Photo by Ryan Faith/VICE News
After more than a decade fighting insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan, the US Army is shifting its focus to larger, more complex, and more dangerous global threats. As such, the army conducted Operation Dragon Spear — its largest airborne assault exercise in more than a decade — to test and demonstrate its ability to deliver a significant ground combat force from the air in a major conflict, and then hold whatever it captures.VICE News broadcasted live from the Mojave Desert. Watch the raw video below:In military terms, Operation Dragon Spear involves the Global Response Force and Special Operations Forces participating in a Joint Forcible Entry (JFE). Airborne soldiers and special forces will capture an infrastructure node — the airfield — to enable the "continuous landing of troops and material" and allow newly landed forces some room to maneuver.Why is this any different from the air assaults conducted by the army in Iraq and Afghanistan? Because in those assaults, there was zero chance that, say, a heavily armed Chinese brigade or Russian division would counterattack. And if the US Army wants to be able to do a JFE effectively in a war with one of those countries, it needs to brush up on the aspects of JFE that haven't been tested much in the last 10-plus years.Related: Can the US Army Still Fight as a Heavyweight? Learn more about Operation Dragon Spear
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