Air force infantry and special forces

Air force infantry and special forces are infantry and special forces units that
are part of a nation's air force. Airmen assigned to such units are trained,
armed and equipped for ground combat and special operations.

Contents
Rationale
Special operations forces An airman of the German Air Force
Doctrine Regiment (right) together with an
American Security Forces Specialist
History
during an anti-terrorist exercise at
World War I
Büchel Air Base, Germany in 2007.
World War II
Vietnam
List of air force infantry and special forces units
Historic
Current
See also
References
External links

Rationale U.S. Air Force Special Tactics

Commandos training in Jordan
Traditionally the primary rationale for air force infantry units is for force
protection. Aircraft are most vulnerable when on the ground, to offensive
counter air operations, and most cannot operate without fixed infrastructure,
consumables, and trained personnel. An adversary may hope to achieve air
supremacy or protect itself from air attack first by attacking airbases, aircraft and
other assets on the ground. Such attacks can be made by, for example, aircraft, cruise
missiles and short range ballistic missiles. However, an adversary at a numerical,
technological or other disadvantage may choose to attempt to disrupt flight
operations by aiming to overrun or raid enemy air bases as early as possible, using
Personnel of the Royal Air Force
blitzkrieg like tactics, for example Operation Barbarossa, or through the use of
Regiment in a Land Rover with a
special forces and unconventional attacks, such as the Taliban raid on Camp Bastion. Weapons Mount Installation Kit
("Wimik"), stopped on a road
To protect against attacks against airbases, and from being overrun, some air forces while conducting a combat
have a force dispersal doctrine that sees aircraft dispersed to secondary and mission near Kandahar Airfield,
emergency air bases, such as highway strips, and, as was the case with the Royal Air Afghanistan, in 2010.
Force's vertical take off Harriers, dispersals in forest clearings or the Bas 60 and Bas
90 systems of the Swedish Air Force. However, when dispersed in such a way,
aircraft and personnel are even more vulnerable to ground attacks.

To defend against ground attacks, most air forces train airmen in basic infantry skills and have formed air force infantry units.
Other than base and asset defence roles, air force infantry units may have other roles
such as Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear (CBRN) defence, training
other air force personnel in weapon skills and basic ground defence tactics,
traditional infantry combat operations, as well as providing leadership to other
airmen in base defence roles. In addition to protecting their home bases and
dispersals, air force infantry forces will also provide force protection when air
expeditionary forces are deployed abroad and of airheads during air bridge
operations, usually being some of the first air force personnel on the ground.[1]
Moving towards the special operations spectrum of operations, is assaulting,
capturing and securing of airfields for use by one's own aircraft,[2]

Not all air forces possess their own ground units and whether or not they do or is
sometimes due to other factors such as political considerations and inter-service
rivalry. Such units act as a force multiplier allowing the secure operation of forward
airbases and thereby increasing the availability and responsiveness of aviation assets

U.S. Air Force 37th Training

Wing's Emergency Services
Special operations forces
Team use a team lift technique to
Some air forces also possess special operations forces, who perform roles on land in enter a target building during
support of air force operations. These include units and individual personnel who training at Lackland Air Force
operate independently or, with other military units. Base, Texas, on April 24, 2007.

The chief missions in such units are combat search and rescue, including rescuing
downed aircrews in hostile territory; long-range reconnaissance, direct action and forward air control in support of air to ground
operations, for example illuminating targets for attack by laser guided bombs.

Other common roles include: military weather forecasting, pathfinding, domestic counter terrorism and hostage rescue missions;
capturing airbases, establishing advanced airfields and conducting air traffic control.

Doctrine
In most forces a layered approach is used to deliver a defence in depth. Peacetime doctrine is to maintain the integrity of the
perimeter through the use of watch posts and/or remote sensors, and if deemed necessary patrols within the perimeter. In the
event of the perimeter being penetrated, heavily armed and mobile fast response units, often using armoured vehicles, will
attempt to intercept, identify and if necessary suppress the incursion. If attackers manage to gain entry into the working areas of
the airbase, by subterfuge or other means, then the role of air force infantry is to remove them using close quarter battle.

