

One such direct SF participation between the PARA SF and US Army Special forces was in Yudh Abhyas 2010, held in Alaska,US where as I quote, an US Special forces officer said “The Indian Army is very well trained, much more so than other nations we worked with in the past”. Watch the video at 50 seconds.

British SF​

I cannot give any such direct quote from the Brits, however I would point out 2 incident between the PARA SF and British SAS.

The first was a competition held in Bosnia in either 2000 or 2001 between Special forces of 9 nations including the PARA SF and British SAS. The winner were the PARA SF.

The second one was a more serious scenario – War in Sierra Leone in the year 2000.

The Indian 5/8th Gorkha Rifles, 14th Mechanised Infantry and elements of the 23rd Mechanised Infantry, had been sent to Sierra Leone to aid the Government in the disarmament of the RUF rebels. Peacekeepers from several other nations were also stationed in Sierre Leone which included both British Special forces and conventional troops as well.

Things worsened when 223 Gorkhas of the Indian army were trapped in Siege by around 5000 RUF rebels for 75 days! The complexity of this situation kept the British SAS out, as well as any of the Indian conventional troop.

And finally, 90–120 Special forces from the 2 PARA SF were air lifted from Delhi to Sierra Leone. The PARA SF were updated by the British SAS who were present for a longer time in the region. Following which they took over and began Operation Khukri.

The PARA SF organized the other Indian forces and led from the front. The operation was a complete success. All the besieged forces were evacuated successfully, with just one casualty.Operation Khukri was not a success simply in tactical terms. It was the worst defeat that the RUF has suffered in recent times, and was a tremendous boost to UNAMSIL morale. The Indian Forces were met with a rapturous welcome, as they marched triumphantly into Daru. The people of Sierra Leone helped build the Khukri War Memorial on the bank of the River Moa.

So there you go, thats what the British have seen of the PARA SF.

The answer is written by Rohit Banerjee on Quora.
 
Last edited:

Forum statistics

Threads
2,064
Messages
11,400
Members
580
Latest member
TheMPratapSingh
Back
Top