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Air force ground forces and special forces are the land warfare forces of an air force. They may include infantry, special forces, security forces, and military police. Airmen assigned to such units may be trained, armed and equipped for ground combat and special operations. [1]
Traditionally the primary rationale for air force ground forces 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 blitzkrieg like tactics, for example Operation Barbarossa, or through the use of special forces and unconventional attacks, such as the Taliban raid on Camp Bastion.
To protect against attacks against airbases, and from being overrun, some air forces have a force dispersal doctrine that sees aircraft dispersed to secondary and emergency air bases, such as highway strips, and, as was the case with the Royal Air 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 certain airmen in basic weapons handling skills and tactics; some train units as infantry.
Other than base and asset defence roles, air force ground forces 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 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 ground 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. [2] Moving towards the special operations spectrum of operations, is assaulting, capturing and securing of airfields for use by one's own aircraft. [3]
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.
Some air forces also possess special forces, who perform roles on land in support of air force operations. These include units and individual personnel who operate independently or, with other military units.
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.
In most forces a layered approach is used to deliver a defense 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 armored 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 ground forces 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.
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. These were then disbanded in 1915 and the vehicles transferred to the British Army.
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.
Flying units were also expected to closely follow the advancing army and as such could be expected to encounter enemy combatants during 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. The casualties in the Fallschirmjager were such that they were largely used as ground troops thereafter.
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". [4] Amongst the measures implemented were improvised armoured cars, such as the Armadillo or Bison, and pillboxes, most notably the Pickett-Hamilton fort, which could be raised to block a runway. 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.
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.
Special Operations Group 
Airfield Defence Guards No. 4 Squadron RAAF 
No. 41 Squadron BAF 
Force Protection Squadron [5] 
Air Force Infantry Para-SAR 
Agrupación Antisecuestros Aéreos Comandos de Aviación Infanteria de Aviación 
PLAAF Airborne Corps 
Agrupación de Comandos Especiales Aéreos 
Czech Air Force Security Squadrons
Estonian Air Force Base Defense Operations Center [6] 
Fusiliers Commandos de l'Air 
German Air Force Regiment Kampfretter 
31st Search and Rescue Operations Squadron [7] (special force) Hellenic Air Force Police 
Garud Commando Force 
Bravo Detachment 90 Kopagsgat Quick Reaction Corps 
Unit 669 Unit 5101 
16º Stormo (Battaglione Fucilieri dell'Aria - Air Force Fusiliers Battalion) 17º Stormo Incursori (17th Raiders Wing)
Base Defense Development & Training Squadron
RMAF Ground Defence Force (Infantry and security forces) RMAF Special Forces 
Montenegrin Air Force Air Base Security Platoon
RNZAF Security Forces 
Luchtvaarttroepen 
Nigerian Air Force Regiment 
Royal Norwegian Air Force Base Defense Squadron
Special Service Wing 
710th Special Operations Wing 
JW GROM JW Komandosów 
Polícia Aérea 
6th Search & Rescue Air Group Combat Control Team
Escuadrón de Zapadores Paracaidistas (EZAPAC) Escuadrón de Apoyo al Despliegue Aéreo (EADA) Segundo Escuadrón de Apoyo al Despliegue Aéreo (SEADA)
Sri Lanka Air Force Regiment 
Parachute Reconnaissance Company 17 
Swedish Air Force Rangers Swedish Air Force Force Protection (Flygbassäk) [8] [ circular reference ]
RTAF Security Force Regiment RTAF Special Operations Regiment 
Combat Search and Rescue (Turkish Armed Forces) 
RAF Regiment 
Ukrainian Air Force Rifle Infantry Brigade (Consolidated)
United States Air Force Security Forces [9] [10] United States Air Force Air Support Operations Squadrons United States Air Force Rescue Squadrons United States Air Force Special Tactics Squadrons United States Air Force Special Reconnaissance 
Venezuelan Air Force Infantry (Infanteria Aeronautica de la Aviacion Militar) Venezuelan Air Force Commandos (Grupos de Operaciones Especiales Aeroes)
Fallschirmjäger 1st Fallschirm-Panzer Division Hermann Göring Luftwaffe Field Divisions Royal Air Force Commandos 
it: Arditi distruttori della Regia Aeronautica (Destroyer Commando Royal Air Force) Caçadores Paraquedistas 
Air Force Air Defense Artillery and Security Guards Command Unit 684 
Royal Air Force Kenley, more commonly known as RAF Kenley is a former airfield station of the Royal Flying Corps in the First World War and the RAF in the Second World War. It played a significant role during the Battle of Britain as one of the three RAF stations specifically tasked with the defence of London. It is located near Kenley on the edge of Greater London. The site remains in use with the Ministry of Defence, as Kenley Airfield.
