Who has the best special forces?

[Noreht]

This is a question that I am sure we all have asked ourselves at one point or another in our lives. Who has the most badass special forces. Is it the SAS, Delta, Seal Team six or even the Reccies?

How do you guys think we should even set out criteria for this question? Can criteria actually be set when you take into account the different factors at play? I want to start this discussion off by saying that I have respect for any soldier/sailor/airmen but I have a special respect for the men and woman of the various special forces outfits. Who do you think is the best in the world and why?

As a South African I grew up with tales of the Reccies and 1st Battalion's total dominance of anything north of our borders. I wanted to be them, the men in maroon berets. So my vote is for them.

 

[Zepplin]

It's hard to judge how they're best, as I bet we don't hear about operations that go really well as that's one of the things that makes is completely successful

I did like the story about the Russian special forces dealing with a kidnapping situation, something about kidnapping the kidnappers family and sending bits to him. Not sure how true it is but feels very Russian

Being British, I'm of course going to have to throw my vote in to either SAS or SBS

 

[explorerx7]

I don't know if it would be easy to judge which team would be the best. These forces have not seen any serious confrontation of late. Maybe some sort of test regime could be utilised to ascertain which of these forces would come out on top.

 

[Noreht]

It's hard to judge how they're best, as I bet we don't hear about operations that go really well as that's one of the things that makes is completely successful

I did like the story about the Russian special forces dealing with a kidnapping situation, something about kidnapping the kidnappers family and sending bits to him. Not sure how true it is but feels very Russian

Being British, I'm of course going to have to throw my vote in to either SAS or SBS

That does sounds like the Russians. I know they have a shoot first ask questions later policy and generally lose a couple of hostages, but usually save more people then not. I think this is extremely bad tactics.

I agree the SAS is right up there, but I still think we know to much about their operations and as you said a good special forces unit remains under the radar as much as possible.

 

[vash]

It is actually impossible to say who is the best without pit them against each other in real combat situation (as well as with even odds). At most you can say the top ones are pretty much the major powers' (US, Russia, UK, France, Germany, Israel, Japan, China, etc.) special forces since they have the most resources to pick the best of the best, and give them the best training and equipment. On the other hand, the ones have gone through real combat situations should be the most experienced and they are the ones with some edge if different special forces are pit against each other for the first time.

 

[davidjon]

The French Foreign Legion are pretty formidable, although some people don't consider them "special forces". That said, they are highly specialized and are used in many clandestine operations, which is why we don't hear so much about them these days.

 

[Noreht]

The French Foreign Legion are pretty formidable, although some people don't consider them "special forces". That said, they are highly specialized and are used in many clandestine operations, which is why we don't hear so much about them these days.

I have a great amount of respect for the FFL, but I did not mention them as they are not considered special forces as you quite rightly stated. It is always difficult rating something like this and that is why I am asking the people here for their opinions. There are always two ways of looking at the issue, either they are so good at what they do that you never hear about them or you never hear about them because they do not do anything.

 

[T-123456]

There is no just one best special forces but there are the best special forces(about 20 all over the world).
It all depends on training,equipment,communication,logistics etc.

 

[djordjem87]

This is senseless because no one is being objective on this matter. Just throwing your own country's special forces is not enough. I believe Russian SF are quite tough but I think France has a very good special unit elite group as well as Great Britain, Canada, USA, Israel and Pakistan. The criteria about this is a bit strange at least because these ops are very well equipped and I would like to know what kind of fighter are the best ones and still I am not talking about the techniques but about inner will and strength like Spartans had.

 

[Noreht]

This is senseless because no one is being objective on this matter. Just throwing your own country's special forces is not enough. I believe Russian SF are quite tough but I think France has a very good special unit elite group as well as Great Britain, Canada, USA, Israel and Pakistan. The criteria about this is a bit strange at least because these ops are very well equipped and I would like to know what kind of fighter are the best ones and still I am not talking about the techniques but about inner will and strength like Spartans had.

Inner will and strength is an individual trait and cannot be applied to a group of soldiers. I think it should be based on operations completed without incident. The russian SF do complete a lot of operations, but usually there are fatalities. SAS have less operations, but their fatality ratio is a lot less. What would you use as criteria.

 

[remnant]

The criteria for judging the best special forces should be limited to one or two factors. The first one is experience. This puts those who encounter frequent challenges ahead of the pack. The second factor is past record. Other factors like the training regimen, weaponry and the like are in my opinion secondary since most special forces should have these being the cream of a countries' forces. To this end, I think the Israeli, American and Indian special forces score high consistently.

 

[RedViper]

One group of special operators being 'better' than another is kind of a bad way to look at it. A special operations force is a very, very expensive and difficult thing to build and maintain, let alone deploy with any success. As such, they are developed for specific purposes. Training, equipment, and flat-out size of the force are all tailored for specific missions and responsibilities.

