The Immediate Response Force (IRF) is a

rapid deployment force A rapid deployment force is a military formation that is capable of fast deployment. Such forces typically consist of elite military units (special forces, paratroopers, marines, etc.) and are usually trained at a higher intensity than the rest ...

jointly maintained by the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

and

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

, which is capable of deploying worldwide within 18 hours of notification.

Background

By 1980, the United States formed the

Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force The Rapid Deployment Joint Task Force (RDJTF) is an inactive United States Department of Defense Joint Task Force. It was first envisioned as a three-division force in 1979 as the Rapid Deployment Force, or RDF, a highly mobile force that could ...

(RDJTF) as a rapid reaction force under the U.S. Readiness Command. Composed of contingently assigned units from the United States Army, United States Air Force, United States Navy, and United States Marine Corps, its mandate was to rapidly deploy to confront worldwide threats to American interests. With the passage of the 1986 Goldwater-Nichols Act, the relevance of a force with planet-wide responsibilities became less apparent and the RDJTF was deactivated. In the 2000s, the Global Response Force (GRF) was created as a pooled reserve of

CONUS ''Conus'' is a genus of predatory sea snails, or cone snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Conidae.Bouchet, P.; Gofas, S. (2015). Conus Linnaeus, 1758. In: MolluscaBase (2015). Accessed through: World Register of Marine Species at ...

-based military assets that could be used to rapidly reinforce one of the

Unified Combatant Command A unified combatant command (CCMD), also referred to as a combatant command, is a joint military command of the United States Department of Defense that is composed of units from two or more service branches of the United States Armed Forces, an ...

s in the event of an emergent threat to American interests within a command's geographic area of responsibility. It was subsequently replaced with the Immediate Response Force.

Operational history

The IRF's first emergency deployment occurred in January 2020 and consisted of the 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division plus supporting Air Force assets. The deployment was to the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

and was in response to a prior attack on the U.S. embassy in Iraq. In June 2020, one infantry battalion of the IRF deployed to

Fort Belvoir Fort Belvoir is a United States Army installation and a census-designated place (CDP) in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. It was developed on the site of the former Belvoir plantation, seat of the prominent Fairfax family for whom Fair ...

in response to riots in Washington, D.C. The unit remained on standby until dismissed by Secretary of Defense

Mark Esper Mark Thomas Esper (born April 26, 1964) is an American politician and manufacturing executive who served as the 27th United States secretary of defense from 2019 to 2020. A member of the Republican Party, he had previously served as the 23rd ...

. The IRF's 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division was deployed to Afghanistan during

Operation Allies Refuge Operation Allies Refuge was a United States military operation to airlift certain at-risk Afghan civilians, particularly interpreters, U.S. embassy employees, and other prospective Special Immigrant Visa (SIV) applicants from Afghanistan during ...

in August 2021. Elements of the 82nd Airborne, which makes up the core of the IRF, were mobilized and deployed to eastern Europe in support of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

during the 2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis.

Structure

The IRF is built around a

Brigade Combat Team The brigade combat team (BCT) is the basic deployable unit of maneuver in the U.S. Army. A brigade combat team consists of one combat arms branch maneuver brigade, and its assigned support and fire units. A brigade is normally commanded by a ...

of the

82nd Airborne Division The 82nd Airborne Division is an Airborne forces, airborne infantry division (military), division of the United States Army specializing in Paratrooper, parachute assault operations into denied areasSof, Eric"82nd Airborne Division" ''Spec Ops ...

. A rotating battalion of the brigade, along with Air Force

Air Mobility Command Air Mobility Command (AMC) is a major command (MAJCOM) of the U.S. Air Force. It is headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois, east of St. Louis, Missouri. Air Mobility Command was established on 1 June 1992, and was formed from elements ...

assets, is kept at a high alert level to allow it to undertake an airborne deployment on 18 hours notice with no prior warning. This initial "entry force" of the IRF is designed to be followed by additional battalions within a period of days.

References

{{Reflist United States Army United States Air Force

Background

Operational history

Structure

See also

References