SAS Australia

The Australian SAS regiment, based on the British original, is based in Perth, Western Australia.

The SAS were involved in the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The details of their involvement in both operations were kept secret. However, it is known that they operated in small groups, mostly performing surveillance and calling in air strikes. As far as the Iraq campaign went, media claims that they were involved in preventing the use of Iraqi Scud missiles were made but not confirmed.

Perhaps their most politically controversial use was in mid-2001 when they were involved in the seizure of the MS Tampa, a Norwegian cargo vessel that had picked up asylum-seekers whose boat had sunk and was taking them to Australia.

Official information relating to this and other Australian Defence Force Units is available on www.defence.gov.au.