Commandos come to grips with foreign weapons
Integrating with partner forces throughout the Indo-Pacific region is one of many special warfare tasks assigned to the 1st Commando Regiment, whose members recently undertook qualification and currency training on foreign and exotic weapons.
CAPTION: A special warfare operator from 2nd Commando Company, 1st Commando Regiment, fires an AK-47 rifle during foreign weapons training in Melbourne. Story and photo by Lieutenant S.
Conducted at the home of Special Warfare in Victoria, at the 2nd Commando Company, Fort Gellibrand, Melbourne, the training focused on a wide variety of weapons that special warfare operators, integrators and enablers may encounter when training, advising and operating with partner forces.
The training included a diversity of design philosophies and the operational and tactical employment considerations of various weapon systems, culminating in a live-fire validation.
Officer Commanding 2nd Commando Company, Squadron Leader A, said it was an important activity.
“We harness a unique and diverse range of soldiers, sailors and aviators of different backgrounds from both the military and civilian career pathways; that is one of the strengths of the unit,” he said.
“It’s only fitting then that our contribution to special warfare is for our people to continually seek familiarity and competency in a diverse range of weapon systems and their associated training and employment methodologies.
“There are situations that require special warfare operators to have intimate knowledge of foreign weapon systems. Our operators must be familiar, competent and confident to train and employ the fundamental marksmanship principles on any system they encounter.”
As with standard ADF weapons, foreign weapons have approved manuals for usage, and their training is standardised to align with ADF safety and training processes.
After completing hands-on instruction and testing, members’ skills and competencies were confirmed on the range.
Able Seaman J said it was important to maintain skills and currency with exotic and foreign weapons.
“Like other martial skills, it’s a perishable one. To be able to safely and effectively use whatever tools we have at our disposal, we need to train on them,” he said.
“The ergonomics of the AK series of weapons is fundamentally different from the M4 [Special Operations Command’s primary weapon] and the EF88, so you need to constantly work on it to maintain good drills.”
Drawing from a wide array of professions and backgrounds, 2nd Commando Company is a hybrid full-time/part-time Special Operations company, and together with Sydney’s 1st Commando Company, makes up the 1st Commando Regiment – responsible for the employment of special warfare within the ADF.
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