EKO Cobra

History

The roots of the EKO Cobra lie in the Gendarmerieeinsatzkommando Bad Vöslau that was originally formed by the regional police authority of Lower Austria to protect East European Jews during their migration via Austria to Israel against terrorist threats. As the tactical skills of this unit were welcome in other fields, too, the mission of the Gendarmerieeinsatzkommando became broader in the course of years, and it climbed the hierarchy, from being a regional unit to becoming assigned directly to the Generaldirektion für öffentliche Sicherheit, the leading authority for public security within the Ministry of the Interior.

The name Cobra was coined by the press. It was a reference to the US TV series Mission: Impossible, which was aired in German under the title Kobra, übernehmen Sie. It first appeared in June 1973 in the Kronen Zeitung.

During the OPEC siege in 1975, the unit was deployed to potentially intervene, Vienna never gave the order to go ahead and instead, agreed to pay ransom and for the terrorists involved to walk away.

The determining step of founding today's Cobra as a unit of the Ministry of the Interior rather than a regional police unit was done in 1978, primarily as a response to the Munich massacre attack on Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Its main office is in Wiener Neustadt, with sub-offices in Graz, Linz, Salzburg, and Innsbruck. GSG-9 and Sayeret Matkal trained the first operators of the GEK.

The Federal Ministry of the Interior changed the unit's name from GEK to EKO Cobra in 2002. MEK and SEG units were also merged with the GEK.

Known operations

EKO Cobra was involved in a hostage rescue in the Graz-Karlau Prison in 1996, and numerous other operations. Although it has never participated in the same type of hostage rescue operations that the HRT, GIGN, GIS, NSG, ERU, GSG 9, and the SAS have had, the EKO Cobra is the only Counter-Terrorism unit to end a hijacking while the aircraft was still in the air. On 17 October 1996, four Cobra officers were on board an Aeroflot Tupolev Tu-154 escorting deported prisoners to Lagos when a Nigerian man threatened the cockpit crew with a knife and demanded a diversion to Germany or South Africa. The team overpowered the man and handed him over to authorities after landing.

In the course of the 2006 Lebanon War EKO Cobra assisted in the evacuation of Austrians and other EU citizens from Lebanon.

135 EKO Cobra operatives together with units of the Austrian Armed Forces were involved in the search for Alois Huber in the Annaberg shooting, who killed three police officers and one Red Cross EMT on 17 September 2013, in Lower Austria.

In 2016, 42 officers supported the German police in the Munich shooting.

In 2017, 20 EKO Cobra operatives were directly involved to end the severe riots in the Schanzenviertel area during the G20 Hamburg summit, three operatives were wounded.

EKO Cobra assisted in the manhunt of the remaining suspect who was involved in the 2020 Vienna attack.

EKO Cobra assisted with the arrest of suspects in the foiled 2024 Vienna terrorism plot, in which a concert by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift as part of The Eras Tour was targeted.

EKO Cobra would be deployed in response to the Graz school shooting on 10 June 2025.

In 2025, EKO Cobra was assigned to protect Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, following intelligence indicating a targeted threat against him from Iranian-linked individuals.

Recruitment and training

Any member of the Austrian Federal Police may apply to the EKO Cobra. The tests consist of medical examinations, psychological tests, and vigorous physical tests. Upon successful completion of the tests the recruits attend 6 months of specialized training which includes marksmanship, tactical training, sports, driver courses, abseiling/rappelling, hand-to-hand combat, language classes, etc. Besides the courses taught in the basic training, further specialization is possible in fields, such as parachuting, diving, explosives, or sniping.

Since its establishment in 1978, 1,140 officers have served in EKO Cobra.

Organization

The unit's headquarters is located in Wiener Neustadt (Lower Austria). It performs all administrative activities and the training for the EKO Cobra officers. There are departments in Vienna, Graz, Linz, and Innsbruck with small field offices in Klagenfurt, Salzburg, and Feldkirch.

Each department contains four teams and each field office contains two. This structure allows the units to be deployed anywhere in Austria in under 70 minutes.

On 1 April 2013, EKO Cobra was merged in the newly established Special Operations Directorate - DSE (Direktion für Spezialeinheiten). This organisation serves as a unified command for the units with special tasks of the Austrian Federal Police. In the meantime, the organization has been renamed to "Directorate for Special Units/Special Intervention Unit Cobra" (DSE).

