By: Warren Gray
Copyright © 2024
“Extrema Ratio is specialized in the development and production
of professional knives for military, public security, and rescue use.
We produce high-level, military, tactical, and hunting knives…
suitable for the toughest of environments.”
— Extrema Ratio website, 2024
“Silenziosi come la notte, veloci come la folgore.”
(“As silent as the night, as fast as the lightning.”)
— Motto of the Italian Carabinieri Special Intervention Group (GIS)
Extrema Ratio (“Extreme Recourse,” in English) is a top-quality, professional knifemaker company based in Prato, Tuscany, Italy, only about 42 miles northeast of the Italian Special Forces units at Pisa, Camp Darby, and Livorno. (See my Gunpowder Magazine article on “Italian Special Forces and Their Weapons” from October 3, 2021, for more information on these units.) Not surprisingly, these elite organizations all have a marked preference for their fine, locally produced Extrema Ratio tactical/combat knives.
The company currently produces 87 different knife models in the Tactical/Combat category, including the standard-issue Fulcrum E.I. bayonet ($525), with a 7.1-inch blade, for the Beretta ARX160 A2 or A3 carbine, used by most Italian troops today, and a wide variety of combat knives, daggers, and other edged weapons.
Extrema Ratio Fulcrum E.I. military bayonet. Photo credits: Extrema Ratio
Extrema Ratio Fulcrum E.I. military bayonet. Photo credits: Extrema Ratio
Moving forward into the Special Forces arena, the Army Special Forces Command (COMFOSE) at Camp Darby, in northwestern Italy, is a brigade-level structure, comprised of two Tier-1 (Special Forces) units and one Tier-2 (Special Operations) unit. COMFOSE has adopted the Extrema Ratio A.S.F.K. (Assault Special Forces Knife, at $442), with a 6.4-inch, Böhler steel blade, reviving an Italian, WWI tradition of trench warfare.
This is very similar in concept to the official U.S. Army Mark I Trench Knife of 1918, incorporating brass knuckles, which continued to see military, combat service throughout World War Two. A very special A.S.F.K. X Brigatae Anniversarium limited-edition knife was produced, with a camouflaged blade, but only 70 were made.
Extrema Ratio A.S.F.K. Special Forces knife. Photo credits: Extrema Ratio
Extrema Ratio A.S.F.K. Special Forces knife. Photo credits: Extrema Ratio
Italy’s premier, Tier-1 Special Forces unit under COMFOSE is the 9th Paratroopers Assault Regiment “Col. Moschin,” in Livorno, similar in training, equipment, and capabilities to the U.S. Army’s Delta Force, or the British Special Air Service (SAS), tasked with counterterrorism duties, special operations, and direct action, as required, with a 300-man Raiders Battalion at Camp Darby, formerly a U.S. military base in Italy. They wear a gray-green commando beret, and since 2002, they carry the Extrema Ratio “Col. Moschin” knife ($428), with a 6.3-inch blade, in either black or Desert Warfare finish.
Extrema Ratio “Col. Moschin” Special Forces knife. Photo credits: Extrema Ratio
Extrema Ratio “Col. Moschin” Special Forces knife. Photo credits: Extrema Ratio
The second Tier-1 (since 2017) Special Forces unit is the Italian Army’s 185th Paratroopers Reconnaissance Target-Acquisition Regiment (185° RAO) “Folgore” (“Thunderbolt,” or “Lightning”), also based at Livorno, subdivided into 12-man teams, and tasked with target acquisition, air assault, airborne operations, special reconnaissance, special operations, and direct action. They wear maroon paratrooper berets.
The 185° RAO carries the sleek, traditional, Extrema Ratio Herring dagger ($633), previously called the Commando or Commando Desert Warfare model, a direct copy of the famous British Fairbairn-Sykes Commando dagger of World War Two fame, with a 6.5-inch, double-edged blade, an ideal, combat-proven weapon.
