Army Reconnaissance Detachment 10 - History

History

As part of the Army XXI reforms, a report on October 24, 2001 to the Federal Assembly of Switzerland called on the formation of a special forces-trained unit that would be able to conduct counter-terrorist-type actions in the Swiss Army to protect Swiss nationals and soldiers living abroad.

In 2003, the unit had been created with Major Daniel Stoll as the unit's first commanding officer with 30 soldiers as its nucleus with Special forces training with its internal structure based on the British SAS. In 2007, ARD 10 commandos had joined in Exercise Cold Response 2007. The unit had been unveiled to the public during Army Day 2007 in Lugano from November 20 to November 25, 2007.

By the year 2011, its expected that the unit will have 91 soldiers in active duty.

It is suggested that the first batch of ARD 10 operators had been given training by foreign special forces instructors. They include instructors from the United States Navy SEALs, American Special Forces and the Special Air Service.

There has been calls on the Swiss government to deploy ARD 10 operators to combat Somali pirates with no consensus in Parliament, due to an evenly divided vote against it. The planned mission called for 30 ARD 10 operators to be deployed with a spokesperson for the Swiss army saying that the ARD 10 is ready to be deployed if given the order.