Most Elite Special Forces In The World

Among the special armed forces of the world’s nations are found some of the most formidable units ever seen. Designed to go above and beyond the call of duty, everything from their training to their missions goes further than standard military forces, to extremes you’ll struggle to believe. Let's investigate the most elite special forces in the world!

Shayetet 13

Israel has a number of special force units, but the Shayetet 13 is probably the most highly regarded, while simultaneously being among the most secretive. The unit, established in 1949, is also referred to as the People of Silence, and from their uniforms, it can be said that they’re probably very good at silencing people.

While they’ve fought in just about all of Israel’s major wars and undertaken dangerous counter-insurgency missions, you’ve probably never heard much about them. That’s because their details are so strictly contained by the Israeli government that very few ever make it into the public eye.

What is known about that mysterious unit of Israel’s Navy commandos is that’s made up of three companies. The Raiding Company take point on missions involving assassinations, incursions and counterterrorism.

The Underwater Company have a predominantly maritime roles in submerged and seaborn attacks and recon. And Above Water Company operate the Shayetet 13’s fleet of boats and submarines for transport and surface attacks.

Many special force units around the world require recruits to have served a minimum amount of military service, and the Shayetet 13 recruits have to meet a particularly high bar. Application acceptance requires a minimum of 4 and half years of service, and that’s not including the 20 months of high intensity training they have to go through first!

That starts with basic and further training, both of which are designed to put the troops through the paces of maritime warfare. Then they go through advanced training in combat diving, using unique Shayetet 13 wetsuits and state of the art breathing apparatus.

That training takes the meaning of stealth to a whole new level, as they’re barely permitted to let oxygen bubbles escape, and gets so intense that commandos have died during exercises. To train in enduring enemy capture, Shayetet hopefuls will be mock kidnapped by their superiors and held in prison like conditions for 2 weeks.

Confined and alone, they’ll be subjected to horrendous threats of interrogation and violence and will be forced to perform humiliating activities after being stripped naked. In most parts of the world that is called torture, but in Israel it’s called training!

It’s pretty clear that preparation is incredibly brutal and demanding, of both body and mind, so it’s not surprising that the dropout rate is extremely high. As you might expect with an organization like that, the exact figure is classified. All we know is that so few make it through that there are years where the unit is barely able to operate due to low numbers!

But that hasn’t ever stopped them undertaking dangerous missions, such as Operation Full Disclosure. In 2014, the Iranian ship KLOS-C was identified as carrying deadly weapons of long-range destruction through the Red Sea. The Shayetet 13 were called in and prepared for every eventuality, before successfully seizing the vessel without ever being detected.

But even more incredibly, as part of the Lebanon war in 2006, Shayetet 13 commandos were flown hundreds of miles and dropped behind enemy lines to raid the Hezbollah stronghold city of Tyre.

It was a suicidal mission, seeing as the Hezbollah commanders were in charge of a rocket launching network and could have annihilated them all in seconds. However, the Shayetet 13 managed to infiltrate and eliminate 30 Hezbollah commanders without losing a single soldier, keeping those rockets well under wraps.

While it’s undeniably impressive, those are just two of countless victories those veterans have been part of. And quite honestly, it’s unlikely that the world will ever hear about most of the missions that secretive unit carries out!

Alpha Group

Russia takes things pretty seriously when it comes to national security, and that is proven by the existence of the utterly terrifying Alpha Group. With a motto of ‘Where Alpha appears, compromise stops’ you can get an idea of how merciless that special forces unit really is.

Formed under the command of Russia’s secret police, the KGB, in 1974, following terrorist attacks during the Munich Olympics, they were gradually developed into a dedicated counter-terrorism task force. Today, they’re charged with resolving complex hostage situations in a variety of scenarios, which includes storming hijacked buildings, trains, and planes.

To ensure the unit includes only the brightest recruits, all potential candidates must have a university degree and are required to spend a minimum of 3 years in training! That includes a grueling phase of infantry training, parachuting, diving, sniper operations, and practical shooting.

They also learn a variety of foreign languages and martial arts to actively prepare them for any terrorist situation, with intense psychological training to solidify their allegiance to the Kremlin.

