The SAS and the SBS are both short of around 100 troops each and SAS commanders are calling on superfit female soldiers to join the special forces
SAS commanders have revealed that they will need to recruit super fit female troops if the black-clad force is to fight in future wars.
Senior special forces officers want GI Jane style female soldiers to take part in the the elite organisation gruelling selection process. The SAS and the SBS are both short of around 100 troops each and is likely to increase as the armed forces reduces in size.
The women will be recruited through Project Artemis, a programme aimed at bringing women into not only the SAS but also the SBS. Under the project female candidates, with at least two years’ service, get nine months’ mentoring to get them in shape to face selection.
It is hoped mental, physical and skill-based training under Project Artemis will help prepare the SAS selection course known to produce one of the world’s most famous fighting forces.
Only one in ten male applicants pass the test. Combat roles were opened to women only in 2018.
Women have served with the SAS, formed in 1941, after transferring from covert surveillance units such as the Special Reconnaissance Regiment. Some have even worn the regiment’s badge — a winged dagger with the motto Who Dares Wins.
But none has tried the full selection course, which starts with the hills stage in the Brecon Beacons and includes escape tests, resistance to interrogation and jungle warfare training.
Two super fit female soldiers have previously passed pre-selection tests but did not pass the six month special forces selection course, sources have revealed.
General Sir Patrick Sanders, the former head of the Army, said: “We need female operators.”
Female troops served alongside male counterparts in Northern Ireland as part of a covert unit called 14 Intelligence Company.
The women had to undergo exactly the same physical and mental selection process as men.
Those who passed deployed onto the streets of Ulster armed with pistols and machine guns and were expected to kill IRA terrorists on covert missions.
One source said: “The SAS may be the best fighting force in the world but if you can’t recruit enough people into it’s ranks then it is going to struggle on operations. There are around 16,000 women in the armed forces. If the SAS could get 20 of those it would make a significant difference. We want a couple of GI Janes to act as trail blazers. Crucially though the SAS will ensure that standards are never lowered.”
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