On 27 April 1953 1ére CCL was dropped at the Nam Bac valley, north of Luang Prabang to establish a forward defensive line in face of a Vietminh invasion.

On 15 April 1953, the Vietminh invaded northeastern Laos with 40,000 troops commanded by General Võ Nguyên Giáp and crushed the Sam Neua garrison,[3] sending remnants of the BPL fleeing toward the Plain of Jars.

In March 1954 the BPL began preparing for Operation "Condor", the planned relief of the besieged Dien Bien Phu garrison in North Vietnam.

From 2–4 August the battalion performed the last airborne operation of the First Indochina War, jumping into the town of Phanop in Khammouane Province to link up with local militia units and sweep the territory up to the strategic Mụ Giạ Pass, located in the Annamite Range on the Laotian-Vietnamese border.

The fall of Dien Bien Phu brought the Indochina War to a close and drove the French government to enter into peace negotiations with the Vietminh.

[5] Following the signing of the Agreement on the Cessation of Hostilities in Laos on 20 July 1954[6] and the implementation of the Indochina ceasefire on 6 August, the 981-strong BPL was brought back to Seno and turned over to the ANL.

[7] A 2nd Parachute Battalion (2e Bataillon de Parachutistes – 2e BP) began to be formed at Wattay in 1957, being brought to strength the following year after the return from the Philippines of a Laotian contingent trained at the Scout Ranger course at Fort William McKinley in Manila.

In July, the unit was rushed to Sam Neua to engage an alleged joint Pathet Lao/North Vietnamese Army (NVA) incursion that threatened the city.

On 29 July, 2e BP was sent again to Sam Neua Province in a futile attempt to reinforce local ANL outposts threatened by Pathet Lao attacks.

[10] On 22 August, 1er BP was brought up from Seno to conduct a parachute reinforcement jump into Moung Peun, and both battalions engaged in small skirmishes in northern Laos.

However, disgruntled by the ANL's failure to pay their wages while they were on assignment, the deputy commander of 2e BP Captain Kong Le led his disaffected paratroopers to participate in the 25 December 1959 coup d'état that brought Major general Phoumi Nosavan to power.

On 5 April, one company from the reconstituted 1er BP was dropped over Muong Kassy to trap a Neutralist contingent fighting along Route 13, the main paved road linking Vientiane with Luang Prabang; the remainder of the battalion was heli-lifted into the vicinity later that day.

The battalion was smashed, sending the paratroopers fleeing back to Luang Namtha and on 5 May the garrison began to collapse, precipitating a mass exodus; over 2,000 RLA troops headed for the Thai border, many not stopping until they had crossed the Mekong River into Thailand.

The Laotian paratroopers spent the rest of 1962 replacing their losses, and in the beginning of the following year, a revigorated 55e BP was sent on small-scale clearing operations in Military Region 5 (MR 5) (Pakse).

That month, the RLA and the FAN agreed to cooperate on a joint ground operation against NVA and Pathet Lao forces in the upper Laotian panhandle.

After assembling at Nhommarath, a RLA/FAN task-force under the command of General Sang Kittirath – which comprised 5e BP, one Royalist infantry battalion and one Neutralist armored company equipped with Soviet PT-76 amphibious light tanks – advanced northwards up Route 8 to relieve the isolated Lak Sao garrison, hoping to cut the North Vietnamese units in two by turning northeast towards the Nape Pass, an entry point to north Vietnam.

While sending one column down Route 8 to engage the Laotian task-force head-on, the North Vietnamese also circled around southwards through the Mụ Giạ Pass to strike towards Nhommarath.

[22] By early January 1964, the RLA task-force – 5e BP included – had been chased from the field by the NVA and the Pathet Lao, and dispersed into the woods; they eventually regrouped at Thakhek.

Raven FACs) – converged on a three-pronged assault against an isolated Pathet Lao garrison occupying a vital intersection of Route 7 and 13 at Sala Phou Khoun.

[23] However, the operation was only a partial success since 2e BP was unable to capture Phou Kout Mountain, a Pathet Lao stronghold overlooking Muang Soui that blocked the RLA's advance into the Plain of Jars, after four failed attempts to seize the heights, in which they lost 106 men to enemy minefields.

[17] In the opening days of January 1968, the Laotian airborne forces faced perhaps their greatest test at the Battle of Nam Bac, when the entire GM 15 was rushed to the namesake valley to reinforce the local RLA garrison, which was under heavy pressure by the NVA's 316th Division.

However, the withdrawal turned into a rout on January 13 when the NVA launched their final assault on the garrison, which came out of a heavy mist and hit the RLA command post, cutting its radio communications with the defenders.

[29] The Nam Bac debacle was a shattering defeat for the FAR, from which they never managed to recover, and a severe blow to the prestige of its Airborne Forces since it resulted in the total destruction of 99e BP and the near disintegration of GM 15.

In July, during Operation Off Balance, 101er BP was heli-lifted to Ban Na, southeast of Muang Soui to support Hmong SGU and RLA forces in their unsuccessful counter-offensive to recapture the namesake RLAF airfield, which had been seized previously by the NVA's 312th Division during the Toan Thang Campaign earlier in June.

[33] Late that year, with the Vietnamisation process in full swing in South Vietnam, a similar effort was attempted towards making the completely demoralized and reduced in strength RLA a more effective, self-sufficient force.

In the process, they absorbed SPECOM, a battalion-sized Special Forces' unit also part of the 2nd Strike Division, converted into the brigade's fourth parachute battalion, 714e BP.

[35] Elements of 714e BP were deployed in early 1975 to Thakhek to reinforce local Royal Lao Police and RLA infantry units in an unsuccessful attempt to quell pro-communist demonstrations.

The RLA Airborne command strength varied considerably over time, comprising several hundred officers and enlisted men organized firstly into independent companies, then battalions grouped into regiments, and ultimately into brigades.

The Laotian paratroopers were all airborne-qualified volunteers, and like their South Vietnamese ARVN Airborne Division counterparts, they received (theoretically) better pay, rations, quarters, and family benefits than the common RLA soldier.

[33] The Laotian airborne forces used the standard weaponry and equipment of French and U.S. origin issued to ANL and FAR units, complemented by captured Soviet or Chinese small-arms that allowed its personnel to use ammunition retrieved from enemy stocks while on operations.