Russian Spetsnaz - ALPHA GROUP | The A-Team by The Spartan Vault

That training makes them a cornerstone of Russia’s military power, so much so that a military coup against President Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991 failed because Alpha Group refused to take part.

Despite threats of execution by other KGB leaders at the time, Alpha Group remained dedicated in their loyalty and refused to move against the party leadership. Thanks to that, no attack could take place on the parliamentary building, and the coup eventually fell apart like a wet cake.

While Alpha Group are a key vertebra in the backbone of Russia’s military, their reputation as a merciless unit has some terrifying foundations. Back in 1979, they led 700 soviet troops in the assault on Kabul’s Tajbeg Palace. Their orders were simple; kill everyone in the building.

With 2,200 people about the premises including highly trained army national soldiers and palace guards, the Soviets were ominously outnumbered. Many forces would have wavered, but Alpha Group had been trained from day 1 to accept all orders without question.

They stormed in and, room by room, annihilated approximately 350 people in just 43 minutes. The entire palace had been conquered in less than an hour, forcing the remaining 1,850 troops and guards to surrender. The event solidified Alpha as one of the most ruthless and efficient elite forces on the planet! Like Mother Russia wasn’t terrifying enough already.

U.S. Navy SEALs

When Hollywood wants to cash in on the latest military action trend, you’ll usually see people based around those guys on your screen. Those highly trained individuals, the U.S. Navy SEALs, are renowned for being one of the leading special force units in the US Military, and with good reason. Their acronym comes from the fact that they specialize in Sea, Air, and Land operations, and their skills are just as adaptable as they sound.

They can carry out work in a huge range of environments, from deserts and urban areas to jungle and even arctic conditions. But a Navy SEAL’s ability to adapt to terrain goes much deeper, and is trained for with some crazy exercises.

For example, SEALs preparing to enter a cold weather environment will be taken to Kodiak Alaska. There, they’ll acclimatize by being thrown into an ice river for 8 minutes, just a few minutes more is enough to kill most humans! Those types of drills push them to the brink of hypothermia, but they’re vital to their survival and performance in real world scenarios.

Navy SEAL – SO by America's Navy

But bad weather is barely the half of it! With many of their missions requiring units to be inserted into dangerous territory, conventional transport usually isn’t an option. Instead, SEALs are routinely parachuted in, delivered by submarine or high-speed boat, or flown in by helicopter. They’re even trained to swim in full combat gear to reach targets.

When they reach those targets, that’s where the action really begins. SEALs state that their missions primarily include direct-action warfare, special reconnaissance, counterterrorism, and foreign internal defense. With stakes as high as those, it means their recruitment process isn’t easy, to say the very least.

So, what does it take to make it into the SEALS? First up, preparation includes 12 months of basic training, but there’s nothing basic about it. Alongside countless sit ups and pushups, candidates will be tied up and thrown into pools where they’ll need to complete retrieval tasks using only their teeth!

Navy Seals Buds Class - Hell Week Training by The U.S Military

They’ll also be taught how to tie and untie five different knots underwater without stopping for air in between and master the combat stroke that’ll allow them to swim for tens of miles without submitting to exhaustion! And that’s just the start, because if they make it into week 4, they enter Hell Week. It’s five days and five nights of near constant training, with just four hours sleep in total!

As candidates' brains get soft from sleepiness, they’ll train hard by boat running, crawling across mud flats, lifting 300 lbs logs, and even go through surf torture! If they do well, instructors may reward them by allowing them to stand by a fire or sleep for a just few minutes! All of that is designed to push physical and mental strength to their absolute limits, ensuring they can operate efficiently while oblivious to their own physical comfort.

However, the process is so brutal that there have been years where more SEAL’s have died in training than they have in combat! And for those that do survive, up to 80% of candidates who start basic training drop out, even Olympic athletes have failed to make it to the bitter end! But if they do, it’s followed by another 18 months of pre-deployment and intensive specialized training.

