US Airborne Rangers parachute in to seize a Pacific airbase, preparing for war with China
Britain nowadays has Rangers as part of its newly formed Ranger Regiment, but they are more focused on partnering with allied forces around the world – their nearest US equivalent is probably the Green Berets. The British equivalent of the US Rangers, meanwhile, would be 1st Battalion, the Parachute Regiment – permanently assigned to the UK Special Forces as the Special Forces Support Group, and with a different and arduous entry and training pipeline via the other, regular Para battalions.
Meanwhile in the Pacific it seems the US Rangers parachuted onto the airfield, simulating its capture. In actual practice, such a battle would probably be furious – and costly for the attackers. The German Fallschirmjager paratroops, who pioneered parachute-borne airfield seizures during World War II, suffered 44 per cent casualties capturing Allied air bases in Crete in 1941 and subsequently abandoned the idea. British paras jumping in to seize El Gamil airfield during the Suez crisis did so easily, but the Egyptian defenders were scarcely world-class opposition. Russian VDV airborne troops attempting to seize Hostomel airbase in Ukraine at the start of the 2022 invasion were bloodily repulsed.
Where it’s possible, air assault forces today tend to prefer the use of helicopters or tiltrotors to parachutes. Rotary wing aircraft deliver troops as formed units, rather than scattering and mixing them up as mass parachute operations do. They also offer fire support and an option for retreat.
But even relatively long-ranging tiltrotors could struggle to cover the huge distances of a Pacific war; helicopters even more so. Many missions that might arise in the Island Chains could only be carried out by long-ranging C-17s or other jet transports – and that would mean parachutes, unless the planes were able to land by surprise.
What happened after the parachute assault in Palau represents a new wrinkle in airfield-seizure tactics. A C-17 landed at Roman Tmetuchl International Airport and disgorged a wheeled High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System launcher from the Army’s 17th Field Artillery Brigade.
HIMARS, which the Ukrainian army has been using to devastating effect against invading Russian forces, can fire an array of guided rockets against targets on land and at sea hundreds of miles away. With the help of some US Space Force communications specialists who apparently fed the HIMARS crews targeting data via satellite, the launcher in Palau fired six rockets – and then rolled back onto the C-17 for the long trip back to Hawaii via Guam.
The Army frequently rehearses airfield seizures. The Army and the US Marine Corps also frequently rehearse the rapid insertion of HIMARS to remote bases. It’s rarer for the services to combine these operations. But it also makes sense for precision rocket launchers to join in the airfield assaults.
