Special Forces of India Part 3: Special Frontier Force

Hello friends welcome back on this Army Day, I am back with the details of Special Frontier Force. Army Day is celebrated on 15th Of January every year because on 15 January 1949 Lieutenant General K. M. Cariappa took over as the first Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army from General Sir Francis Butcher, the last British Commander-in-Chief of India. Today we are celebrating 68th Army Day. Following is small clip from today's Army day celebration.

I will be sharing the background of creation of Special Frontier Force (SFF) i.e. why this force was needed? This force works under Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW), therefore not much information is available about this force i.e. about there selection, training role & Operations etc. If you have any problem with the terms in this blog please let me know by comment I will try to explain those words. I will post the meaning of some words in the comment section. So now let's begin with today's topic:

BACKGROUND

After the SinoIndian war and towards the end of 1962, after hectic lobbying by Intelligence Bureau (IB), government of India ordered the raising of an elite commando unit and specialised mountain divisions primarily composed of Tibetan resistance fighters. Chushi Gangdruk (Chushi Gangdruk "Four Rivers, Six Ranges" is the name traditionally given to the eastern Tibetan region of Kham where the gorges of the Salween (Tib. Ngul-chu), Mekong (Da-chu), Yangtze (Dri-chu) and Yalong (Dza-chu) rivers, all arising on the Tibetan Plateau, pass between six parallel ranges of mountains that form the watersheds for these rivers) leaders were contacted for recruitment of Khampas into this new unit. An initial strength of 5000 men, mostly Khampas were recruited at its new Mountain Training Facility at Chakrata, Dehradun.

The SFF made its home base at Chakrata, 100 km from the city of Dehra Dun. Chakrata was home to the large Tibetan refugee population and was a mountain town in the foothills of the Himalayas. Starting with a force of 12,000 men, the SFF commenced six months of training in rock climbing and guerrilla warfare. The Intelligence agencies from India and the US also helped in raising the force; namely CIA & RAW. The SFF's weapons were all provided by the US and consisted mainly of M1, M2 and M3 machine guns. Heavy weapons were not provided.

The force was Established under the direct supervision of the Prime Minister. the unit under the operational command of IB (Intelligence bureau)  and later R&AW (Research & Analysis Wing), was designated the Special Frontier Force (SFF), and was primarily used for conducting clandestine intelligence gathering and commando operations along the Chinese Theatre. Initial training was conducted by the CIA paramilitary officers and the IB's own special operations unit. In 1968 SFF, with the help of the Aviation Research Centre which provided airlift facilities, became fully airborne qualified and a dedicated mountain and jungle warfare unit.

During this period, the Indian government also formed the Ladakh Scouts and the Nubra Guards paramilitary force on similar lines. Many SFF members are Gorkha Rifles members due to their bodies being able to perform much better in high altitudes against others. SFF was later incorporated in the Special Services Bureau (SSB) of R&AW. By late 1963, inter-service rivalry led to severe criticism by the Indian Army. To prove that the SFF's worth, the Inspector General sent 120 men from the SFF for a field exercise, codenamed Garuda, with the Army. The exercise proved to be a dramatic success for the SFF and the Army was now less inclined to criticise the force. In 1964, the SFF led by the Inspector General, began its airborne training at Agra. The SFF then began its own airborne training program at Sarsawa airbase near Saharanpur. By the late 1960s, the SFF was organised into six battalions for administrative purposes. Each battalion, consisting of six companies, was commanded by Tibetan who had a rank equivalent to a lieutenant colonel in the Army. A Tibetan major or captain commanded each company, which was the primary unit used in operations. Females also participated in the force and they were in the signal and medical companies. During this time, the SFF was never used against its intended enemy, China. However, the unit did conduct limited cross-border reconnaissance operations, as well as highly classified raids to place sensors in the Himalayas to detect Chinese nuclear and missile tests.

Special Frontier Force Badge

Functions / ROLE of r&AW

Since the force work under R&AW, the object of the force may be considered similar to R&AW. The present R&AW objectives include, and are not limited to:

• Monitoring the political, military, economic and scientific developments in countries which have direct bearing on India's national security and the formulation of its foreign policy.
• Moulding international public opinion and influence foreign governments with the help of the strong and vibrant Indian diaspora.
• Covert Operations to safe guard India's National interests.
• Anti – Terror Operations and neutralising terror elements posing a threat to India.

In the past, following the Sino-Indian war of 1962 and due to India's volatile relations with Pakistan, R&AW's objectives had also consisted the following:

• To watch the development of international communism and the schism between the two big communist nations, the Soviet Union and China. As with other countries, both these powers had direct access to the communist parties in India.
• To control and limit the supply of military hardware to Pakistan, from mostly European countries, America and more importantly from China.