MARCOS
special forces unit of the Indian Navy
The Marine Commandos, abbreviated to MARCOS, are
the special forces of the Indian Navy. The MARCOS were originally named Indian Marine Special Force, which was later changed to Marine Commando Force to impart "an element of individuality" to it, according to the Indian Navy. The abbreviation 'MARCOS' was coined afterwards.
The MARCOS were founded in February 1987. The MARCOS are capable of operating in all types of environments: at sea, in the air, and on land. The force has gradually acquired more experience and an international reputation for professionalism. The MARCOS regularly undertake specialised maritime operations in Jammu and Kashmir through the Jhelum River and Wular Lake, a 65 square kilometres (16,000 acres) freshwater lake, and conduct counter-insurgency operations in the region.
Some MARCOS units are a part of the tri-services Armed Forces Special Operations Division.
History
In 1955, the Indian military established a diving school at Cochin with the assistance of the British Special Boat Service and began teaching combat divers skills such as explosive disposal, clearance, and salvage diving. The combat divers failed to achieve their desired outcomes during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 as they were not adequately trained for sabotage missions.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6714457. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1987, 1955 and 1971.
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This entry incorporates text from “MARCOS” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.