SAS

SAS or Sas may refer to:

Organizations

Military

Business

Special Air Service

The Special Air Service (SAS) is a special forces unit of the British Army. The SAS was founded in 1941 as a regiment, and later reconstituted as a corps in 1950. This special forces unit undertakes a number of roles including covert reconnaissance, counter-terrorism, direct action, hostage rescue and human intelligence gathering.

The corps presently comprises 22 Special Air Service Regiment, the regular component, under the operational command of United Kingdom Special Forces, and 21 (Artists) Special Air Service Regiment (Reserve) and 23 Special Air Service Regiment (Reserve), which are reserve units under the operational command of 1st Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Brigade.

The Special Air Service traces its origins to 1941 and the Second World War, and was reformed as part of the Territorial Army in 1947, named the 21st Special Air Service Regiment (Artists Rifles). 22 Special Air Service Regiment, part of the regular army, later gained fame and recognition worldwide after successfully assaulting the Iranian Embassy in London and rescuing hostages during the 1980 Iranian Embassy siege, lifting the regiment from obscurity outside the military establishment.

Air Service

Air service may refer to:

Special Air Service Regiment

The Special Air Service Regiment, officially abbreviated SASR though commonly known as the SAS, is an elitespecial operations force of the Australian Army. Formed in 1957, it was originally modelled on the British SAS sharing the motto, "Who Dares Wins", and draws on the experiences of Australian Services Reconnaissance Department, independent companies, Coastwatchers and M and Z Special Units during World War II. Based at Campbell Barracks, in Swanbourne, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia, the regiment is a direct command unit of the Special Operations Command. It has been involved in operations in Borneo during the Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation, the Vietnam War, Somalia, Kuwait, East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as many other peacekeeping missions. It also provides a counter-terrorist capability, and has been involved in a number of domestic security operations.

Role

Tasks and capabilities

A direct command unit of Special Operations Command, the Special Air Service Regiment (SASR) is a special forces unit of the Australian Army and "is tasked to provide special-operations capabilities in support of the Australian Defence Force. This includes providing unique capabilities to support sensitive strategic operations, special recovery operations, advisory and training assistance, special reconnaissance, precision strike and direct action". The SASR is primarily structured to conduct covert long-range reconnaissance and surveillance in small teams in enemy-controlled territory, while commando units are utilised to conduct raids in larger groups. In addition to warfighting during conventional conflicts, the regiment is also tasked with maintaining a specialist counter-terrorist capability. Other capabilities include training local or indigenous forces, recovery of Australian citizens and humanitarian assistance. The SASR is also trained in counter-insurgency operations.

Who Dares Wins

Who Dares, Wins (Latin: Qui audet adipiscitur; French: Qui ose gagne; Italian: Chi osa vince; Portuguese: Quem se atreve, ganha; German: Wer wagt, gewinnt) is a motto made popular by the British Special Air Service. It is normally credited to the founder of the SAS, David Stirling. Among the SAS themselves it is sometimes humorously corrupted to "Who cares [who] wins?". May have a much earlier attribution from a medieval Arabic source recently translated:

The catchphrase "He Who Dares, Wins" was commonly used by Del Boy in British sitcom Only Fools and Horses.

The motto has been used by twelve elite special forces units around the world that in some way have historical ties to the British SAS.

An early statement of the idea is 'τοῖς τολμῶσιν ἡ τύχη ξύμφορος' ("fortune favours the bold") from the Ancient Greek soldier and historian Thucydides.

References