According to the U.S. Business Insider website, the U.S. military is preparing for a potential conflict with China and Russia, and one of its jobs is to find ways to reallocate troop deployment so that when the battle begins, they can continue to fight. For the U.S. Air Force, that means the use of new airfields, and the Air Force's special operators are critical to this.
U.S. Air Force training. Image source: U.S. military website
In the event of a conflict with a power such as China or Russia, the U.S. military will face challenges from the size of the opposing arsenal and the range of its weapons. Among them, China is regarded by the United States as a "pacing threat", and its huge military strength and the size of its arsenal require the United States to carefully allocate troops to avoid the nightmare of a large number of troops or weapons being destroyed in a single blow.
To that end, the Air Force has been training to disperse its forces to non-traditional, sometimes improvised airfields, and the Air Force's special operations forces are critical to this preparation.
As an air component of the U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), the Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) is responsible for providing special operations units with air transportation, close air support, precision strikes, and intelligence, surveillance, global access, and reconnaissance capabilities for special operations forces. In addition, the AFSOC oversees battlefield commandos with high levels of skill, who are affiliated with other special operations groups that blend air and ground forces.
Air Force Special Operations Command exercises. Image source: U.S. military Twitter
These battlefield commandos work in four main career areas: rescuers, who are elite medical personnel and personnel rescue specialists; combat controllers, who coordinate airfield operations and close air support; air tactical control team personnel, who are commandos who specialize in calling air strikes; and special reconnaissance operators, who specialize in reconnaissance and intelligence gathering.
While they are all important components of SOCOM, air commandos are often overlooked because they primarily support other special operations units. Combat controllers and parachute rescuers are often attached to Navy SEALs platoons or Army Special Forces detachments, and while they also operate in their own units, they are less frequent.
However, the AFSOC is very active in the air, operating multiple rotor and fixed-wing platforms such as the MC-130 transport aircraft, AC-130 gunboat aircraft, CV-22 tiltrotor aircraft, and MQ-9 drones.
The Air Commando recently conducted a unique exercise that reflected a shift in thinking about military operations.
During Northern Strike 21 in northern Michigan in early August, air commandos facilitated the first landing of a modern aircraft on a U.S. highway in preparation for ad hoc operations by pilots and commandos in tough locations.
The C-146A aircraft landed on the highway. Source: U.S. Military website
During the exercise, Air Force commandos practiced infiltrating and protecting the highway before setting it up as an airport, and the A-10 and C-146A aircraft then landed and took off from the highway.
In reality, especially in expeditionary operations, highway-converted airfields are best located close to the front lines in order to provide quick and accurate logistics and close air support to conventional and special operations forces.
With the exception of combat controllers who conduct air traffic control, rescuers are on standby, providing medical care to troops on and near the highway as if they were in real operation.
The U.S. military commander in charge of the Air Commando exercise said the Air Force was working on a flexible combat deployment concept that would make troops more agile and mobile and pose a challenge to opponents. In addition, it also improves the survivability of the U.S. military, as it can move to more unpredictable locations for replenishment, refueling, or other things.
The article also pointed out that the US military is not the only unit to train for such emergencies, and the military in Taiwan has also carried out fighter take-off and landing on the specially designed combat readiness runway section on the highway, simulating the ability of important facilities such as airport runways to be destroyed, and then re-launching into the air after the refueling of oil bombs on the combat-readiness runway.
For example, in the event of a war with China, the U.S. Air Force would not rely on an F-35 group — two squadrons and about 50 aircraft — to operate on a large island, but would deploy one or a half squadrons to a smaller island. These practices will make it harder for adversaries to strike their aircraft and personnel in the event of large-scale conflict, and will also make the Air Force a more unpredictable and effective force. Earlier this year, F-35s underwent such exercises, deploying from a major base in Alaska to a base on Guam and then to a rudimentary airfield in palau for fuel replenishment.
The F-35 is waiting to be refueled. Image source: U.S. military website
A former Air Force combat controller said that it is often mistaken to think that the only job of a combat controller is to sit next to a special forces or Navy SEAL ground force commander and conduct air strikes against bad guys, but in reality this is only a small part of the job of a combat controller, and not all combat controllers are qualified to be joint terminal attack controllers who can call air strikes.
A major aspect of the combat controller's job, the former combat controller said, was airport operations, including the identification, marking, marking and operation of airports, and that in a harsh environment, combat controllers were often the first to create conditions for follow-up forces, which would take years of training to do so.
The exercises in Michigan show that the AFSOC is adapting to the new challenges of great power competition. AFSOC Commander Lt. Gen. Sleve acknowledged earlier this year that air commandos need to adapt and evolve to remain relevant, calling the current period an "inflection point" for AFSOC.