Airfield Defence Guards (ADG) are a mustering of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) that are dedicated to the security and ground defence of airbases and other military aviation assets. Other duties include training other RAAF personnel, in skills such as the handling of small arms and infantry tactics. They do not, however, operate anti-aircraft artillery or missiles.
The Royal Air Force Regiment is part of the Royal Air Force and functions as a specialist corps. Founded by Royal Warrant in 1942, the Corps carries out basic security tasks relating to the [protection of] delivery of air power. Examples of such tasks are non-combatant evacuation operation (NEO), recovery of downed aircrew, defence of airfields by way of aggressively patrolling and actively seeking out infiltrators in a large area surrounding airfields. The key tenet of the RAF Regiments role is based around defensive security operations, rather than the Army’s more traditional offensive infantry role, which is to close with and kill the enemy; notwithstanding, this does require active patrolling just outside the Airfield perimeter. In addition the RAF Regiment provides Joint Terminal Attack Controllers (JTACs) to the British Army in the Tactical Air Control Party (TACP) role, and provides a very small commitment to the Special Forces Support Group as Tactical air controllers and some CBRN specialists.
The United States Air Force Security Forces (SF) are the ground combat force and military police service of the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force. The USAF Security Forces were formerly known as Military Police (MP), Air Police (AP), and Security Police (SP) at various points in their history. Due to its significant ground combat mission, Security Forces are sometimes regarded as Air Force infantry. They were formed on the premise of being the Air Force's "Marine Corps", in that they would provide security for the Air Force similar to how the Marines provide security for the Navy.
Stapleford Aerodrome is an operational general aviation aerodrome in the Epping Forest district of Essex, England, near the village of Abridge. It is about 3.4 nautical miles south of North Weald Airfield and 4.5 NM north of Romford. The airfield is just within the M25, close to the junction with the M11.
Royal Air Force Feltwell or more simply RAF Feltwell is a Royal Air Force station in Norfolk, East Anglia that is used by the United States Air Forces in Europe – Air Forces Africa. The station is located about 10 miles west of Thetford, and is in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk at approximate Ordnance Survey grid reference TL 715 900. The site served as a Second World War bomber station, but is now used as a support site for regional AAFES logistics and as a housing estate for United States Air Force personnel stationed nearby at RAF Lakenheath. It is under the administrative control of the 48th Fighter Wing.
The Garud Commando Force is the special forces unit of the Indian Air Force. It was formed in February 2004 and has a current strength of over 1500+ personnel. The unit derives its name from Garuda, a Hindu deity.
The II Squadron RAF Regiment is a Field Squadron of the RAF Regiment based at RAF Brize Norton. Some of its gunners receive parachute training.
Royal Air Force Martlesham Heath or more simply RAF Martlesham Heath is a former Royal Air Force station located 1.5 miles (2.4 km) southwest of Woodbridge, Suffolk, England. It was active between 1917 and 1963, and played an important role in the development of airborne radar.
Predannack Airfield is an aerodrome near Mullion on The Lizard peninsula of Cornwall in the United Kingdom. The runways are operated by the Royal Navy and today it is a satellite airfield and relief landing ground for nearby RNAS Culdrose.
The Fusiliers Commandos de l'Air of the French Air and Space Force are equivalent to the United Kingdom's RAF Regiment, German Air Force Regiment or the United States Air Force Security Forces. They are airmen armed and trained as infantry, who provide ground defense of air bases and secure forward base areas. They also participate in forward air control, combat search and rescue missions, and as air assault ground soldiers.
