ARTICLE

April 2004

Jumper Eyeing New Unit of Air Commandos

by Harold Kennedy

The Air Force is so pleased by the performance of 20 airmen who parachuted with the Army’s 173rd Airborne Brigade into Northern Iraq in 2003 that it is planning a specialized unit, based on the United Kingdom’s RAF Regiment, to conduct such operations in the future.

“Those airmen were responsible for getting down there [on the ground] and making sure that airfield was readily to be used as soon as possible,” said the Air Force chief of staff, Gen. John P. Jumper. “Within minutes, they were able to call on the radio, and say what airfield lighting was needed, what navigation aids were needed, to get that airfield up quickly and into active use.”

The Air Force has such units—called contingency response groups—since 1997, Jumper told an NDIA conference on expeditionary warfare in Panama City, Fla. “These are people who get specialized training for rapid opening of airfields.

“It’s not like the Marines, who are going to build the airfield,” he said. The Marines “do that well, and we don’t want to get into that business. But we do want to be able to take advantage of any piece of concrete that’s out there.”

As a result, the Air Force is developing a concept for a unit similar to the RAF Regiment, Jumper said. The RAF Regiment is the Royal Air Force’s corps of ground-warfare specialists, often compared to the Royal Marines. The regiment includes approximately 3,000 officers and enlisted personnel organized into squadrons of 100 to 150 troops. One squadron is airborne.

The unit’s mission includes the ground defense of RAF aircraft and bases. Four of the squadron’s—equipped with the Rapier surface-to-air missile system—provide anti-aircraft defenses for RAF facilities. The regiment also provides instructors at all RAF training bases. In addition, members are assigned to participate in United Nations peacekeeping and monitoring missions.

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