Wartime doctrine, in for example the RAF Regiment and USAF Security Forces, sees the addition of another layer through the
use of aggressive patrolling outside the perimeter to deter, detect and destroy would be attackers. The area around the airbase is
mapped and prearranged fire plans are put in place to allow patrols to call down rapid and accurate indirect fire from attached
mortars and other crew served weapons.

History

World War I
The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS), one of the two British air arms that was amalgamated to create the RAF, operated an
armoured car wing that grew in size to some 20 squadrons. Using at first unarmoured vehicles to pick up downed aircrew and for
line of communications security duties, it was the RNAS which created the Rolls-Royce armoured cars, which it also used to raid
and harass the Germans, thus beginning the tradition of RAF armoured car operations.

World War II
During World War II, Luftwaffe doctrine was to operate as a tactical air force
in support of the army providing air defence and close air support against
ground targets. Due to political considerations all German air defences were
placed in the hands of the Luftwaffe, and Luftwaffe Flak units were attached
to army units to provide ground-based air defence. In addition to self-
protection and air defence roles, these Luftwaffe troops, of for example the
Flak corps, were also called upon to use their Flak guns in fire support and
anti-armour roles, and it was in the hands of Luftwaffe airmen that the
German 88mm gun was first used against tanks. German Luftwaffe airmen operating a 2
cm Flak 38 anti-aircraft cannon
Flying units were also expected to closely follow the advancing army and as
alongside a Heer Panzer II light tank
such could be expected to encounter enemy combatants during during Operation Barbarossa in 1941.
counterattacks or who had not been cleared; because of this, all Luftwaffe
personnel were trained to a higher level in infantry skills and tactics than was
normal in other air forces of the time. Also because of political considerations German paratroopers, the Fallschirmjäger, were
part of the air force. Later in the war with Germany facing a manpower shortage, rather than release its personnel to the German
Army, Göring chose instead to create the Luftwaffe Field Divisions, using personnel surplus to the needs of flying operations; as
cadre for these units, officers and non commissioned officers were transferred from the Flak and paratroop units.

One of the great successes of the German forces in World War II was the destruction of enemy air forces by over running them on
the ground, and the use of airborne forces in advance and in support of ground operations. One of the vulnerabilities of this time
was the loss of one's own airfields, which if captured would give the enemy the infrastructure needed to build an air-bridge,
during the Battle of Crete the airfields were a key objective for the Germans, and their capture by paratroopers allowed their use
by the gliders and transports of the main air landing force.

To guard against British airfields falling to German paratroops as Maleme had, Winston Churchill demanded that RAF airmen
should be trained and equipped to defend themselves against ground attack. In a condemning memo to the Secretary of State for
Air and to the Chief of the Air Staff dated June 29, 1941, Churchill stated he would no longer tolerate the shortcomings of the
Royal Air Force (RAF), in which half a million RAF personnel had no combat role. He ordered that all airmen be armed and
ready to "fight and die in defence of their airfields" and that "every airfield should be a stronghold of fighting air-ground men,
and not the abode of uniformed civilians in the prime of life protected by detachments of soldiers".[3] Amongst the measures
implemented were improvised armoured cars and pillboxes facing inwards towards the runways. However, rather than training all
airmen as infantry on the German model, the RAF created instead the RAF Regiment.

During the planning of the second front which became the invasion of Normandy, it was foreseen that as the allied armies
advanced, aircraft operating from airfields in England would be decreasingly effective and that to maintain air cover allied fighter
squadrons would need to accompany the advancing divisions. The RAF Commandos were created to service aircraft from newly
built or captured airfields. However, they were fully commando trained and because of the forward nature of their operations,
they were expected to help secure, make safe and defend from counterattack the airfields from which they operated.

Vietnam
In the face of US air superiority, North Vietnam resorted to attacking the United States Air Force on the ground, with infiltrators
striking from both within and outside the perimeter. The United States Air Force Security Police defended against them.

First formed during World War II, the United States Air Force Security Police were dramatically reduced in scope following the
war. Post war the newly established United States Air Force (USAF) saw its primary role as a strategic one. Its base defense
doctrine thus was one of security policing. United States involvement in Vietnam, however, brought a real and sustained threat of
ground attack. To meet these threats the Phu Cat Air Base Security Forces pioneered the Air Base Ground Defense doctrine that
informs USAF practice to this day.

