Navy SEALS vs SAS vs SBS vs.....
Discussion
Out of UK SF the SAS are probably the best all round SF soldiers purely on the grounds that their recruitment pool is bigger than the SBS. SBS also just recruit from just the Marines and are a more specialist SF force. I know someone who has served in both so I'll ask him his views.
Re the SEALs, they are tier 2 SF, and their equivalent Tier 1 team (i.e. SAS etc equivalent) was Seal Team 6 and are now called DEVGRU or something - can't remember what it stands for.
Op you forgot to Delta (although they've changed name too) as they are the US army's version of the SAS.
I have no first hand knowledge (other than having met a few UK SF chaps through work and socially) but my guess would be that the best is entirely dependent on what theatre and how active each unit is. For example, I would guess that Israeli SF are without peer when it comes to operating in the middle east. You can practise as much as you want, but the real learning comes from doing for real.
Re the SEALs, they are tier 2 SF, and their equivalent Tier 1 team (i.e. SAS etc equivalent) was Seal Team 6 and are now called DEVGRU or something - can't remember what it stands for.
Op you forgot to Delta (although they've changed name too) as they are the US army's version of the SAS.
I have no first hand knowledge (other than having met a few UK SF chaps through work and socially) but my guess would be that the best is entirely dependent on what theatre and how active each unit is. For example, I would guess that Israeli SF are without peer when it comes to operating in the middle east. You can practise as much as you want, but the real learning comes from doing for real.
Edited by rhinochopig on Wednesday 4th May 10:56
It depends where you live, British & the sbs/sas are best, American & obviously Delta force are the best (actually they'll have you believe that any part of their armed forces are better than anyone else's) & so on for the Russians, French etc.
I suppose it's natural to support & think your own people are better than the opposition.
I suppose it's natural to support & think your own people are better than the opposition.
So who is providing the intel here (special forces type word ingress on purpose to sound like I know what I am talking about... 
)? Bloke down the boozer again who has a brother who is neighbours with a girl who is in school and who has a teacher who knows someone down the pub that goes by the name of cheesy so must be ex SAS?
)? Bloke down the boozer again who has a brother who is neighbours with a girl who is in school and who has a teacher who knows someone down the pub that goes by the name of cheesy so must be ex SAS?rhinochopig said:
Re the SEALs, they are tier 2 SF, and their equivalent Tier 1 team (i.e. SAS etc equivalent) was Seal Team 6 and are now called DEVGRU or something - can't remember what it stands for.
"On May 1/2 2011, DEVGRU was involved in its most famous operation to date. The operation, codename Geronimo, that killed Osama bin Laden at his compound in the affluent suburb of Abottabad, Pakistan. In the 40-minute mission, there were no injuries or casualties to the team. The team practiced the mission "on both American coasts" as well as in a segregated section of Camp Alpha at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan in early April 2011, using a one-acre replica of bin Laden's compound. Modified MH-60 helicopters from the U.S. Army's 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, carried Navy SEALs and were supported by other personnel with tactical signals, intelligence collectors, and navigators using highly classified hyperspectral imagers from Ghazi Air Base in Pakistan. It has been speculated that these helicopters may have spoofed transponder codes and been painted to resemble Pakistan Air Force equipment by other JSOC units, the Technical Application Programs Office and the Aviation Technology Evaluation Group. The raid involved close collaboration with the CIA. A May 1 memo from CIA Director Leon Panetta thanked the National Security Agency and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, whose mapping and pattern recognition software was likely used to determine that Bin Laden lived in the compound with "high probability". Members of these agencies were paired with JSOC units in forward-deployed fusion cells to "exploit and analyze" battlefield data instantly using biometrics, facial recognition, voice print databases, and predictive models of insurgent behavior based on surveillance and computer-based pattern analysis. The raid force killed Bin Laden, his son and two couriers."
As others have said, it will come down the the individual operation as to which force is best suited, but I'd hazaed a guess that the SAS (with secondments from SBS) will be able to do pretty much anything any other unit in the world can do.
I'd also say that most other (friendly) special forces will have had training from the British units at some point in the past.
A lot of what these guys do will also come down to mental attitude rather than pure physical strength and conditioning etc.
I'd also say that most other (friendly) special forces will have had training from the British units at some point in the past.
A lot of what these guys do will also come down to mental attitude rather than pure physical strength and conditioning etc.
You great nobber See if you can find the series that the discovery channel did on elite forces. It was pretty good although it obviously wasn't too indepth as each one only had an hour show. As already said though I guess it comes down to the task that needs doing, although a lot always seem to do a bit of training with the SAS. I'm not saying that the SAS never goes anywhere to train with other teams but you never hear of it happening.
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