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EKO Cobra (; "Special Intervention Unit Cobra") is a police tactical unit of the Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior. EKO Cobra is not part of the Austrian Federal Police, but instead is part of the Directorate for Special Units/Special Intervention Unit Cobra (, DSE). The DSE reports to the Directorate General for Public Security ( GD).
The unit's missions primarily involve anti-irregular military, apprehension of armed and dangerous criminals, counterterrorism and hostage rescue crisis management, executive protection, high-risk tactical law enforcement situations, operating in difficult to access terrain, protecting high-level meeting areas, providing security in locations at risk of attack or terrorism, special reconnaissance in difficult to access and dangerous areas, support crowd control and riot control, and tactical special operations.
The name Cobra was coined by the press. It was a reference to the US TV series , which was aired in German under the title Kobra, übernehmen Sie. It first appeared in June 1973 in the Kronen Zeitung.
The determining step of founding today's Cobra as a unit of the Ministry of the Interior rather than a regional police unit was done in 1978, primarily as a response to the Munich massacre attack on athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Its main office is in Wiener Neustadt, with sub-offices in Graz, Linz, Salzburg, and Innsbruck. GSG-9 and Sayeret Matkal trained the first operators of the GEK.
The Federal Ministry of the Interior changed the unit's name from GEK to EKO Cobra in 2002.
In the course of the 2006 Lebanon War EKO Cobra assisted in the evacuation of Austrians and other EU citizens from Lebanon.
135 EKO Cobra operatives together with units of the Austrian Armed Forces were involved in the search for Alois Huber in the Annaberg shooting, who killed three police officers and one Red Cross EMT on 17 September 2013, in Lower Austria.
In 2016, 42 officers supported the German police in the Munich shooting.
In 2017, 20 EKO Cobra operatives were directly involved to end the severe riots in the Schanzenviertel area during the G20 Hamburg summit, three operatives were wounded.
EKO Cobra assisted in the manhunt of the remaining suspect who was involved in the 2020 Vienna attack.
EKO Cobra assisted with the arrest of suspects in the foiled 2024 Vienna terrorism plot, in which a concert by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift as part of The Eras Tour was targeted.
EKO Cobra would be deployed in response to the Graz school shooting on 10 June 2025.
In 2025, EKO Cobra was assigned to protect Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, following intelligence indicating a targeted threat against him from Iranian-linked individuals.
Since its establishment in 1978, 1,140 officers have served in EKO Cobra.
Each department contains four teams and each field office contains two. This structure allows the units to be deployed anywhere in Austria in under 70 minutes.
On 1 April 2013, EKO Cobra was merged in the newly established Special Operations Directorate - DSE ( Direktion für Spezialeinheiten). This organisation serves as a unified command for the units with special tasks of the Austrian Federal Police. In the meantime, the organization has been renamed to "Directorate for Special Units/Special Intervention Unit Cobra" ( DSE).
Further units of the DSE are the police's Bomb disposal, the observation units and special investigative units.
| Steyr AUG | Assault Rifle | 5.56×45mm | A1, A2, and A3 variants used. | |
| Glock pistol | Semi-automatic pistol | 9×19mm | Standard issue sidearm, sometimes equipped with a tactical flashlight. | |
| Glock 18 | Machine pistol | Select-fire capability (semi-automatic, fully automatic) | ||
| Glock | Semi-automatic pistol | |||
| Manurhin MR 73 | Revolver | Former sidearm, now replaced. | ||
| Uzi | Submachine gun | 9x19mm | Replaced by the HK MP5SD3 | |
| Steyr TMP | ||||
| Heckler & Koch MP5 | Primarily used the SD3 variant; replaced by the B&T APC9. | |||
| B&T APC9 | The weapon was developed in close coordination with the EKO Cobra unit. | |||
| Heckler & Koch MP7 | Personal defense weapon | 4.6×30mm | Small number used for close protection ops; replaced by the B&T APC9. | |
| Steyr SSG 69 | Sniper rifle | 7.62×51mm | Including sound-suppressed variant | |
| PGM Hécate II | Anti-materiel rifle | .50 BMG | ||
| Remington 870 | Pump-action shotgun | 12 gauge | ||
| Franchi SPAS-12 | Combat shotgun | |||
| H&K HK512 | Semi-automatic shotgun | |||
| H&K HK69A1 | Grenade launcher | 40mm |
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