The Special Forces of India are Indian military units that have a training specializing in special operations.
Para Commandos : The Para Commandos are a special forces unit of the Indian Army. Formed in 1966, the Para Commandos are the largest and most important part of the Special Forces of India. Their function and capabilities are similar to that of Russian Spetsnaz and British SAS.They are a part of the highly-trained Parachute Regiment of the Indian Army and, generally, all the Indian Special Forces (SF) personnel are selected from it.
Ghatak Units : Ghatak Units, or Ghatak Commandos, are elite infantry platoons attached to each infantry battalion of the Indian Army and are tasked with leading an assault ("dhaava") as shock troops. There is one platoon of these soldiers in every battalion. Ghatak literally means "Striker" or "Lethal" in English.
MARCOS : MARCOS (previously named as Marine Commando Force (MCF)) is an elite special operations unit of the Indian Navy. "MARCOS" is short for "Marine Commandos".
The force started off as the Indian Marine Special Force, the first batch qualifying in February 1987. It was later renamed as the Marine Commando Force (MCF) in 1991. The force has acquired a reputation for its tough professionalism over the two decades it has been in existence. Now it is considered amongst the finest maritime special forces in the world and one of the few units qualified to jump in the water with a full combat load.
The force was initially trained by the other special forces of the country. This was later supplemented by foreign training facilities, notably the SEALS of the U.S. Navy and further training was conducted with the British Special Forces. Over the years, the force set up its own training facility, first as an adjunct of the operational company at Mumbai, later as the Naval Special Warfare Tactical Training Centre. Wide exposure to different forms of warfare have been obtained through field operations in counter insurgency and anti terrorist operations within the country, and joint exercises with more than a dozen countries across the world.
Garud Commando Force : The Garud Commando Force is the Special Forces unit of the Indian Air Force. It was formed in September 2004 and has a strength of approximately 1500 personnel. The unit derives it's name from Garuda, a divine bird-like creature of Hindu Mythology, but more commonly the word for eagle in Sanskrit.
Garud is tasked with the protection of critical Air Force bases and installations; search and rescue during peace and hostilities and disaster relief during calamities. Presently, the GARUDs are deployed in Congo as part of the UN peace keeping operations.
