Formed in 1957, the Australian Special Air Service Regiment is the first Australian special operations unit. Although it is not very well-known outside Australia, this unit has a long and distinguished record of operations, which first saw action during the Indonesia Confrontation (1963-1966). However it was during the Vietnam War that it showed its lethal capabilities, known as “phantoms of the jungle” by the Viet Cong.

After the Vietnam War, the SASR began to take on the role of primary counterterrorism unit in Australia, as well as take part in peacekeeping operations such as those in Somalia, Rwanda and East Timor in the 1990s.

With the turn of the new century, the SASR, as well as the other Australian special operations units (1st & 2nd Commando Regiment, Special Operations Engineer Regiment) started to appear at the forefront of the fight against terrorism, having been deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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