Editing Vympel (section)

== Origins ==
=== KUOS ===
As most of the training in the KGB academy concentrated on plainclothes operational work focused on espionage and counter-espionage, in 1955 the [[First Chief Directorate]] of the service established the Development Courses for  Officer Personnel ({{lang|ru|Курсы усовершенствования офицерского состава}} ({{lang|ru|КУОС}}), Latinized abbreviation KUOS) &ndash; a training cadre with the purpose of training general duty KGB officers in irregular warfare and combat tactics for clandestine operations overseas or as a stay-behind cadre and backbone for the formation of partisan units in case of a foreign invasion.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.kuos-vympel.ru/spravka/kuos/|title=Курсы усовершенствования офицерского состава (КУОС)|website=www.kuos-vympel.ru|date=31 May 2016 |language=ru|access-date=2017-12-05}}</ref> In 1966 these courses were taken out of the structure of the First Chief Directorate and co-located as an independent training center together with the training center of the [[Soviet Border Troops]] (the KGB's own military force) in [[Golitsyno, Moscow Oblast]]. The KUOS graduates had their [[baptism by fire]] during the [[Prague Spring]] in 1968. A year later the KUOS was absorbed into the KGB Academy (Higher Red Banner School of KGB of the USSR, {{lang|ru|ВКШ КГБ СССР}}) as part of the students' curriculum &ndash; initially a three-month course. In 1970 the KUOS relocated again to [[Balashikha]], the position of the director was promoted from a KGB [[Major (rank)|Major]]/Captain 2nd Rank to a KGB [[Polkovnik|Colonel]]/[[Captain 1st Rank]] and the duration of the training increased to seven months.

=== Zenyth ===
The main purpose of the KUOS center was the regular and irregular combat training of KGB Academy cadets as part of the establishment's curriculum. The secondary purpose was in case of a rising tension in a specific region to generate a tailored task group out of the cadets currently in an advanced stage of their training. Such example is the [[Operation Storm-333]] ({{lang|ru|Операция Шторм-333}}),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kuos-vympel.ru/history/storm/|title=Операция "Шторм 333"|website=www.kuos-vympel.ru|date=17 August 2021 }}</ref> which gained a legendary status in Russia. From the cadre of KUOS the Special Operations Task Group [[Zenyth]] was formed to take part in the liquidation of the Afghan leader [[Hafizullah Amin]] alongside the [[:ru:Гром (спецподразделение)|Grom]] Team (Russian for "thunder") of the KGB's [[Alpha Group]]. The Zenyth Task Group was headed personally by the director of KUOS Colonel Grigoriy Boyarinov (who was in charge of the KUOS since it became an independent structure in 1969). Since Hafizullah Amin came to power by ordering the assassination of his predecessor [[Nur Muhammad Taraki]] and fearing he would be ousted from power the same way he asked the Soviet government to provide his protective detail. The combined KGB Grom and Zenyth contingent was deployed in that role, wearing Afghan army uniforms without identification. Later, when the Soviet leadership re-evaluated the situation and ordered a military intervention the dual characteristics of those KGB officers as intelligence operatives with advanced combat training and their location within the Presidential Palace made them ideal to both gather intel on the actions of the Afghan leadership and spearhead the assault on the residence, opening the way for the "Muslim Battalion" (154th Special Operations Independent Force &ndash; {{lang|ru|154-й Отдельный отряд специального назначения}}) of the GRU Spetsnaz. Col. Boyarinov was killed in the fighting along with 5 operatives of Grom and Zenyth.  Storm-333 is a rare example of KGB Spetsnaz and [[Spetsnaz GRU|GRU Spetsnaz]] operating in concert.

=== Kaskad and Omega ===
After the full-sized invasion of Soviet forces within the Afghan People's Republic in July 1980 the KGB ordered the KUOS to form another special operations task force - Kaskad ({{lang|ru|Каскад}}, Russian for "cascade"). From July 1980 until April 1983 the Kaskad made four tours to Afghanistan in different composition and with different duration, so the four task forces are known simply as Kaskad-1 (6 months), Kaskad-2 (6 months), Kaskad-3 (9 months) and Kaskad-4 (12 months).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kuos-vympel.ru/history/kaskad/|title=Оперативно-разведывательный боевой отряд "Каскад"|website=www.kuos-vympel.ru|date=17 August 2021 }}</ref> Unlike the [[CIA]] the [[KGB]] operated both in intelligence and counter-intelligence capacities, so in contrast to the Zenyth Task Group, which was tailored to a specific operation and concentrated on intelligence gathering, the Kaskad Task Groups were organised to provide support to the KGB counter intelligence operatives in theater, suppressing covert activities in the towns and hunting down agents cross-country. In addition those task groups had the mission to select, train and mentor groups of Afghans which would take over their duties once the Kaskad is brought back to the Soviet Union and dissolved. 

In April 1983 the Kaskad-4 was relieved by the Omega Special Operations Task Group ({{lang|ru|Отряд специального назначения «Омега» КГБ СССР}}) with the same tasks as the Kaskad teams. The name of the task force (the last letter in the Greek alphabet) indicated it to be the last unit of that sort to be deployed to Afghanistan. Omega was composed of 9 mobile special operations task groups (8 located in the interior of the country, the ninth group located together with the unit HQ in [[Kabul]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://war.afgan.kz/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=122:-lr-&catid=50:2008-12-07-08-20-43&Itemid=57|title="Омега" оСпН КГБ СССР|last=Administrator|website=war.afgan.kz}}</ref> This task group concluded the building of local Afghan capabilities within the Afghan Counter-Intelligence Service KAM and its Special Operations Tasks Battalion to take over the responsibilities of the KGB assets deployed on site.