It gained worldwide attention after several operations such as the Indonesian invasion of East Timor and the release of hostages from Garuda Indonesia Flight 206.

[4][5] The US had ended links with Kopassus in 1999 as the Leahy Law banned assistance to foreign military units with a history of human rights violations until those responsible are prosecuted.

[5][6] In 2018, US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis said he wanted to lift the ban as Kopassus had reformed and removed human rights abusive soldiers.

[8][9] In response, Senator Patrick Leahy said Mattis needs to establish whether Kopassus has punished officers and is today "accountable to the rule of law".

[3] On 15 April 1952, Colonel Alexander Evert Kawilarang began to form Kesatuan Komando Tentara Territorium III/Siliwangi (Kesko TT), the early name of Kopassus and the basis for this historic special forces unit.

Not long after, Colonel Kawilarang with the use of military intelligence located and met with Major Rokus Bernardus Visser—a former member of the Dutch Special Forces who had remained in newly independent Indonesia, settled in West Java, married an Indonesian woman, and was known locally as Mochammad Idjon Djanbi.

[10] At that time, Indonesia's special force name was Kesatuan Komando Tentara Territorium / Kesko TT) (3rd Territorial Army Command Commando Unit).

Among its pioneer instructors was a young veteran of the Indonesian National Revolution, future Minister of Defense Leonardus Benjamin Moerdani, who later became a battalion commander and later led his paratroopers to crush the two twin rebellions in 1957-58 by the Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Indonesia and Permesta.

The RPKAD was involved in wiping out entire villages such as Kesiman (east of Denpasar) in Bali, many of them in beach areas which later becomes major tourist resorts.

Supervises nine schools of education and training including: It provides other specialist courses, which are also open to members of the Army out of Kopassus such as: Hunting Company, Scuba, Rock-climbing, Demolition, Path-Finder and Sniper.

Aside from Kopassus commandos, the Pusdiklatpassus also trains SF-ready combat personnel of the Army Raider Infantry battalions within the structure of the territorial region commands or KODAMs Army-wide and within Kostrad component units.

Group 4 / Sandhi Yudha is a Kopassus unit that has the specification of "Clandestine operation" 'secret warfare', including combat Intel and counter-insurgency.

Even some selected personnel from this Group are sent abroad to schools of Military Intelligence Education Centers such as in the United States, Germany, Britain and even Israel.

Among all types of soldiers in "Kopassus", the most specific form of education and training is the Group 4 / Sandhi Yudha combat intelligence unit.

"Pusdalsis" is organized of a combination of elite units within the Indonesian National Armed Forces and Police which is assigned as a counter-terrorist formation to be sent when the activities of terrorism may be conducted such as aircraft hijacking.

On 19 February 2018, Kopassus and 9 Para SF held a joint exercise called Garuda Sakti in Cipatat, Bandung.

On 7 February 2019, Kopassus and Special Service Group held a joint counter terrorism exercise called Elang Strike in Pabbi, Pakistan.

The original version illustrated, with some variation in color and type of fabric, saw service between 1964 and 1986 (at which time the entire Armed Forces were outfitted in a copy of British DPM).

The second pattern shown was revived for issue to Kopassus in 1995 but in a slightly varied design, worn for ceremonial & training purposes only.

Colonel Sarwo Edhie Wibowo used the new Commando Brevet qualification to show the public of the Corps' new appearance on 4 January 1966 during an Army-organized open house event at the grounds of the Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex, which, among others, featured a mass jump of Kopassus parachute commandos and operators in front of watching crowds.

The Kopassus (RPKAD) military freefall wing insignia, designed by HH.Djajadiningrat and first issued in 1962 depicts a free fall paratrooper hanging under a circle consisting of small parachutes.

Between 1997 and 1998, Kopassus members from Tim Mawar (Rose Team) were responsible for pro-democracy activists kidnappings of at least 22 people mainly in Jakarta.

[34][3][36] In September 2020, Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto appointed two of the Team Mawar officers, two serving Brigadier generals, to senior positions in the Ministry of Defense following approval by President Joko Widodo.

[3] Amnesty International criticised the appointments as the President and the DPR had promised to investigate missing activist cases and instead placed suspects in positions of power.[34][37].

and shortly after Prabowo was inaugurated as president two more former members of the Team Mawar became heads of the National Cyber and Crypto Agency and the Main Secretariat of the State Intelligence Agency[38] The United Nations Report of the International Commission of Inquiry on East Timor found there was evidence that Kopassus in 1999 engaged militias to conduct intimidation and terror tasks in order to influence the outcome of the independence referendum.

They faced a court-martial, which found them not guilty on the more serious charges of premeditated murder, because the Kopassus are legally exempt from the jurisdiction of civil law.

Indonesian Army Chief, General Ryamizard Ryacudu (2002–05), accepted the men had to be prosecuted "because Indonesia is a State based on law" but he affirmed their defence's view that they were heroes who had killed a rebel leader.

Although at first a newly created military unit, the Joint Battalion, took action against Laskar Jihad in Maluku, it was replaced in mid-2001 by Kopassus, which was more sympathetic towards the militia.

[49][50] The United States re-newed links with Kopassus in 2010 after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono advised the Obama administration it was the "litmus test of the bilateral relationship" after intense lobbying over four years to lift the 1999 ban.