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About Marcos

History
The Indian Armed Forces wanted to establish an amphibious warfare and maritime special operations force. During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, the Indian Navy supported the landing operations against the Pakistani base of Cox Bazar, Operation Jackpot, landing an army brigade using Polnochny class landing ships without significant resistance. Before this operation, Indian navy divers provided basic training in underwater demolition to Bengali insurgents. However, this did not yield expected results. Later, different Indian army units were assigned amphibious roles in exercises. In 1983, the 340th Army Independent Brigade based at Trivandrum, was converted to an amphibious assault unit.Since then, the navy has conducted various exercises to demonstrate its amphibious abilities, notably the Andaman Islands in 1984, and Goa in 1986. These assault operations included both airborne and amphibious forces. In April 1986, the Indian Navy started planning for a maritime special force which could conduct amphibious reconnaissance, raids and counter-terrorist operations.

The force was initially trained by the other special forces of the country, including those under the Home Ministry and the Army. Three officers were then sent to undergo a hard training schedule with US Navy SEALs and further training was then acquired through exchanges with the British Special Air Service. The officers formed the first nucleus of the Indian Marine Special Force (IMSF) which was officially established in February 1987. The first batch of marine commandos qualified in February 1987. It was later renamed as the Marine Commando Force (MCF) in 1991

tablished in February 1987. The first batch of marine commandos qualified in February 1987. It was later renamed as the Marine Commando Force (MCF) in 1991

Known Activities and operations
The Marcos are capable of undertaking operations in all types of terrain, but are specialised in maritime operations. The force has undertaken numerous joint exercises with special forces from around the world. The MARCOS presently has approximately two thousand personnel, though its actual strength remains classified. Operations undertaken by MARCOS usually remains classified though some of the known operations are:

Operation Pawan, in 1987, where the IMSF (Indian marine special force, as the MARCOS was then known) helped in capturing the harbours of Jaffna and Trincomalee, Sri Lanka, as part of the Indian Peace Keeping Force.
Operation Cactus, in 1988, where the MARCOS defended the democratic government of president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom of the Maldives from a coup as part of the Indian Navy contingent. The force played a supporting role in India's successful military aid in helping foil the attempted coup by Sri Lankan militants from the PLOTE and ENDLF. A group of 47 mercenaries attempted to escape by sea with 23 hostages, on a hijacked vessel, MV Progress Light. The MCF was pressed into service along with INS Godavari, a multi role frigate carrying Seaking helicopters, Alize aircraft operating from the Navy's base at Kochi. INS Godavari trailed the hijacked vessel for a couple of days, firing intermittently with her guns on the vessel's superstructure. An Alize anti-submarine aircraft dropped two depth charges near the vessel, causing the motley collection of militants to come up on the upper decks and surrender. A contingent of the Marcos operating from Ratmalana Airfield on the outskirts of Colombo, with some help from the Sri Lankan Army in terms of specialised equipment, thereafter boarded the ship and accepted the surrender of the militants and took them into custody.
Operation Rakshak: Counter-insurgency (COIN) operations in Jammu and Kashmir, in the Jhelum River, and Wular Lake, a 65 square kilometre freshwater lake. Some MARCOS personnel are also attached with the Army special forces units conducting counter-terrorism operations in the area. MARCOS use tactics similar to the Israeli undercover special warfare units called Mista'arvim, sporting beards and wearing the 'pheren' (Kashmiri suit), thus making them indistinguishable from the locals.
Operation Muffet: in Somalia
Operation Leech, which resulted in the slaying of a number of Burmese rebels at Narcondum Island in the North Andaman group of Islands. A small contingent of MARCOS was reputed to have been involved in the murky operation, which has found intermittent mention in various media.
Operation Tasha, which was instituted after Operation Pawan wound up, and was more a coastal security operation on the Tamil Nadu coast to thwart operations of the LTTE there, than something belonging to the realm of special operations.
Operation Swan, which was a similar exercise on the Gujarat and Maharashtra coasts, after the December 92 blasts in Mumbai, wherein the MARCOS were used for patrolling.
Kargil War: Covert operations behind enemy lines which remain classified.
Protecting offshore oil rigs and platforms: The MARCOS maintain a quick reaction team at Mumbai, to deal with threats to the offshore oil assets at Bombay High.
Operation Black Tornado: MARCOS stormed the Trident and Taj Hotels at Mumbai during the recent terrorist attacks on 26 November 2008 during the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, terrorist were killed in action at the Taj.
In its first ever action in the Gulf of Aden, MARCOS thwarted an attempt by pirates to capture the Indian merchant vessel MV Jag Arnav on 11 November 2008.
In 2003, MARCOS participated in joint training exercises called Exercise Balance Iroquois 03-1/Vajra Prahar with US Special Operations Forces in Mizoram.
September 2005 again witnessed joint Indo-US naval exercises called Malabar 05, which had significant special operations content.
On 13 December 2008 MARCOS units operating from the Indian Naval warship INS Mysore foiled a pirate hijack attempt of Ethiopian vessel MV Gibe off the Somali coast. In the process twenty three pirates were arrested.
On 12 August 2013, the Indian Navy spotted an Iranian Cargo Ship Nafis-1 off course in the Arabian Sea. Surveillance continued on the ship until 14 August, when a MARCOS unit of 9 servicemen was deployed to intercept the ship via helicopter along with support from the INS Mysore. The commandos dropped onto the ship and detained the hijackers, which had reportedly sailed from Chah Bahar in Iran to an undisclosed location. Navy Intelligence reports revealed that the ship was being used to smuggle weapons and contraband. A store of automatic assault weapons was confiscated on board as well.
MARCOS are known to be very secretive, not revealing their actual identity as specialised, elite soldiers. In their operations, they are sometimes assisted by Westland WS-61 Sea King transport helicopters, Chetak helicopters and two-man submarines. MARCOS can be launched from ships, aircraft and submarines in full battle gear.

