Special forces: Bundeswehr expands cooperation with allies

Special forces
Bundeswehr expands cooperation with allies

Bundeswehr soldiers during an army training and teaching exercise. photo

© Moritz Frankenberg/dpa

In the course of the Russian war of aggression, the Bundeswehr not only intensified cooperation with its partners abroad. The cooperation between the special forces is also taking on more concrete features.

The Bundeswehr is expanding the cooperation between its special forces and NATO allies. In Germany, a center for the management of special forces from several countries was set up (“Special Operations Component Command / SOCC”), said Flotilla Admiral Stephan Plath of the German Press Agency. 16 nations took part in a first exercise. Plath, a trained combat swimmer, has been Director of Special Forces in the Bundeswehr Operations Command in Schwielowsee near Potsdam since October last year.

The new command post is intended to strengthen national and alliance defense capabilities and is therefore one of the steps that are considered politically more important after the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine.

“In the last few months we have further intensified the cooperation with our multinational partners. This begins with the joint analysis of threat situations and includes in particular joint reconnaissance,” said Plath. The insights gained through this collaboration resulted in a solid information base and could be very useful for decision-making.

Hostage rescues and evacuations abroad

“The Special Operations Component Command is particularly characterized by the bringing together of special forces from different nations,” says Plath. Different perspectives, approaches “and each’s own cultural socialization” represented immense added value for the joint fulfillment of the order.

The Bundeswehr’s special forces include the Army’s Special Forces Command (KSK), the Navy’s combat swimmers and the Air Force’s Helicopter Squadron 64. It is intended to support command forces worldwide. The capabilities of the commando forces include hostage rescues and evacuations abroad as well as military reconnaissance operations, but also arrests or the destruction of high-value targets that are politically more sensitive.

“Special forces of the Bundeswehr can, among other things, always be deployed when it is necessary to open up fields of action in an unclear situation through targeted and reliable information,” said Plath. The forces are able to adapt to an individual deployment scenario. “We will continue to expand this adaptability in the future in order to be able to make it clear to decision-makers when and where which forms of the threat can arise and what possible solutions are conceivable.”

dpa

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