Imperial Commando Special Unit The Imperial Commando Special Unit was a special forces division of elite operatives that formerly belonged to the Republic Grand Army ' s Special Operations Brigade during the Clone Wars . With roughly a thousand commandos left by the end of the conflict , the remaining squads were reorganized as a special division within the 501st Legion , the personal stormtrooper unit that served directly under the command of the Sith Lord Darth Vader . During the early period of the New Order , the Imperial commandos were often tasked with assignments that involved hunting down and assassinating the enemies of the Galactic Empire , ranging from fugitive Jedi to clone renegades and deserters . The unit was first commanded by the Emperor ' s Hand Sa Cuis , but was later replaced by Commander Roly Melusar after his death . The first Imperial commandos included three of the four members of Delta Squad : IC - 1138 , IC - 1140 and IC - 1262 ; RC - 1207 had disappeared in the line of duty . The commandos left over from Omega Squad and Galaar Squad were merged into Squad 40 . History . The New Order ' s first Imperial commandos were the Republic commandos of the Grand Army ' s Special Operations Brigade . With the end of the Clone Wars immediately followed by the rise of the Galactic Empire in 19 BBY , the remaining commandos were transferred to the 501st Legion , an elite stormtrooper unit under the command of the Sith Lord Darth Vader . Known collectively as the Imperial Commando Special Unit , the new organization remained comprised of genetically - identical soldiers , bred from the same clone line that produced the Republic clone troopers . Nearly everything else about the commandos — their armor , designations and even their squads — were altered to reflect the Empire ' s policy of Imperialization . The Imperial commando ranks did not reflect the full strength that the former Special Operations Brigade started with at the beginning of the Clone Wars . In addition to several confirmed deserters , attrition due to three years of civil war inflicted heavy casualties on them , leaving the Empire to inherit roughly a thousand clone commandos by the end of the conflict . In addition to the millions of new clone soldiers that swelled the ranks of the Stormtrooper Corps , Arkanian Microtechnologies produced Spaarti - engineered clones for the purpose of replenishing the commando ranks . The original commandos that were bred via Kaminoan techniques were secretly agitated by the introduction of clones from the Arkanian batch of Centax - 2 , whom they regarded as subpar troopers with inferior training . Though the former Republic commandos composed the vast majority of the Imperial Commando Special Unit , a number of " Alpha " - class ARC troopers were also recruited into the 501st ranks to train new generations of the Empire ' s elite shock trooper s . In the days that followed Emperor Palpatine ' s rise to absolute power , the commandos replaced their old " Katarn " - class armor for a new suit of armor , devoid of unit markings and personal customizations in accordance with the New Order ' s emphasis on uniformity and obedience . Squads that had suffered one or more losses were either given new replacements or combined with other squads . The former Delta Squad ' s RC - 1207 was replaced by a new commando ; the remaining members of Galaar Squad and Omega Squad were amalgamated to form Squad 40 . However , their identification numbers , apart from the " IC " prefix , remained the same . In addition to retaining the same designations , the commandos were permitted to keep the DC - 17 rifle for a time , mostly because it was the primary weapon that they were accustomed with . Though overall command of the unit fell to Darth Vader , Imperial commando operations were more closely monitored by a subordinate of the Dark Lord of the Sith . Their first commander was the Dark Jedi Sa Cuis , a Force - sensitive assassin known as an Emperor ' s Hand . After Cuis ' s death , leadership of the Imperial commandos reverted to an Imperial officer named Roly Melusar .