"Delta Force" is a special force that the United States did not set up in the 1970s to carry out anti-terrorism operations. Its official name is the D- detachment of the US Army (1ST Special Forces Combat Detachment-Delta, 1st SFOD-D). In the military code, D is replaced by Delta, and Delta (A) means "Delta", so it is called "Delta" special forces.
Development history
In the middle and late 1970s, terrorism began to prevail in Europe, and various terrorist activities broke out one after another. Most European countries have set up special forces to carry out anti-terrorism operations, but the United States did not attach importance to anti-terrorism operations at first.
1 973 March1day, the "Black September" terrorist organization attacked the US Embassy in Sudan, and the US Ambassador Klee Lowell and the staff of the Embassy were hijacked. At that time, the US government believed that the Sudanese military police were capable of handling this incident and did not take any intervention measures. However, the then Sudanese government could do nothing about this incident, which led to the tragic death of Ambassador Klee Lowell. The subsequent series of terrorist activities against the United States show that the United States is incompetent in dealing with terrorist incidents and that the United States is no longer a forbidden place for terrorist acts. In this case, the Delta Special Forces, an American assault force dedicated to anti-terrorism operations, came into being.
65438-0977 After the Carter administration came to power, it set out to set up a special anti-terrorist force to deal with terrorist incidents. General Benjamin Rogowski, then commander of the army's special operations, handed this important task to Colonel Charles Alvin Beckwith, then commander of the fort bragg Training Command. Beckhams served in the British Special Air Service. When he returned to the US Army, he always hoped to establish a special operations force with the same organization, concept and functions as the Special Air Corps.
From 65438 to 0978, Beckhams selected 53 volunteers from 200 volunteers as the first members of the "Erjiaozhou" Army under extremely harsh selection conditions. The first lesson that Colonel Beckhams gave the team members was to let them watch the video of 1972 Munich terrorist incident.
The training base of the "Delta" troops was nicknamed "Children's Playground" by the team members. During shooting training, each player should train in the simulated "terror room" 10 hours or more, conduct anti-hijacking training in the real engine room suspended in the air, and conduct racing pursuit training in the actual circuit. In addition to conducting vertical assault training on high-rise buildings in simulated venues, they often go to skyscrapers in major cities for actual vertical assault training. In addition, Delta Force often carries out snow operations and underwater infiltration operations.
In a short period of time, through strict training, the Delta Force has become a sharp knife for the United States to carry out anti-terrorism operations around the world. The joint evaluation committee, composed of the U.S. Counter-Terrorism Office, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Justice Bureau, once conducted a mock exam for the Delta Force, and their performance left a deep impression.
In the 1980s, Delta Force's scale and combat strength increased continuously. It has established close cooperative relations with the special forces of various countries, such as the British Army Special Air Corps (SAS), the Ninth Brigade of the German Border Guard (GSG-9), the Reconnaissance Brigade of the Israeli General Staff, the Royal Australian Airborne Secret Service (SAS) and the Italian Air Force Special Operations Service (GIS), and carried out extensive cooperation in training and operations. 1982, they provided technical assistance for Italian special forces to rescue American general Dozier kidnapped by terrorist organizations. 1987, they assisted the FBI to capture 1985, the terrorist eunice who participated in the hijacking of TWA passenger plane. In addition, Delta Force also participated in the security work of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games and the 1988 g-7 Summit.
The actions of the "Delta" troops are not always smooth. 1980 The eagle claw operation to rescue the American ambassador to Iran in April was a complete failure due to helicopter failure and joint service coordination problems. 1On February 4th, 984, a Kuwaiti airliner was hijacked to Pakistan. Delta Force's surprise operation ran aground again because of logistical mistakes: On June 1985, an American flight from Mecca to Algeria was hijacked, and the rescue of Delta Force failed, resulting in the killing of an American sailor on board by terrorists.
Around 1990, "Delta" forces cooperated with Israel to secretly carry out many hostage rescue missions in the Middle East, and also participated in the secret anti-drug operations in Latin America. The biggest surprise operation of this unit in recent years was 199313 October to search for Aidid in Somalia, but it left a tragic page in the operational history of the "Delta" troops because of the deep encirclement.
Troop establishment
Most members of Delta Special Forces come from the US Army Ranger Special Forces, Green Beret Special Forces and other army units. At the beginning of the establishment of the "Delta" special forces, there was only one squadron, that is, Squadron A. At the beginning of 1979, the troops split into two squadrons, which became Squadron A and Squadron B respectively, and then a support unit was formed. "Delta" special forces are now composed of two squadrons A and B and a support unit, with about 800 soldiers. In addition, there are some support units responsible for personnel selection and training, logistics, finance, medical care and weapons and equipment research and development, with about 4000 people in the whole army. It is worth mentioning that the "Delta" special forces also absorbed some female players, mainly used to perform tasks such as infiltration behind enemy lines and intelligence gathering.
According to the model of the British special aviation team, the "Delta" special forces are divided into several squadrons and then divided into heavy infantry. Each team 16 people can act together or be divided into two 8-person teams, four 4-person teams or eight 2-person teams.