http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=31a9fa57-81f0-402c-b870-d8652ef4a051
Ten years after the Canadian Airborne Regiment was disbanded, the army is creating a strike force of fast-moving, highly trained "ranger" troops that will reprise most of the former elite parachute unit's roles, senior army officers have told the National Post.
The planned Light Force will be able to airdrop into trouble spots around the world on its own or as a backup to the commandos of Joint Task Force 2, Canada's secretive special forces unit.
The Light Force, developed in tandem with the defence policy statement released last month, will form the backbone of a new Special Operations Group, which defence planners foresee as the future "911 Force" for military missions abroad or at home.
Lieutenant-Colonel Dave Galea said the new force will be based on the three existing light infantry battalions -- units of about 600 soldiers with light weapons and equipment and almost no vehicles.
"The aim is for the Light Force not to become special forces themselves, but to be trained to support special forces such as JTF-2," he said. "The supporting groups would not need to be trained to the same abilities.
"They will be tactically deployable by air ... by helicopter or in parachute operations."
Lt.-Col. Galea said the new force will be similar to the Canadian Airborne Regiment, disbanded in 1995 after a series of incidents arising from the ill-fated 1992-93 mission in Somalia.
"There are certainly comparisons you could draw, but I don't think what we're talking about is exactly the same," he said. "The parachuting would be limited in scope, parachuting into a permissive environment. So it's parachute operations as opposed to airborne operations."
"But a comparison you could draw to the Airborne Regiment is [that] we're talking about a high-readiness and rapidly deployable force."
Each of the existing battalions includes a "jump" company of 150 paratroopers -- the remnants of the former Canadian Airborne Regiment -- but Lt.-Col. Galea said it has not yet been decided whether the new force will be consolidated into one regiment or brigade. "It's too soon to tell," he said. "We're going to do an estimate on how best to achieve that concept. There are all sorts of ways to skin the same cat."
Dr. Sean Maloney, a professor at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ont., who specializes in the modern military, said the planned force could be a valuable addition to any Canadian Forces operation overseas.
"These guys will be the pointy end of our strategic rapid-reaction force, which hearkens back to the original role of the old Airborne Regiment," he said.
While JTF-2 commandos perform small-scale, specialized raids, the new force will give them the bulk to do their jobs more effectively, Dr. Maloney said.
"JTF-2 does very precise, surgical operations.... This force will be there to secure the area so they can do their job and move on."
He said the only possible drawback to the planned force is the chance Ottawa may be reluctant to use it for the potentially risky operations for which the soldiers will be trained.
"Once we have this thing, the question is will the government have the inclination to use it," Dr. Maloney said. "I think we should use it. We should get on with it because we're needed out there."
Lt.-Col. Galea said the new force will fill the same role as the U.S. Army's Ranger battalions or the British parachute regiments.
"But they'll also be able to conduct more traditional infantry-type operations," he added. "We're not looking to overly specialize these guys."
The force should be brought into being over the next five years, Lt.-Col. Galea said. "The plan is to take this in steps ... but we'll find a way to make it happen."
The Light Force arose out of the defence policy statement released last month, which called for troops "capable of integrating with Joint Task Force 2 elements" and acting as pathfinders for larger missions -- the first troops on the ground in a new area.
The defence policy committed the Canadian Forces to increasing the size of JTF-2 and its supporting elements as part of the Special Operations Group, a formation that would include JTF-2, a nuclear, biological and chemical defence company based in Trenton, Ont., and the new Light Force.
The Special Operations Group would also include naval and air force elements to transport troops and give them fire support.
