Police in New South Wales, east Australia, created an armed response unit, composed of agents with specialized training and equipped with automatic weapons, in response to the 2025 attack on a beach near Sydney.
© REUTERS
02/11/2026
by
Lusa
A new South Wales police, east Australia, created an armed response unit, composed of trained agents equipped with automatic weapons in response to the 2025 attack on a beach near Sydney.
The unit, called Armed Response Command (ARC), has an investment of 94.3 million Australian dollars (about 60 million euros) and will mobilize high visibility patrols in busy Sydney locations, major events, sports facilities and places of worship, as confirmed today by the police.
The new police force results in and responds to the security enhancement needs in public spaces, felt by the Australian state following the terrorist attack perpetrated in December 2025 on Bondi beach outside Sydney.
Agents shall travel in specially equipped vehicles and shall use automatic Australian-made ACAR assault weapons.
The new police device will also have an active operations center 24 hours a day, in charge of coordinating the mobilizations and providing information and intelligence data in real time.
The new unit will initially operate in conjunction with the police operation “Shelter”, launched in October 2023 due to increased community tensions and anti-Semitic and Islamic incidents.
The latter will gradually reduce the activity as the CRF assumes more responsibilities.
The creation of the special unit follows the attack on December 14, 2025, during a Jewish celebration of Hanukkah, also known as the Feast of Lights in Bondi, a well-known Sydney coastal area, where two men, father and son, opened fire against the participants and killed 15 people, in addition to leaving more than 40 injured.
Australia classified the events as a terrorist attack and the authorities pointed to a possible inspiration in the extremist Islamic State group by the attackers, although they pointed out that they found no evidence that they were part of a wider terrorist network.
His father was shot down by the authorities during the attack. The son, Naveed Akram, remains detained and faces 78 charges, including 15 for murder and one for committing terrorist acts. The defendant will appear before Australian justice on 24 February.