Although their real-world missions are rarely made public, one of the Navy SEALs’ most prolific victories, Operation Neptune Spear, resulted in the elimination of Osama Bin Laden. Under cover of darkness, the SEALs were air dropped inside enemy territory and managed to take out one of the most high-profile targets in US history in just 30 minutes.

Some people can’t even take a shower in that space of time! But, just like a shower, the mission was a clean success. But then again, so are the majority of SEALs missions, which are usually over before most people even know they’ve started.

The SAS

The British Special Air Service is the longest-established special force unit in military history. During World War II, it was decided that an elite team of highly-trained and specialized soldiers were needed to infiltrate enemy lines.

This would allow them to perform highly-secretive, ‘off the books’ operations whilst inflicting substantial damage. Their resounding successes solidified the unit’s philosophy of ‘Who Dares Wins’, and today the SAS mainly trains in special operations warfare, surveillance, and counter terrorism.

But what truly sets them apart from other units is their infamously brutal selection training. Whilst most applicants have a background in military training, many fail to pass the selection test. It involves five months of pure hell designed to break down every single candidate both physically and mentally.

Physical and endurance testing involves timed, forced marches across the British countryside. It may sound like a walk in the park, but not when you’re faced with 6 marathons worth of treks over just 5 days!

And to prove they can really go the distance; candidates must carry brick-filled back packs, weighing up to 55 lbs, across treacherous mountain terrain, all while being timed. Without a minute to spare, or even slow down, wannabe soldiers have no choice but to push through each new day of increasingly agonizing pain if they want to pass.

From giant sores forming from the weight of the bag, to suffering severe hallucinations from heat fluctuations and exhaustion! It gets so grueling that some candidates even die during this selection phase!

If they survive, they go on to train through jungle terrain, and are instructed in weapons, tactics, and hand-to-hand combat. By the end of the process, only about one in ten candidates make the cut! Then they’re ready for the ultimate, physical, and psychological test: A Manhunt.

Trainees are released into the wild with just a compass, a sketched map, and the clothes on their backs before being pursued by the full force of the SAS. They’re forced to evade and hide in any way they can, surviving by using the terrain, their training, and their wits.

When they’re eventually caught, they’re then put through the most demanding level of training of all: Interrogation resistance. Hooded and handcuffed, trainees will be hurled into the back of a truck and transported to a detention center.

When they arrive, they’re immediately strung up and doused with freezing cold water. Handlers will then leave them in stress positions, with white noise playing in the background to ensure that rest is the last thing on their minds.

Deprived of food, water, and sleep for up to 7 days, it can cause strong men to mentally breakdown into sobbing wrecks. But cry like little girls as they might, they only fail if they remove their own hood or answer their interrogator with anything more than their number.

As you can probably tell, the SAS takes no chances when it sends its troops into the line of duty. That is, assuming it has any troops left by the end of training!

The efficiency and courage this training teaches can be seen in the SAS’s results. Operation Barras, back in 2000, saw 11 men from the Royal Irish Regiment captured and held hostage by Sierra Leone rebels.

After negotiations failed, the SAS stepped in with the help of paratroopers and cleared the buildings before extracting the hostages. Whilst 1 SAS member was lost, at least 25 of the rebels were subdued and all hostages were rescued alive.

Another operation in Afghanistan back in 2018 saw a lone SAS soldier use his initiative to crawl into tunnels that several terrorists had escaped into. While the local militia refused to give chase, this one soldier eliminated all 6 of the escaping terrorists in the dark with nothing more than a pistol and a claw hammer after his pistol jammed! It may not have been standard issue, but it sure as hell got the job done.

With such demonstrated skill, it’s no surprise these soldiers are considered an elite special force! And what’s more, SAS soldiers also train alongside MI5 and MI6 operatives in the art of espionage. So, altogether, an SAS officer is like having a Navy SEAL and James Bond all rolled into one!

Fromandskorpset

Sometimes it’s not quantity, but quality that really counts. Don’t believe me? Just ask the Danish Fromandskorpset; an elite unit which has seen less than 350 recruits make it into its ranks.

