Since I’ve been collecting Fairbairn-Sykes knives for the last 30 years, I am always on the lookout for interesting examples to add to my collection. One out-of-the-ordinary group of F-S type knives are those which are issued to airborne or special ops units and marked with the unit crest or designation. An example of this type of F-S that I find quite attractive is the blade of Indonesia’s Kopassus.
Kopassus is an abbreviation for Kommando Pasukan Khusus, the Indonesian Special Forces. Although the Indonesian armed forces have a wide array of airborne and special ops units, Kopassus is probably the best known. With a strength of around 6,000 personnel, Kopassus is organized into five groups plus Paspampres, the Presidential Security Unit. All members of Kopassus are airborne and commando qualified. One of the groups is a training group. There is also a group assigned special recon and Intel duties in conjunction with Indonesia’s Joint Intelligence Unit. This group is sometimes referred to as Sandhi Yudha, which translates as “combat intelligence.” Deep penetration operations are among its missions. Two groups are assigned to typical para-commando missions. The fifth group, SAT 81, also designated Penenggulangan Teror is the anti-terrorist unit.
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