Extrema Ratio Herring combat dagger. Photo credits: Extrema Ratio
Extrema Ratio Herring combat dagger. Photo credits: Extrema Ratio
The next special operations unit is the Tier-2, 4th Alpini (“Alpine”) Paratroopers Regiment in Verona, at the foot of the Alps, a Ranger-type formation specializing in mountain warfare, special operations, air assault, and airborne operations. Alpini troops are nicknamed Le Penne Nere (“The Black Feathers”), because the enlisted men traditionally wear a black raven’s feather on their service caps, and even on their helmets, while officers wear a white eagle’s feather.
The Alpini Paratroopers use the Extrema Ratio Misericordia (meaning “Amercement,” to punish a criminal), at $216, a very lightweight (only three ounces), compact dagger with a 4.65-inch, Böhler N690 steel blade. There’s a light, polymer grip, and a pointed, “skull-crusher,” rear tip.
Extrema Ratio Misericordia tactical dagger. Photo credits: Extrema Ratio
Extrema Ratio Misericordia tactical dagger. Photo credits: Extrema Ratio
Alpini troops also utilize the Extrema Ratio Fulcrum Ranger bayonet ($525), instead of the standard-issue Fulcrum E.I. model, with design and hilt guard for the M4/M16 rifle, wire-cutting system, black handle, and rigid, black sheath.
Extrema Ratio Fulcrum Ranger bayonet. Photo credit: Extrema Ratio
Not to be outdone by the army, the Italian Navy has its own Tier-1 Special Forces unit, the 300-man Operational Raiders Group (GOI), similar to U.S. Navy SEAL teams or the British Special Boat Service (SBS), based at Porto Venere, near the Gulf of La Spezia, in northwestern Italy. GOI is skilled at attacking naval or merchant ships at sea, attacking naval ports or coastal facilities, search-and-rescue, infiltration and special reconnaissance in hostile territory, and counterterrorism operations, and they wear an emerald-green commando beret.
Their highly-specialized knife is the unusual Extrema Ratio S 2 GOI ($471), formerly the GOI S.E.R.E. 2 survival knife, with a 5.82-inch blade, more of a multi-purpose tool for combat divers than an actual fighting knife.
Extrema Ratio S 2 GOI survival knife. Photo credit: Extrema Ratio
Finally, we come to the Carabinieri (literally, “Carbiners,” meaning “Soldiers with Carbines”), a national, military police force, technically part of the Italian Armed Forces, with their very own Tier-1 Special Forces unit, the elite, Special Intervention Group (GIS, in Italian), or “Leatherheads,” in Livorno. The GIS is like a 100-man police SWAT team on steroids, but with military duties, as well, operating in four-man teams. Its roles and tasks include counterterrorism, law enforcement, special operations, special reconnaissance, and direct action. They wear a maroon beret, like most Italian paratroopers.
Italian Carabinieri paratroopers on parade, 2006. Photo credit: Utente:Jollyroger, CC BY-SA 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
The GIS prefers the Extrema Ratio Suppressor Operativo (“Operative”) dagger ($553), with a double-edged, 6.9-inch, Böhler N690 steel blade. This design is similar in principle to the very famous Case V-42 dagger of World War Two, used by the First Special Service Force, with a similar blade length and shape, and a “skull-crusher” pommel at the rear, but with non-slip, nylon grips instead of stacked, leather washers.
Extrema Ratio Suppressor Operativo dagger. Photo credit: airelibre.es
In conclusion, the Italian Special Forces, like our own, represent all branches of their armed forces, and they are justifiably proud of their locally produced, superb, Extrema Ratio combat knives. These remarkably skilled commandos are equipped with the very finest in weapons and equipment for performing their hazardous, counterterrorist duties and other combat skills with quiet precision.
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The author as a JSOC paratrooper, 1987. Photos by Melody Gray
The author as a JSOC paratrooper, 1987. Photos by Melody Gray
Warren Gray is a retired U.S. Air Force intelligence officer, with experience in joint special operations and counterterrorism. He served in Europe (including Italy) and the Middle East, earned Air Force and Navy parachutist wings, four college degrees, and was a distinguished graduate of the Air Force Intelligence Operations Specialist Course, and the USAF Combat Targeting School. He is currently a published author and historian.