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The SAS 1983–2014
LEIGH NEVILLE
ILLUSTRATED BY PETER DENNIS
Author
Leigh Neville is an Australian national who has written a
number of books on both modern conventional military
units and special operations forces serving in Afghanistan
and Iraq, their weapons and their vehicles including six titles
for Osprey with several more in development. He has also
consulted on military topics for several wargame companies
and television documentary makers. He lives in Sydney with
his wife and two dogs. He can be contacted via his website at
www.leighneville.com.
Illustrator
Peter Dennis was born in 1950. Inspired by contemporary
magazines such as
Look and Learn
he studied illustration at
Liverpool Art College. Peter has since contributed to hundreds
of books, predominantly on historical subjects, including
many Osprey titles. A keen wargamer and modelmaker, he is
based in Nottinghamshire, UK.
Other titles in the series
ELI No:
145
ISBN:
978 1 84176 968 4
ELI No:
163
•
ISBN:
978 1 84603 310 0
ELI No:
170
•
ISBN:
978 1 84603 357 5
ELI No:
197
•
ISBN:
978 1 78096 105 7
ELI No:
205
•
ISBN:978
1 4728 0675 8
ELI No:
206
•
ISBN:978
1 4728 0722 9
Elite • 211
The SAS 1983–2014
LEIGH NEVILLE
ILLUSTRATED BY PETER DENNIS 
Series editor Martin Windrow 
This electronic edition published in 2016 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
First published in Great Britain in 2016 by Osprey Publishing
PO Box 883, Oxford, OX1 9PL, UK
1385 Broadway, 5th Floor, New York, NY 10018, USA.
E-mail:
info@ospreypublishing.com
Osprey Publishing, part of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
© 2016 Osprey Publishing Ltd.
All rights reserved
You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make
available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means
(including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical,
photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written
permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in
relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil
claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Print ISBN: 978 1 47281 403 6
PDF ebook ISBN: 978 1 47281 404 3
ePub ebook ISBN: 978 1 47281 405 0
Editor: Martin Windrow
Index by Rob Munro
Typeset in Sabon and Myriad Pro
Originated by PDQ Media, Bungay, UK
To find out more about our authors and books visit
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Osprey Publishing supports the Woodland Trust, the UK’s leading woodland
conservation charity. Between 2014 and 2018 our donations will be spent
on their Centenary Woods project in the UK.
www.ospreypublishing.com
DEDICATION
To the Regiment
We are the Pilgrims, master; we shall go 
Always a little further: it may be 
Beyond that last blue mountain barred with snow, 
Across that angry or that glimmering sea. 
(From James Elroy Flecker, ‘The Golden Journey to Samarkand’)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS & AUTHOR’S NOTE
My thanks to my editor Martin Windrow, and our wonderful illustrator Peter
Dennis; to my wife Jodi; and to the many who have provided information or
views during the research for this book.
The aim of this work is to provide an update on the Regiment since the end
of Operation ‘Corporate’ in the South Atlantic in 1982, which is deliberately
excluded here as it has potential for its own standalone title. We begin our
coverage nominally from 1983, when the Regiment was still bathed in the
bright spotlight of unwanted publicity due to their exploits both at the
Iranian Embassy siege in London in 1980 and in the Falklands two years later.
As well as being one of the most widely recognized special forces units in
the world, the SAS are also one of the tightest-lipped. After a rash of
memoirs following Operation ‘Granby’ in 1991, the Regiment instituted
lifelong non-disclosure agreements with all badged members and support
staff. This publicity-shy attitude means that there are quite literally no
official images of SAS operations or training available, nor are former
operators able to be interviewed openly.
In all the images used here the faces have, of course, been obscured, as have
some other sensitive details; we believe that, if anything, we have erred on
the side of caution. Many of the photos were taken during deployments, and
most cannot be attributed to an individual; unless specifically credited
otherwise the photographer is unknown. If you believe that you hold the
copyright to any such image, please contact the author via Osprey
Publishing, and we will happily issue corrections in future editions.
ARTIST’S NOTE
Readers may care to note that the original paintings from which the colour
plates in this book were prepared are available for private sale. All
reproduction copyright whatsoever is retained by the Publishers. All
enquiries should be addressed to:
Peter Dennis, ‘Fieldhead’, The Park, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire NG18 2AT, UK
The Publishers regret that they can enter into no correspondence upon
this matter
TITLE PAGE
Member of an unidentified UKSF unit in a Menacity SRV/
OAV during a halt in Afghanistan, muffled against the winter cold of
the high desert. The L7A2 GPMG is on a WMIK-style swing-out MG
mount, and a sand channel to assist in extracting bogged vehicles is
attached to the front grille.
Initial abbreviations used in this text 
Active Service Unit (of the PIRA)
ASU
CQB
Close-quarter battle
COIN
Counter-insurgency (covers all relevant techniques, based on
enlisting the support of local populations as well as ‘direct
action’)
CT
Counter-terrorist
DPV
Desert Patrol Vehicle
Explosive Ordnance Disposal (‘bomb disposal’)
EOD
HALO
High Altitude, Low Opening (parachute insertion technique;
equally, HAHO: ‘high opening’)
IED
Improvised explosive device
ISTAR
Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition &
Reconnaissance
JSOC
Joint Special Operations Command (American)
MoD
Ministry of Defence (British)
PIRA
Provisional Irish Republican Army (terrorist group)
ROE
RSM
SAM
SAS
SASR
SBS
SFSG
SIS
SOF
SP
SRR
SRV/OAV
UAV
UKSF
WMIK
Rules of engagement
Regimental Sergeant Major
Surface-to-air missile
Special Air Service (British regiment)
Special Air Service Regiment (Australian)
Special Boat Service
Special Forces Support Group
Secret Intelligence Service (aka MI6)
Special operations forces (generic term)
Special Projects (22 SAS CT Team)
Special Reconnaissance Regiment
Surveillance & Reconnaissance Vehicle/ Offensive Action
Vehicle
Unmanned aerial vehicle (‘drone’)
United Kingdom Special Forces
Weapon Mounted Installation Kit (i.e armed Land Rover)
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION: THE PILGRIMS
Background
n
4
Organization
OPERATIONS:
SPECIAL PROJECTS
Counter-terrorism
n
Operation ‘Pagoda’
n
Operation ‘Nimrod’, 1980
Home operations
n
July 2005, and since
n
6
Overseas co-operation
ULSTER
OP/React – shoot to kill?
n
12
Operation ‘Flavius’, Gibraltar
THE FIRST GULF WAR
Operation ‘Granby’, 1990–91
patrols
n
20
n
‘Scudbusting’
The Bravo Two Zero controversy
n
Vehicle-mounted
THE BALKANS, 1994–c.1999
OPERATION ‘BARRAS’, 2000
AFGHANISTAN, 2001–2006
Operation ‘Trent’ * Continuing presence
29
31
32
IRAQ, 2003–2009
Operation ‘Row’
n
Task Force Black/TF Knight – Operations ‘Paradoxical’ & ‘Crichton’
n
Operation
‘Traction’
n
Basra – Operations ‘Hathor’ & ‘Spartan’
n
Hostage rescues
n
Targeting the bombers
34
AFGHANISTAN, 2006–c.2014
Task Force 42 – Operation ‘Kindle’
Stability Operations
n
49
n
High-value target interdiction
Hostage rescues
n
Village
NEW WARS
A common heritage: Special Forces Support Group – Special Reconnaissance Regiment – allied units
54
WEAPONS
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
58
63
64

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