Navy Special Action Regiment

The RASM is a special forces regiment from the Algerian army (ANP), indeed before the commandos groups were affiliated to the marine fusilier regiments (RFM).

In 2005 there had the 1st promotion of marine commando, and they were composed by several little groups in the marine fusilier regiments.

However it was decided to bring together all the commando and combat diver groups to create a new special operations regiment for the Algerian navy.[1]

The RASM missions are :

• The special recognition[2]
• Land combat actions from the sea on crisis zones, in the vanguard of conventional units (as was the case for exercise "Toufane" 2018)[3]
• The protection and the evacuation of persons[2]
• The protection of sensitive sites along the coast or at sea (naval areas, ports, ships...)[1]
• Destruction and sabotage of strategic targets[4]
• The release of hostages from watercraft or ships and the resolution of serious crises at sea[5]
• Interventions at sea in the context of State action at sea missions (combating terrorism, maritime piracy, illicit trafficking and maritime offences, etc.)[4]
• The counter terrorism and the hostage rescue[6]

It would seem that the RASM has an organization close to the French marine commandos with 2 units distributed between Algiers and Mers-el-Kebir as well as several detachments positioned in the coastal cities such as Skikda, Annaba, Jijel...[1][7]

The RASM has several companies with various specialties :[5][8]

• A counter terrorism and hostage rescue company which specialise in assault at sea, maritime counter-terrorism and extraction of nationals, release of hostages
• A support company which specializes in remote neutralization and operational support to units in combat zones (long-range snipers...).
• A recognition company which specializes in the recognition and acquisition of operational intelligence for action by assault groups
• A combat diver company which specialises in underwater action and maritime counter-terrorism actions, hostage rescue, it is made up exclusively of combat swimmers. The support and lighting companies each include a group specialising in the release of hostages on maritime or land targets, which are CTHR (Counter Terrorism and Hostage Rescue) groups.

However, divers are divided into 3 parts, there are combat divers, clearance divers and deep and underwater work divers.[9]

1. Combat Divers: Combat divers have offensive missions. These divers are responsible for placing mines, assaulting port, coastal and ship targets, freeing hostages and participating in the early phases of the amphibious assault.
2. Demining divers: The missions assigned to demining divers are the search and identification of mines, their neutralization, destruction and removal of explosive devices placed underwater or on board vessels.
3. Deep-sea and underwater work divers: The mission of these divers consists in carrying out maintenance work such as welding, cutting and repairing anomalies (cleaning up port accesses and maritime areas).

Algerian Marine commando during an exercise for Phoenix Express in 2012.

An Algerian marine commando during a training with the NATO in Greece in 2012.

An Algerian marine commando during a training with the NATO in Greece in 2012.

Algerian combat divers after an exercise in 2007.

The marine commandos are directly recruited within the marine rifle regiments, to become a marine commando it is mandatory to be a marine rifleman to participate in the selections.

Future commandos are trained at the Marine Rifle and Diver School (EFMP) in Jijel.[10][11]

The duration of their training is 4 months, the training is based on three axes:[10]

• Improving physical performance
• Shooting
• The fight

Apart from this training, the focus is on diving, which consists of carrying out Maritime Commandos Operations (MCO), the objective is to be able to carry out attacks on coastal targets.

In addition, marine commandos also take part in training abroad, in particular in the United States with the US Navy Seals[12], US Marines[12], Italian COMSUBIN[13], Spanish FGNE[14][15], Tunisian marine commandos[16] British marine commandos[13], the SBS[13] among others.