Marine commandoes or Marcos are particular forces of the Indian Navy comprising the hardest troopers who bear rigorous coaching to conduct swift and stealthy response in denied territories.
In a historic transfer, the Indian Navy has determined to permit girls to be a part of its elite particular forces the Marine Commandos (Marcos). The historic transfer will enable girls will function commandos in any of the three defence providers, Hindustan Occasions reported quoting senior officers aware of the matter.
“Ladies within the navy can now change into marine commandos (Marcos) in the event that they select to and meet the standards,” the newspaper quoted an official as saying, who outlined the choice as “really a watershed in India’s army historical past”.
Nonetheless, the official mentioned that nobody within the Navy is straight assigned to Special Forces models they usually should volunteer for it.
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Each girls officers and sailors who be part of the Navy as Agniveers subsequent yr can have the choice to volunteer to change into Marcos, one other official mentioned.
The Army, Navy and Air Power have Special Forces comprising the hardest troopers who should bear rigorous coaching to have the ability to conduct a swift and stealthy response in denied territories. Till now, solely males had been allowed to be a part of the Special Forces.
One in all these Special Forces within the Navy is the Marine Commandos or Marcos.
The Indian Navy raised the Marcos in 1987. Initially, they had been named the Indian Marine Special Forces (IMSF). Nonetheless, in 1991, the Navy modified the identify to “sabotage forces of the marines” – Marine Commando Power (MCF), who’re also called Marcos briefly.
Earlier in 1954, a gaggle of officers and foremen within the Indian Navy had been skilled by specialists from the Particular Boat Service commando outfit of Nice Britain for conducting particular warfare at sea. This was executed in order that these officers might independently practice fight swimmers as instructors.
Within the coming years, two army models had been shaped. One was primarily based in Mumbai to guard the pursuits of the Western fleet and the opposite was primarily based in Visakhapatnam to serve the pursuits of the Jap fleet. Nonetheless, each these models didn’t carry out sabotage missions. They had been accountable for clearing the coast from limitations, performing underwater demolition work, and recovering sunken ships. Regardless of not being skilled to undertake sabotage missions, fight swimmers had been a part of a number of acts of sabotage in East Pakistan.
In 1986, the Indian Navy began coaching a particular unit to conduct particular operations at sea, together with surveillance in coastal areas and conducting anti-terrorist operations. The small naval unit, much like the American Navy SEALs, comprised volunteers from among the many divers and specialists in underwater demolition work. A few of them additionally obtained coaching and superior coaching on the Navy SEAL’s coaching base in California.
The Marcos are skilled to hold out intense operations within the sea, air and on land. They’re able to conducting clandestine assaults in opposition to enemy warships, specialised diving operations, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, installations of offshore and different important belongings, and supporting naval operations.
Marcos function beneath excessive secrecy and are able to combating terrorists in a maritime surroundings. They’ve even been deployed in Kashmir’s Wular lake space to participate in counterterror actions.
Marcos had been a part of Operation Tasha in 1991 on the Tamil Nadu coast the place they restricted the motion of LTTE militants between Sri Lanka and India and stopped the smuggling of arms.
Through the 1999 Kargil Conflict, the Marcos assisted the Indian Army in finishing up covert operations.
Throughout Operation Rahat in 2015 in Yemen, they efficiently evacuated hundreds of Indians and overseas nationals who had been struck within the civil conflict.
(Edited by : Jerome Anthony)
First Revealed: IST