Where DEVGRU (a.k.a. Seal Team Six) might chopper in, kick down a door, shoot all the terrorists, and rescue a hostage with astounding rates of success, sometimes that's just not the mission. Maybe we need the Green Berets to train a local insurgent or resistance force as well as support native operations. DEVGRU is better at one mission, Green Berets at the other. One could even make the case that the more strategic and political missions are ultimately more important when thinking about overall impact, even if they are less flashy.

Also there's the well pointed-out fact that we don't really get to hear too much about the successes.

Although I would subscribe to a channel that would put SAS/Spetsnaz/SEALs into paintball arenas and have them fight it out. Anyone here an eccentric billionaire that could make that happen?

 

[Falcon29]

The criteria for judging the best special forces should be limited to one or two factors. The first one is experience. This puts those who encounter frequent challenges ahead of the pack. The second factor is past record. Other factors like the training regimen, weaponry and the like are in my opinion secondary since most special forces should have these being the cream of a countries' forces. To this end, I think the Israeli, American and Indian special forces score high consistently.

What experience do Israeli special forces have? Almost none. Israeli army is well prepped for population control in Palestinian territories, that's it. Their intelligence capabilities are exaggerated, if it wasn't for CIA support and funding, they would be just like every other country in the region. The only area the Israeli's impress in is the Air Force, which is highly advanced and capable, carrying an advantage over all other neighbors.

Regarding the Israeli army, it is not as effective as people make it out to be. The US, Russian, Pakistani, and Indian armies are far more capable even with inferior equipment. The Israeli army employs very overprotective ground strategy, leaving their soldiers with little combat experience. Most of the military adventures are against extremely weak militant groups.

As for special forces, I feel they no longer serve any real purpose and are useless. It seems nowadays they're placed for advisor roles on the ground in assistance of other forces like in Syria and Iraq. As will as hit missions which are rare and don't help as militants have no real power structure or order.

 

[vash]

What experience do Israeli special forces have? Almost none. Israeli army is well prepped for population control in Palestinian territories, that's it. Their intelligence capabilities are exaggerated, if it wasn't for CIA support and funding, they would be just like every other country in the region. The only area the Israeli's impress in is the Air Force, which is highly advanced and capable, carrying an advantage over all other neighbors.

Regarding the Israeli army, it is not as effective as people make it out to be. The US, Russian, Pakistani, and Indian armies are far more capable even with inferior equipment. The Israeli army employs very overprotective ground strategy, leaving their soldiers with little combat experience. Most of the military adventures are against extremely weak militant groups.

As for special forces, I feel they no longer serve any real purpose and are useless. It seems nowadays they're placed for advisor roles on the ground in assistance of other forces like in Syria and Iraq. As will as hit missions which are rare and don't help as militants have no real power structure or order.

Usually special forces are sent to special missions which are mostly classified secrets. We do not know for sure how much real combat experience each country's special force really get, but one thing for sure is if one country is constantly at war or having special operations oversea would give their forces the most real experience. As for training, I'd say top tier countries usually have more or less the same training. Combat experience is the only thing differ here.

While I do not know for sure, but in my personal opinion a country constantly on guard like Israel has to have a lot of special operations. While they are not at a declared war at the moment, they have been involved in a lot of conflicts including the current Syrian war. While their regular army might not have any challenging wars going on, their special forces should be constantly used in hunting potential "terrorists" who are against Israel.

 

[Falcon29]

Usually special forces are sent to special missions which are mostly classified secrets. We do not know for sure how much real combat experience each country's special force really get, but one thing for sure is if one country is constantly at war or having special operations oversea would give their forces the most real experience. As for training, I'd say top tier countries usually have more or less the same training. Combat experience is the only thing differ here.

While I do not know for sure, but in my personal opinion a country constantly on guard like Israel has to have a lot of special operations. While they are not at a declared war at the moment, they have been involved in a lot of conflicts including the current Syrian war. While their regular army might not have any challenging wars going on, their special forces should be constantly used in hunting potential "terrorists" who are against Israel.

Special Forces have no real use for a country like a Israel, eventually they won't have any use for the US either. The US uses them against non-state actors in some African or Middle Eastern nations. In Libya or Somalia or Nigeria they me be effective. Israel does not have enemy 'non-state actors'. Hezbollah in Lebanon is part of the government, and any 'hit operation' will result in war. Israel can't even succeed in such an operation either. They prefer to use the Air Force to target anybody. Same with Hamas in Gaza, it is a state actor, and Israel is not sending any forces into Gaza, simply because it prefers Air Force, but also any such ground mission would not succeed and cause an escalation. Hamas and Hezbollah are well trained, more importantly their ranking structure intentionally makes sure no one holds more value than the other.

So just incase one important person is killed, his loss won't affect much. That being said, I believe special forces are only going to play advisor role from now.