In a demarcation of combat roles the United States Army was primarily responsible for security outside of airbases, and the
Republic of Vietnam Air Force for patrolling the internal perimeter. However, rather than just rely upon static defense, the United
States Air Force pioneered the use of remote detection equipment, such as seismic detectors and ground surveillance radar, to
detect infiltrators. Rifle squads responded, mounted in heavily armed Cadillac Gage Commando and M113 armored personnel
carriers.

List of air force infantry and special forces units

Historic
Fallschirmjäger
Luftwaffe Field Divisions
Royal Air Force Commandos
Unit 684

Current US Air Force Security Policemen aboard a

V-100 (XM-706E2) during exercise Team
Special Operations Group
Spirit '81.
Airfield Defence Guards
No. 4 Squadron RAAF
Force Protection Squadron [4]
Para-SAR
Agrupación Antisecuestros Aéreos
Comandos de Aviación
PLAAF Airborne Corps
Czech Air Force Security Squadrons
Estonian Air Force Base Defense Operations Center[5]
Fusiliers Commandos de l'Air
German Air Force Regiment Members of the Fusiliers Commandos de
Garud Commando Force l'Air, of the French Air Force.
Paskhas Corps
Unit 669
Yehidat Shaldag
16º Stormo (Battaglione Fucilieri dell'Aria - Air Force Fusiliers Battalion)
17º Stormo Incursori (17th Raiders Wing)
Base Defense Development & Training Squadron
RMAF Special Force
Montenegrin Air Force Air Base Security Platoon
 RNZAF Security Forces
Royal Norwegian Air Force Base Defense Squadron
Special Service Wing
710th Special Operations Wing
Polícia Aérea
6th Search & Rescue Air Group
Sri Lanka Air Force Regiment
Parachute Reconnaissance Company 17
Swedish Air Force Rangers
Airmen of the Special Service Wing of the
Royal Thai Air Force Security Force Regiment
Pakistan Air Force during training at Fort
Special Operations Regiment (Thailand) Lewis in 2007.
Combat Search and Rescue (Turkish Armed Forces)
RAF Regiment
United States Air Force Security Forces[6]
United States Air Force Air Support Operations Squadrons
United States Air Force Rescue Squadrons
United States Air Force Special Tactics Squadrons

See also
Marines
Infantry
List of military special forces units
Indonesian Air Force commandos from the
List of paratrooper forces
Paskhas Corps in Biak Air Base.

References
1. Staff; Ministry of Defence, Air Staff. "British Air and Space
power doctrine AP3000 Edition 4" (http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafcm
s/mediafiles/9E435312_5056_A318_A88F14CF6F4FC6CE.pdf)
(PDF). RAF. MoD. Retrieved October 3, 2014. page 22,
ISBN 978-0-9552189-7-2
2. Haux, Hailey (April 4, 2013). "A jump to the past: Airmen
remember historic airdrop" (https://web.archive.org/web/201410
Swedish Air Force Rangers of the
06071928/http://www.usafe.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=12334281
Swedish Air Force.
9). United States Air Force. United States Air Force. Archived
from the original (http://www.usafe.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=12
3342819) on October 6, 2014. Retrieved September 25, 2014.
3. Prime Minister to Secretary of State for Air and Chief of the Air Staff, 29 June 41. Included in appendix in Winston
S. Churchill, The Grand Alliance: The Second World War, Volume 3, p 693. RosettaBooks, 2010.
ISBN 0795311443, 9780795311444
4. "Soldaat vliegveldverdediging" (http://www.mil.be/nl/jobs/soldaat-force-protection). Belgian Defence. Retrieved
29 October 2017.
5. Kaitsevägi, Eesti. "Air Force - Kaitsevägi" (http://www.mil.ee/en/air_force). www.mil.ee. Retrieved 29 October
2017.
6. "Show of Force" (http://www.141arw.ang.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/437711/show-of-force/). af.mil.
Retrieved 21 April 2018.

External links
 The Air Force’s New Ground War (http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/apj/apj06/fal06/holmes.html)
Current air base ground defense doctrine:are we postured to meet the expectations of AEF (http://www.au.af.mil/
au/awc/awcgate/acsc/01-031.pdf)

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This page was last edited on 8 June 2019, at 14:50 (UTC).

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