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A rapid reaction force is a
military A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. It is typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with its members identifiable by their distinct ...
or
police The police are a Law enforcement organization, constituted body of Law enforcement officer, persons empowered by a State (polity), state, with the aim to law enforcement, enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citize ...
unit designed to respond in very short time frames to
emergencies An emergency is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening ...
. When used in reference to police forces such as SWAT teams, the time frame is minutes, while in military applications, such as with the use of
paratroops A paratrooper is a military parachutist—someone trained to parachute into a military operation, and usually functioning as part of an airborne force. Military parachutists (troops) and parachutes were first used on a large scale during Worl ...
or other
commando Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin">40_Commando.html" ;"title="Royal Marines from 40 Commando">Royal Marines from 40 Commando on patrol in the Sangin area of Afghanistan are pictured A commando is a combatant, or operativ ...
s, the time frame is hours to days. Rapid reaction forces are designed to intervene quickly as a spearhead to gain and hold ground in quickly unfolding combat or in rather low-intensity conflicts, such as uprisings that necessitate the evacuation of foreign
embassies A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...
. Because they are usually transported by air, such military units are usually lightly armed, but often extremely well trained to compensate for their limited to
small arms A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes ...
and light
crew-served weapon A crew-served weapon is any weapon system that is issued to a crew of two or more individuals performing the same or separate tasks to run at maximum operational efficiency, as opposed to an individual-service weapon, which only requires one pe ...
s and the lack of vehicles, armor and heavy equipment like
tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful ...
s.


See also

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Eurofor The European Rapid Operational Force (EUROFOR) was a multinational rapid reaction force composed of forces from four states of the European Union: Italy, France, Portugal and Spain. It had a permanent staff capable of commanding operations, invol ...
*
European Gendarmerie Force The European Gendarmerie Force (EUROGENDFOR) is an operational, pre-organised, and rapidly deployable intervention force, exclusively comprising elements of several European police forces with military status of the Parties in order to perform all ...
* European Union Battlegroups *
Allied Rapid Reaction Corps The Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (ARRC) is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization High Readiness Force (Land) Headquarters ready for deployment worldwide. History The ARRC was created on 1 October 1992 in Bielefeld based on the former I (Brit ...
*
Immediate Response Force The Immediate Response Force (IRF) is a rapid deployment force jointly maintained by the United States Army and United States Air Force, which is capable of deploying worldwide within 18 hours of notification. Background By 1980, the United States ...
*
United States Rapid Deployment Forces 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 coul ...
* Helsinki Headline Goal/Headline Force Catalogue—sometimes known incorrectly as the "European Rapid Reaction Force" *
Quick reaction force In military science nomenclature, a quick reaction force (QRF) is an armed military unit capable of rapidly responding to developing situations, typically to assist allied units in need of such assistance. They are to have equipment ready to res ...
*
Contingency plan A contingency plan, also known colloquially as Plan B, is a plan devised for an outcome other than in the usual (expected) plan. It is often used for risk management for an exceptional risk that, though unlikely, would have catastrophic conseque ...
Law enforcement units Military units and formations by type {{Law-enforcement-stub