In January 2006, NATO's focus in southern Afghanistan was to form Provincial Reconstruction Teams with the British leading in Helmand Province and the Netherlands, Australia and Canada leading similar deployments in Orūzgān Province and Kandahar Province respectively. The United States, with 2,200 troops, stayed in control of Zabul Province. Local Taliban figures voiced opposition to the incoming force and pledged to resist it.
The Sri Lanka Air Force Regiment is a specialized ground combat corps within the Sri Lanka Air Force, responsible for capturing and defending airfields and associated installations. Its members are the SLAF Regiment Officers and the airmen of operations ground specialization. The SLAF Regiment is fully capable of protecting all its air bases, installations by itself using infantry and light armored units as well as launch air assaults with Airborne Infantry elements (paratroopers). Ground-based air defense of vital military and civil installations around the country is carried out by the SLAF Regiment along with combat search and rescue missions (CSAR). The corps itself is simply known as the 'regiment'.
The 820th Base Defense Group is the United States Air Force's only first-in, fully-integrated, world-wide deployable, base defense capability currently based at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia. The BDG was re-activated in 1997 and is composed of three rapidly-deployable Base Defense Squadrons, and the 820th Combat Operations Squadron. Each multi-functional BDS contains security forces, intelligence, EOD, engineering, communications, medical, logistics, and administration personnel able to operate with limited support from other deployed forces, as part of the Department of Defense's Immediate Response Force (IRF). Currently, the 820th BDG has been placed under Air Combat Command's only lead wing. The unit is trained and equipped to perform joint forceable entry, RANGER, Jungle, Arctic, Mountain, Pathfinder, SAPPR, FRIES/SPIES, Sniper Support, airfield security assessments, base defense, area defense, mobile defense, and C2 of defense forces for one large base or several small sites. Additionally, the squadrons can link with other integrated defense or initial entry/base seizure forces and provide a secure and smooth transition to airfield opening forces.
The Battle of Kos was a brief battle in World War II between British/Italian and German forces for control of the Greek island of Kos, in the then Italian-held Dodecanese Islands of the Aegean Sea. The battle was precipitated by the Allied Armistice with Italy. German forces with strong air support quickly overwhelmed the Italian garrison and the recent British reinforcements, denying the Allies a base to attack the German presence in the Balkans and leading to the expulsion and death of the island's Jewish population.
No 151 Wing Royal Air Force was a British unit which operated with the Soviet forces on the Kola Peninsula in the northern USSR during the first months of Operation Barbarossa, in the Second World War. Operation Benedict, the 1941 expedition to Murmansk, provided air defence for Allied ships as they were discharging at ports within range of Luftwaffe units in Norway and Finland.
The RMAF Special Forces, better known as PASKAU, is the special forces of the Royal Malaysian Air Force.
The Kopasgat is the air force infantry and special forces corps of the Indonesian Air Force. The corps is also known as the Orange Berets from the colour of their service headgear. Kopasgat is trained to seize and defend airfields from enemy forces known as Operasi Pembentukan dan Pengoperasian Pangkalan Udara Depan , airborne operations, and other specific military operations within the scope of the Indonesian Air Force.
At the end of the Cold War in 1989, the Royal Air Force (RAF) structure was as follows:
The Royal Malaysian Air Force Ground Defence Force, previously known as the Royal Malaysian Air Force Air and Ground Defence Force, is an infantry unit of the Royal Malaysian Air Force. This unit is better known by its abbreviation from its Malay name, HANDAU. It is one of three ground combat units within the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) and has been part of the RMAF Regiment since the regiment's inception. In addition to their role as light infantry, their responsibilities include providing security forces and serving as air assault infantry.
Security Forces Airmen, the Air Force's infantry, operate with an air-mindedness that incorporates the implications of airpower.
Their performance during the 1968 Tet Offensive was praised universally and transformed its image from a police and security organization to one of the Air Force's infantry.