Further units of the DSE are the police's bomb disposal units, the observation units and special investigative units.

When needed, the unit cooperates with operators from Wiener Einsatzgruppe Alarmabteilung (WEGA).

Equipment

Weapons

EKO Cobra is armed mainly with Austrian weaponry, but sometimes foreign-produced arms are used too.

Special equipment

EKO Cobra use a variety of equipment designed for a variety of situations.

• Protective gear made of kevlar or ceramic
• Balaclavas
• Camouflage suits
• Tonfa batons
• OC sprays

Uniforms

EKO Cobra officers wear the uniform of the Austrian Federal Police with certain modifications:

• Maroon beret to indicate their elite status
• The unit's insignia is worn instead of the police insignia
• The rank insignia's background is black instead of red as from the regular Federal Police uniforms During tactical operations the officers wear green or black coveralls along with their tactical gear.

Annual Warrior Competition

EKO Cobra competed in the 2011 Annual Warrior Competition winning top honors. EKO Cobra defeated a United States Marine Corps 13th MEU and a joint team from U.S. Army Special Forces 5th Group and Jordan SFG 101 among many others.

Ranks

Main article: Federal Police (Austria)#Ranks and rank insignia

These are the former ranks of EKO Cobra, before the current standard rank insignia were adopted in 2015.

File:Distinktionen Cobra gesammelt.png|Ranks of EKO Cobra

References

Bibliography

References

1. "Organisational Chart of the Federal Ministry".
2. Riegler, Thomas. (2013). "Vom "Gendarmeriekommando Bad Vöslau" zur "Cobra": Der Aufbau der Österreichischen Antiterrorkräfte". Journal for Intelligence, Propaganda and Security Studies.
3. "Sicher in der Luft".
4. "ÖJ-Österreich-Woche 01.08.2006-07.08.2006".
5. "Charred body of Austrian gunman found in bunker of house". Austrian Times.
6. (23 July 2016). "Tiroler Cobra-Beamte in München im Einsatz".
7. (23 July 2016). "42 Cobra-Beamte in München im Einsatz". [[Die Presse]].
8. Wenda, Gregor. (2017). "Gemeinsame Terrorbekämpfung". [[Federal Ministry of the Interior (Austria).
9. (9 July 2017). "Österreichische "Cobra" im Einsatz". [[Berliner Morgenpost]].
10. "Drei Österreicher verletzt: Deutsche Polizei fürchtet neue Eskalation". Die Presse.
11. Hofer, Stefan. (11 July 2017). "G-20: Cobra und Wega "an vorderster Front"". [[Kurier]].
12. "Terror Attack in Vienna - Perpetrator Was Sympathizer of the Islamic State".
13. (August 8, 2024). "Taylor Swift concerts in Vienna canceled after Austrian police say foiled terrorist plot targeted shows".
14. (2025-06-10). "Austria school shooting death toll rises to 11 after victim dies in hospital".
15. (2025-06-10). "Elf Tote bei Amoklauf an Schule in Graz – was bisher bekannt ist". [[Stern (magazine).
16. Pancevski, Laurence Norman and Bojan. "Exclusive {{!}} U.N. Atomic Agency Chief Given Security Protection Over Iran Threat".
17. Spiegel TV Spezial: ''Einsatzkommando Cobra - Ausbildung einer Elite-Einheit.'' Fernsehreportage, 2006.
18. "30 Jahre "Cobra"".
19. (26 July 2011). "Österreichische Sondereinheit: Cobra, übernehmen Sie!". [[Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung]].
20. "Einsatzkommando Cobra / Direktion für Spezialeinheiten".
21. "3rd Annual Warrior Competition Event, 2011".
22. "Uniform - Unterscheidungszeichen: Organe Des Öffentlichen Sicherheitsdienstes (Gem. § 5 Abs. 2 Zif. 3 UND 4 Spg) - Amtsärztlicher Dienst - Seelsorgedienst". [[Ministry of the Interior (Austria).
23. "Uniform-Unterscheidungszeichen (für Organe des öffentlichen Sicherheitsdienstes nach § 5 Abs. 1 Z 1 SPG ab 2015)". [[Ministry of the Interior (Austria).