The South African Special Forces Brigade , colloquially known as the Recces from "reconnaisance" , [ 5 ] is South Africa 's principal Tier 1 special operations forces , specialising in various types of operations, including counter-insurgency , long-range-reconnaissance, unconventional-warfare, and hostage rescue.
Elements of the brigade are expanded into two additional groups; though termed "regiments", they consist only of small numbers of operators who are secretive, seldom photographed, and expertly trained. On 1 January , this unit was relocated to Durban , Natal , [ 8 ] where it continued its activities as the airborne specialist unit of the special forces. Later [ when? On 1 January , a re-organisation of Special Forces took place, as part of which the Reconnaissance Commandos and other special forces were transformed into an independent formation, directly under the command of the then South African Defence Force instead of the South African Army.
As part of the re-organisation, the various Reconnaissance Commandos were also given the status of regiments. In the latter part of the same decade, a Special Forces headquarters and a Special Forces stores depot were also added to the Special Forces structure. In , the structure of the special forces underwent another change, when the special forces headquarters was disbanded and a Directorate Reconnaissance, reporting directly to the Chief of the Army, was established instead.
Another organisational change followed in , when the Directorate Reconnaissance became 45 Parachute Brigade. As a result of this, all the units were renamed: 1 Reconnaissance Regiment became Parachute Battalion, 4 Reconnaissance Regiment became Parachute Battalion and 5 Reconnaissance Regiment became Parachute Battalion. As part of the military rationalization process, 1 Special Forces Regiment was disbanded in Its personnel were incorporated into the other Special Forces Regiments.
The Special Forces Brigade, as it is now known, consists of: [ 11 ]. Based in Pretoria. Colloquially called "Speskop", the headquarters also houses the Special Forces' operational planning as well as administrative support staffs.
