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E Squadron

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Ares-God of War
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E Squadron

Post by Ares-God of War »

Hey Guys I found this Infomation about E Squadron, my question is does this group really exist? :-?
Chris Ryan had written a fictional book called The Increment so i have my doubts if it truely exists.

INFO (One of the most shadowy of all British special forces units, E Squadron is small cell of UKSF operatives hand-picked to work with the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), otherwise known as MI6. E Squadron is believed to be available for tasking to both the United Kingdom Special Forces (UKSF) Directorate and SIS.

E Squadron is said to be the modern day incarnation of a long-rumoured MI6-UKSF unit known as 'The Increment'.

The unit is thought to be manned by experienced operators from the Special Air Service (SAS), Special Boat Service (SBS) and the Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR). It can be speculated that it receives signals, electronic warfare and logistics support from appropriate attached units such as members of 18(UKSF) Signals Regiment. Assets, such as RAF 7 Sqn Chinook helicopters, from the Joint Special Forces Aviation Wing (JSFAW) are available as required.

E Squadron Role / Operations
E Squadron's role is to carry out clandestine operations for the SIS. The SIS is Britain's foreign intelligence service and its intelligence officers are active in countries around the world. They develop and run agents, form alliances with various factions inside foreign countries and gather intelligence from a wide range of sources. Operating in more hostile regions has become more of a necessity since the September 11th terrorist attacks and MI6 are more likely to require special forces escorts on their missions. It is likely therefore that E Squadron has carried out numerous operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. To what extent the UKSF element of E Squadron would be used in an offensive scenario is not publicly known at this point.

E Squadron - Libya
The existence of E Squadron first came to light in a January 2012 BBC news article and Newsnight report on the deployment of British special forces on the ground during the 2011 NATO action in Libya. A team of MI6 intelligence officers and their UKSF 'minders' from E Squadron were airlifted by Chinook from an airbase in Malta to a remote desert location in Libya. It appears that the E Squadron team was on a mission to establish a working relationship with a faction of the rebels that were aligned against the Gaddafi regime. They were carrying sophisticated communications equipment that would allow the rebels to keep in secure contact with British officials. Unfortunately E Squadron's helicopter insertion had been spotted by locals who were unaware of the proposed meeting and who feared the men landing in the desert were Libyan forces. As E Squadron moved off from their landing site they were detained. A flurry of diplomatic activity eventually secured the release of the E Squadron team but it was a very inauspicious and very public start to the British ground campaign in Libya.

E Squadron - Sahara
The BBC report claims that E Squadron deployed to the Sahara in 2009 as part of efforts to rescue a British citizen who had been held hostage by Al Qaeda. Unfortunately the unit was not given the go ahead to intervene before the hostage was killed. )


Ares
Team work is essential, it gives them other people to shoot at. - Unknown

If at first you don't succeed, call in an airstrike. - Unknown

Friendly Fire, isn't - Unknown
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Tab
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Re: E Squadron

Post by Tab »

Do you think that SF would put this information out there for there General Public to talk about. Even much of what 1 Para has been up to has been restricted and articles on the web about it have gone missing.
Ares-God of War
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Re: E Squadron

Post by Ares-God of War »

Hi there Tab

As i said i had my doubts. i hadnt heard of E Squadron before, and the Libya operation all i heard was that they were SAS.
When it mentioned that they said that E Squadron's role was to carry out clandestine operations for the SIS, i thought that what the SAS did all the time. Well i guess we will never truely know.


Ares
Team work is essential, it gives them other people to shoot at. - Unknown

If at first you don't succeed, call in an airstrike. - Unknown

Friendly Fire, isn't - Unknown
Ares-God of War
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Re: E Squadron

Post by Ares-God of War »

Tab wrote: much of what 1 Para has been up to has been restricted and articles on the web about it have gone missing.
I smell a conspiracy 8)

Ares
Team work is essential, it gives them other people to shoot at. - Unknown

If at first you don't succeed, call in an airstrike. - Unknown

Friendly Fire, isn't - Unknown
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Re: E Squadron

Post by Tab »

They can only pull these things off if people don't know what is going on. Once the web has got hold of it then so have the people that you are going up against and you will need to change tactics all over again.
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Re: E Squadron

Post by Ares-God of War »

here is more information on E Squadron. its from the BBC website. there is a short clip presented by Mark Urban (he wrote Task force Black). take a look and see what you think.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16573516

The existence of E Squadron is well known within the special forces community but has not hitherto been discussed publicly. It was formed five years ago to work closely with the intelligence service MI6, and is mainly involved in missions where maximum discretion is required, say Whitehall insiders.

Its role as a small, handpicked force operating with MI6 makes it the modern-day successor to the shadowy cell sometimes referred to as the Increment.

While the existence of teams of this kind is a gift for thriller writers looking to insert a hit team of hardened SAS men into their plotline, the reality of E Squadron's operations has been a little more prosaic.

Last March's debacle, in which six members of the squadron were caught in Libya, was highly embarrassing. The reason for their presence, escorting two people from MI6, gives a clue to the facilitating role they often play in foreign intelligence operations in risky places.

After 9/11, with major military commitments in Afghanistan and then Iraq, MI6 stepped up its intelligence-gathering in many places that had hitherto been off the radar or considered too dangerous.

It was often backed up by UK special forces, but the competing demands on them to support special operations in Afghanistan and Iraq eventually led to the creation of E Squadron.

According to special forces people, E Squadron is a composite organisation formed from selected SAS, SBS and Special Reconnaissance Regiment operators. It is not technically part of the SAS or SBS, but at the disposal of the Director of Special Forces and MI6.

The squadron often operates in plain clothes and with the full range of national support, such as false identities, at its disposal.

Whitehall sources suggest E Squadron was prepared to launch a rescue of a British citizen kidnapped in the Sahara in 2009, but could not obtain political clearance to do so before he was murdered by the hostage-takers.



Ares
Team work is essential, it gives them other people to shoot at. - Unknown

If at first you don't succeed, call in an airstrike. - Unknown

Friendly Fire, isn't - Unknown
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