40 Commando

40 Commando Royal Marines is a Commando Strike unit of 500 personnel held at high readiness for crisis response. The unit is trained for rapid worldwide deployment in a range of environments including mountain, jungle and Arctic warfare. The troops of 40 Commando are elite light infantry who provide a highly skilled, adaptable amphibious force that can combat a wide range of threats. The unit is made up of the unit HQ and three Strike companies which are supported by the Information Warfare company, Logistics company and Base company.The 40 Commando's capabilities include reconnaissance, strike, raiding and operating as an early entry shaping force. This allows us to set the conditions in our area of operations and create an effect that is disproportional to our numbers.

40 Commando has been the spearhead of the Royal Marines’ transformation into the Future Commando Force. A force that exploits our traditional values and expertise but one that is ready for new-age warfare; by being more lethal, more sophisticated, more forward deployed and special operations capable. While our most prized capability remains our Commandos, we have been embracing cutting-edge equipment and technology and placing it in the hands of those Commandos. This includes integrating drones into our new twelve-person Strike Team, exploiting an innovative networked communications system, using ultra-light weight air portable all-terrain vehicles, new weapon systems and much more.

Our transformation is part of a much bigger Royal Navy modernisation that sees our Nation's Amphibious capability evolve into ‘Littoral Strike’, which will deliver strategic theatre entry, crisis response and Special Operations. 40 Commando will be focused East of Suez and form the bulk of Littoral Readiness Group South and with this in mind, over the last six months we have shifted our focus from a unit that excels in experimentation to one that is ready to excel on operations. We have established a new operating model that maximises our operational output and moves away from the old ‘break glass in time of emergency approach’; favouring one that sees more persistent forward presence in what is becoming the most important region in the world – the Indo Pacific. This will put us in the right place at the right time when a crisis emerges; or better still, allow us to conduct operations in theatre below the threshold of open conflict to ensure they never emerge.