Photo By Staff Sgt. Sabatino Dimascio | Members of the Kenya Air Force Rapid Response Unit provide security as other RRU...... read more read more
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NAIROBI, Kenya — With the assistance of U.S. Special Operations Command, the Kenya Air Force Rapid Response Unit recently graduated its first class of combat search and rescue trained operators, building Kenya’s ability to conduct personnel recovery missions in high-threat environments.
The training pipeline, part of a joint U.S.-Kenyan initiative to enhance combat-ready forces, enables operators to execute complex combat search and rescue missions. The program focuses on combat medicine, personnel recovery, technical rescue and mass casualty response—skills modeled after the U.S. Air Force pararescue mission and capabilities.
“These are the elite of the Kenya Air Force and they now stand ready to go in first and extract aircrew” said a U.S. Air Force pararescueman instructor. “This new pipeline is designed with high standards and pushes both of our teams to develop and train to the most realistic and intensive situations available.”
The RRU will serve as Kenya’s primary special operations combat search and rescue force, providing medical and rescue support in austere and hostile environments. The unit will integrate with joint forces, offering rapid personnel recovery capabilities both independently and as a direct attachment to military operations. Both U.S. and Kenyan officials see the program as a critical step in strengthening their national security framework.
The journey for these graduates began in May of 2024. The competitive 10-month course tested students’ mental and physical ability, ensuring that those who made it through were well equipped to work in dangerous, high-stress, no-fail environments. Only a handful were selected to proceed with training, even fewer made it to graduation to earn the title of a combat search and rescue RRU operator.
“Training with the American PJs has been the greatest experience for me,” said a Kenya Air Force Senior sergeant. “Seeing my students grow from zero knowledge to where they are right now, we can trust them with the mission set laid out for us.”
For their culmination exercise, the RRU students validated their skillsets, successfully completing a simulated hostage rescue and casualty hoisting scenario during Justified Accord 25, U.S. Africa Command’s largest East Africa exercise.
The RRU pipeline will continue in an effort to bolster U.S. and Kenya combat readiness and interoperability. As courses continue, RRU graduates are projected to assume full responsibility for training new operators, ensuring a self-sustaining organic combat search and rescue capability.
| Date Taken: | 03.21.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 04.08.2025 04:35 |
| Story ID: | 494532 |
| Location: | NAIROBI, KE |
| Web Views: | 96 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Ready to Rescue: Kenya’s Rapid Response Unit graduates first PJ pipeline, by SSgt Sabatino Dimascio, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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