In English, their name means ‘Frogman Corps’, and as it implies, they’re a lethal maritime force that make their enemies croak! Part of the Royal Danish Navy, this Denmark-based unit was established back in 1957, cherry picking the best elements from elite Norwegian, British, and American military practices.

Whilst their primary role is reconnaissance, this unit goes where navy ships can’t. They’re able to target beaches, coastlines, fjords, and harbors with ease, but are also trained in special reconnaissance, ship boarding, sabotage and direct action when required. Enduring so much time in the cold, dark waters of the northern hemisphere doesn’t just come naturally, and the training a Frogman has to push through puts many other forces to shame.

While military experience isn’t required, the selection process weeds out more than half of all applicants in the first week, separating the Call of Duty fanboys from the real deals. You’ll only move on if you can run 1.7 miles in 12 min, march with 22lbs of equipment for over 40 miles, swim almost 1,000 ft in 8 min, and swim almost 100 ft underwater.

The water section will often see candidates attempting to put on full scuba gear underwater, but inexperienced divers sometimes black out and require reviving. And all of those challenges are just the baseline to getting in!

With around 200 recruits per selection process, less than 10% will progress to the next phase. This stage includes navigation marches, hypothermia resistance training in cold water, 1,000 push-up tests and 16-mile marches, usually assigned to one of the evenings a week that candidates have time off. And all of this is completed in only a 6-week window!

For the remainder of the 8 months, basic and technical training will be of primary concern, revolving around elements like high tactical oxygen dive training, high patrol training, and bomb disposal.

Frømandskorpset (Danish Frogman Corps) by victorh1414

Graduation is followed up by another year of training before any recruit can become an operator. From here, it’s a life of almost complete secrecy, with the Danish government rarely releasing details of Frogman missions.

But depending on their missions, such as reconnaissance, teams of operators may wear face veils to obscure the shape of the head and neck. It makes them much harder to spot when they’re tracking their targets, making them a deadly force you’ll never see coming!

Delta Force

You may know them as the U.S. Delta Force, or just as ‘The Unit’, but their official title is the 1st Special Operational Detachment-Delta. Many of their nicknames are informal, which is hardly surprising as very few people officially speak publicly about what they really do, as their movements are heavily classified.

Alongside counter-terrorism operations, Delta Force take part in hostage scenarios, reconnaissance, and less covert, direct-action operations. Formed in 1977 when high-profile terrorist activity began to rise, this Tier 1 special operations unit was originally supposed to remain completely unknown to the public.

Of course, it didn’t. But this secrecy remains in place. Many of their missions are strictly classified, and even when killed in battle the Army will often refuse to disclose a soldier’s true unit. Now that’s how you take it to the grave.

The selection process for Delta Force is reportedly the most difficult in the entire world. Most candidates are already incredibly capable soldiers, often hailing from special forces like the 82nd airborne and Navy SEALs, with many having served their country through active combat.

But even their extensive experience with grueling physical training isn’t enough to guarantee making it through this hardcore selection process. It involves a month-long course designed to highlight the very best of the best of the best!

With insanely demanding tests ranging from advanced vehicle navigation and lockpicking to demolitions and expert firearm usage, everything is geared towards creating ultimate destruction machines.

YouTube Video by Unknown

Most details about the specifics of the process remain classified, but it’s believed that less than 10% of applicants make it through Delta Force selection. Of the few who are selected to train as part of the unit, a further 50% are then expected to drop out.

So, of a potential group of 120 candidates, just about 6 will make it through, and that’s on a good day! This absolutely brutal regiment means Deltas overall numbers are thought to be around just 1,000 operators. But they do say the best things come in small packages.

Even though many of Delta Force’s operation details are kept top secret, their involvement in the 1989 invasion of Panama unavoidably made headlines. That December, Delta Force operatives managed to rescue an American hostage from a jail in the middle of Panama City.

Despite having their helicopter shot down and the operatives severely wounded, they managed to extract the hostage and team without any fatalities on their side. And days after that, a Delta Unit used extensive psychological warfare to convince the tyrannical president of Panama, Manuel Noriega, to throw up the white flag.

If you were amazed at the most elite special forces in the world, you might want to read about insanely futuristic military weapons. Thanks for reading!