April 30, 2018, during the opening ceremony for the 10th edition of the Warrior Competition at the King Abdullah II Special Operations Training Center (KASOTC), Special Forces of the Jordanian armed forces have performed a live demonstration showing their capacities to conduct anti-terrorist operations as hostages rescue in a real Airbus A300 aircraft.
Special Forces of Jordanian armed forces conduct air rescue hostage live demonstration from A300 Airbus aircraft during the opening ceremony of the Warrior Competition 2018 at the KASOTC (King Abdullah II Special Operations Training Center), near Amman, Jordan. April 30, 2018. (Picture source Army Recognition)
The Special Operation Forces of the Jordanian Armed Forces serve as Jordan's premiere special forces unit. Founded on April 15, 1963 on the orders of the late King Hussein, its primary roles include reconnaissance, counter-terrorism, search and evacuation, intelligence gathering combat, and the protection of key sites.
The new organization of the Royal Joint Special Operations consists mainly of three main brigades with all standard support and service units that facilitate operations and training.
The Special Forces Brigade consists of a Special Forces group, a counter-terrorism battalion and a combat search-and-rescue battalion. This brigade is mainly equipped and trained to successfully fight unconventional threats, with a good capability to also face conventional ones.
The Rangers Brigade is more geared towards fighting conventional threats, with good capabilities to support internal security operations.
The Special Operations Aviation Brigade that provides the joint task forces with mobility, timely response capabilities and insertion platforms, especially for the counter-terrorism teams.
The KASOTC houses a full-scale Airbus A300 aircraft model and control tower with helicopter landing path. The A300 also includes some B777 aircraft features and takes full advantage of the battlefield effects controlled by the ROCC (Range Operations Control Center). This includes initiating targets to stand up from their seats, introduction of smells/sounds of the battlefield and video/audio capture of all training inside and out.
The Airbus A300 at KASOTC offers an ideal platform to train Special Forces units for linear assault and deliberate/emergency aircraft assault training. Troops trained in this area master the breadth of common aircraft assault scenarios and sky marshal training. This aircraft also offers the possibility to learn in individual tactics and techniques to coordinate aircraft assault.
