Malayan Scouts Embroidered Patch

At the end of the war the British Government could see no need for a SAS type regiment, however, in 1946 it was decided that there was a need for a long term deep penetration commando or SAS unit. A new SAS regiment was raised as part of the Territorial Army. The regiment chosen to take on the SAS mantle was the Artists Rifles. The new 21 SAS Regiment came into existence on 1 January 1947 and took over the Artists Rifles headquarters at Dukes Road, Euston.

In 1950 they raised a squadron to fight in the Korean War. After three months training, they were informed that the squadron would not, after all, be needed in Korea, and instead were sent to serve in the Malayan Emergency. On arrival in Malaya they came under the command of the wartime SAS Brigade commander, Mike Calvert. They became B Squadron, Malayan Scouts (SAS), the other units were A Squadron, which had been formed from 100 local volunteers mostly ex Second World War SAS and Chindits and C Squadron formed from volunteers from Rhodesia, the so-called 'Happy Hundred'. By 1956 the Regiment had been enlarged to five squadrons with the addition of D Squadron and the Parachute Regiment Squadron. After three years service the Rhodesians returned home and were replaced by a New Zealand squadron.

A squadron were based at Ipoh while B and C squadrons were at Johore, during training they pioneered techniques of resupply by helicopter and also set up the "Hearts and Minds" campaign to win over the locals with medical teams going from village to village treating the sick. With the aid of Iban trackers from Borneo they became experts at surviving in the jungle. In 1951 the Malayan Scouts (SAS) had successfully recruited enough men to form a Regimental Headquarters, a headquarters squadron and four operational squadrons over 900 men.^[37] The regiment was tasked to seek, find, fix then destroy the terrorists and prevent their infiltration into protected areas. Their tactics would be long range patrols, ambush and tracking the terrorists to their bases. They trained and acquired skills in treejumping, this involved parachuting into the thick jungle canopy and letting your parachute catch on the branches. Brought to a halt the parachutist then cut himself free and lowered himself to the ground by rope.^[36] Using inflatable boats for river patrolling, jungle fighting techniques, psychological warfare and booby trapping terrorist supplies.^[37] Calvert was invalided back to the United Kingdom in 1951 and replaced by Lieutenant-Colonel John Sloane.

In February 1951, 54 men from B Squadron carried out the first parachute drop in the campaign in Operation Helsby, which was a major offensive in the River Perak–Belum valley, just south of the Thai border.