Beyond the 1990s and up to the turn of the millennium, there was a widespread perception that the Coast Artillery's coastal forts had played their role, as the experiences from the Gulf War in 1990–1991 showed that stationary installations were very vulnerable to precision-guided weapons.

[3] From December 2013 to July 2014, KJK participated with a significant contribution to the operation to remove chemical weapons from Syria (RECSYR).

[4] In the autumn of 2014, then Chief of Defense Haakon Bruun-Hanssen presented his professional military advice to the Norwegian government where it was recommended that the unit be moved to Haakonsvern Naval Base in Bergen.

The opposition in the Norwegian parliament disagreed with the closure, which led to a defense settlement in November 2016 where it was decided that the unit would continue in its current form.

[10] KJK operatives are trained to be highly mobile in the littoral environment, using the Combat Boat 90, RHIBs and occasionally helicopters.

KJK's operational portfolio is largely similar to the Norwegian Army's Intelligence Battalion and artillery rangers, and after long experience from Afghanistan, they have valuable weight in other spectrums of the warfare domain other than the coastal zone.

[12][13][14] In November 2007, a KJK unit assisted a force of Afghan soldiers and their 14 American mentors as they came under a Taliban ambush in Badghis province in Afghanistan.

The Norwegian soldiers observed this and were able to get through to their American allies on radio and warn them about the danger ahead, guiding them so they could fight themselves out of the situation.

The unit lost 3 men on June 27, 2010 when a roadside bomb (IED) exploded under their vehicle on a mission in the Almar District, Afghanistan.

The selection is mainly carried out under field conditions, in the coastal zone and at sea, and ends with a milestone exercise.

The last part of the professional training is a course in maritime ranger operations which ends with an exercise that checks that the level of education is satisfactory.