French Special Forces: Doing It Differently

[gambit]

well, the airforce had a beef with us when we used to operate fixed wing and well, they won....

so, if they have a beef with us the army operating fix wing, would you not think they too have the same beef with the Marine?? hehe and still, the Marine have their own air support branch

It was the great and positive event, not just for the US military, but for military aviation in general, when the USAAC became USAF.

In retrospect, perhaps at least half of the credit should go to the Nazis, because the Nazi Luftwaffe served as model for the USAF in terms of institutional independence, doctrines, and deployment. The Nazi Luftwaffe was not as completely independent of the Wehrmacht as the later USAF from the US Army, but prior to WW II, its leadership was well on their way in formulating a coherent philosophical foundation for the existence of a completely independent air arm.

In my own (amateur) study of military aviation, I believe that if air forces had remained under the institutional and philosophical jurisdiction of the army, military aviation as we know it today as a viable and successful method of strategic warfare would not exist. Air forces needed a bold breakout from the ground armies they historically supported in order to have the complete freedom to explore and experimented with new ideas on how to use the 3rd dimension as an effective strategic area of warfare. The USAF was that needed philosophical and institutional severance.

Imagine what civil aviation would be like if the airlines and aircraft manufacturers remained beholden to the railroad magnates on transportation philosophies. Aircrafts would be nothing more than a leapfrogging method to transport rail ties to build more tracks.

As for the US Marines, the jarheads' air arm remained philosophically focused on tactical support, which I fully agreed as they are truly a mobile strike force readied at a Presidential moment's notice.

Aera Vincere In Terram Suam means 'Own the air to win the ground'.

There are degrees of this philosophy. You can own the tactical air and/or the strategic air. The deeper into enemy territory your strikes, the deeper into his war waging philosophies you rattled. The Doolittle Raid was the finest example of this. Just as the Japanese war leadership did not expect the Americans to do something so audacious, the US was equally surprised at how much the Japanese pulled back from the Pacific to defend the home islands, allowing the Americans some time to recover. It was a morale boosting gamble that paid of strategically and altered what was the estimated course of the war.

The USAF is a great international institution.

 

[Aepsilons]

The Commandement des Opérations Spéciales or COS (Special Operations Command) is an elite military unit combining the use of the French Army, Navy, and Air Force.
The 3,300 member unit specializes in hostage rescue, counter-piracy operations, and high value individual raids.

Thanks to the French MoD for translating this video.



Here's a Dailymotion link for Pakistani members :

Impressive, as always ! A lot of respect for the French Special Forces !