The RASM is a special forces regiment from the Algerian army, indeed before the commandos groups were affiliated to the marine fusilier regiments. In 2005 there had the 1st promotion of marine commando, and they were composed by several little groups in the marine fusilier regiments. However it was decided to bring together all the commando and combat diver groups to create a new special operations regiment for the Algerian navy.
It would seem that the RASM has an organization close to the French marine commandos with 2 units distributed between Algiers and Mers-el-Kebir as well as several detachments positioned in the coastal cities such as Skikda, Annaba, Jijel... The RASM has several companies with various specialties :
A counter terrorism and hostage rescue company which specialise in assault at sea, maritime counter-terrorism and extraction of nationals, release of hostages
A support company which specializes in remote neutralization and operational support to units in combat zones.
A recognition company which specializes in the recognition and acquisition of operational intelligence for action by assault groups
A combat diver company which specialises in underwater action and maritime counter-terrorism actions, hostage rescue, it is made up exclusively of combat swimmers. The support and lighting companies each include a group specialising in the release of hostages on maritime or land targets, which are CTHR groups.
However, divers are divided into 3 parts, there are combat divers, clearance divers and deep and underwater work divers.
Combat Divers: Combat divers have offensive missions. These divers are responsible for placing mines, assaulting port, coastal and ship targets, freeing hostages and participating in the early phases of the amphibious assault.
Demining divers: The missions assigned to demining divers are the search and identification of mines, their neutralization, destruction and removal of explosive devices placed underwater or on board vessels.
Deep-sea and underwater work divers: The mission of these divers consists in carrying out maintenance work such as welding, cutting and repairing anomalies.
The marine commandos are directly recruited within the marine rifle regiments, to become a marine commando it is mandatory to be a marine rifleman to participate in the selections. Future commandos are trained at the Marine Rifle and Diver School in Jijel. The duration of their training is 4 months, the training is based on three axes:
Improving physical performance
Shooting
The fight
Apart from this training, the focus is on diving, which consists of carrying out Maritime Commandos Operations, the objective is to be able to carry out attacks on coastal targets. In addition, marine commandos also take part in training abroad, in particular in the United States with the US Navy Seals, US Marines, Italian COMSUBIN, Spanish FGNE, Tunisian marine commandosBritish marine commandos, the SBS among others.
Equipment and armament
Armament
The marine commandos are always in double equipment during their actions, however according to the speciality and the mission the weapons can change, for example the divers do not have the same armament as the assault units...
Divers put a special coating on their rifle to avoid corrosion by salt and rust by water, in addition to that they can protect them with a soft plastic housing which allows them to shoot even underwater. Moreover, the assault rifles are custom made for each operator.
Suit we distinguish 3 categories of suits of different thicknesses we also find wet and waterproof suits that can go from 1 to 10mm.
Air bottles we distinguish two types of bottles: the single bottle which weighs 15 kg and the double bottle which weighs 25 kg.
A closed circuit device or "rebreather" that also allows CO2 to be transformed into oxygen and therefore recycles air for greater autonomy, and it also serves to hide air bubbles because the diver will not emit bubbles on the surface. Thus the combat diver will carry out his missions with discretion and safety.
Necessary accessories for diving
flippers, flashlight, mask, helmet, compass, vest with integrated weight belt, air tanks, a manometer to measure pressure