Functions / Role

The exclusivity of the unit lies in its competence to operate in all three mediums namely Sea, Air and Land. The MCF is specially organised, trained and equipped for the conduct of special operations in a maritime environment. Personnel from unit are deployed round the clock from Kashmir for CI/CT ops to GoA, Somalia for anti-piracy operations. The unit has always been at forefront in providing diving / civil assistance during times of natural disaster. The core tasking of MARCOS include:-

Conduct clandestine attack against enemy ships,offshore installations and other vital assets behind enemy lines.

To support amphibious operations including pre-assault ops.

To conduct unconventional warfare.

Conduct of surveillance and recce missions in support of military operations.

Conduct of clandestine diving operations.

To conduct hostage rescue operations in maritime environment.

Combating terrorism in a maritime environment.

Future Developments

To strengthen its capabilities to carry out special operations, the Navy is planning to procure advanced Integrated Combat System (ICS) for the MARCOS. The Navy wants the ICS for effective command, control and information sharing to maximise capabilities of individuals and groups of the MARCOS while engaging enemies.

The ICS will provide enhanced capabilities such as tactical awareness, ability to fight in hostile environment and can enable Group Commanders to remotely monitor and control operations. It would help in integrating an individual sailor's capability of day and night surveillance, ballistic protection, communication and firepower through an integrated network at individual and group level. Initiating the procurement process through a Request for Information (RFI), Navy's Directorate of Special Operations and Diving has sought details from global vendors about the ICS, which should have gear for both individual and group uses.

The individual equipment required by the Navy in the ICS includes light weight helmets, head-mounted displays, tactical and soft ballistic vests along with communication equipment. The group-level gear requirements include command and control and surveillance systems along with high speed communication equipment. The devices would have sight for the sniper, laser range finder and long range thermal imager (medium and long range) and near IR laser pointer for a combat group to undertake surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting. The ICS would be compatible with the assault rifles and close-quarter combat weapons.The Navy has recently started inducting the Israeli IMI Tavor TAR-21 for the MARCOS.

Bases
The MCF currently operates out of the naval bases at Mumbai, Visakhapatnam, Goa, Kochi and Port Blair.[7] There are plans to shift the current training facility at the Naval Special Warfare Training and Tactical Centre to a new facility to be set up at the erstwhile Naval Academy in Goa.

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