The 2nd Commando Regiment is a special forces unit of the Australian Army and is part of Special Operations Command. The regiment was established on 19 June 2009 when the 4th Battalion RAR (Commando) was renamed. It is based at Holsworthy, New South Wales. The 2nd Commando Regiment trains and has served with coalition special forces units, and is highly regarded by these units. The regiment has been involved in operations in East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan, where it was used in a direct action warfighting role. It has also been involved in domestic security operations including the 2006 Commonwealth Games and the 2014 G20 Leaders Summit. In 2019, the regiment was made the Command's capability lead for strategic strike.
The 2nd Commando Regiment is one of three combat-capable units within Special Operations Command and operates alongside other SOCOMD elements. The role of the regiment is to conduct strategic strike, counter terrorism and special recovery operations. Army doctrine specifies that the role of commando units is to "span the gap between conventional infantry operations and unconventional operations", focusing on advanced force operations and direct action missions. Originally formed to complement the Special Air Service Regiment (SASR), according to Blaxland, and is designed to be a "self-contained flexible and rapidly deployable force" and is structured for both special operations and domestic counter-terrorism. In its domestic counter-terrorism role it provides the Tactical Assault Group (East) to respond to high-risk incidents on the eastern coast of Australia beyond the capability of state and federal police tactical groups to respond to. The regiment maintains a high readiness element which encompasses the parachute company group role that the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (3 RAR) had maintained before being re-roled as a light infantry battalion. In 2010, the then-Chief of Army stated that as part of the future amphibious ready group based on the Navy's new Canberra-class it will be necessary to rotate a Commando Company to support the infantry battalion.