Russian Airborne Forces

The Russian Airborne Forces or VDV (from Vozdushno-desantnye voyska Rossii, Russian: Воздушно-десантные войска России, ВДВ; Air-landing Forces) is a military branch of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. First formed before World War II, the force undertook two significant airborne operations and a number of smaller jumps during the war and for many years after 1945 was the largest airborne force in the world.[7] The force was split after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, losing divisions to Belarus and Ukraine, and has been reduced in size.

Russian Airborne Forces
Воздушно-десантные войска России
Greater emblem of the Russian Airborne Forces
Active1930s–present
Country Russia[lower-alpha 1]
Branch Russian Armed Forces
TypeAirborne forces
RoleLight infantry
Airborne infantry
Airmobile infantry
Peacekeeping
Size60,000 paratroopers,[1] will expand to 72,000 paratroopers by 2019[2]
Nickname(s)Blue Berets, Winged Infantry
PatronSaint Elijah the Prophet[3]
Motto(s)Никто, кроме нас! (Nobody, but us!)
Color of BeretSky Blue     
March"The blue" (Синева, unofficial hymn)
[4]
"We Need One Victory (Our 10th Parachute Battalion)" (Нам нужна одна победа (10-й наш десантный батальон), service march past)
Anniversaries2 August — Paratroopers' Day
EngagementsBattle of Lake Khasan
Battles of Khalkhin Gol
World War II
Nagorno-Karabakh War
Soviet–Afghan War
First Chechen War
Second Chechen War
Russo-Georgian War
Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation
Operation Grand Dawn (allegedly)[5][6]
Commanders
Current
commander		Col. Gen. Andrey Serdyukov
Chief of Staff and First Deputy commanderLt. Gen. Nikolay Ignatov
Notable
commanders		Gen. Vasily Margelov
Gen. Georgy Shpak
Insignia
Medium emblem
Flag of the Airborne Forces

Troops of the Russian Airborne Forces have traditionally worn a sky blue beret and blue-striped telnyashka and are called desant (Russian: Десант) from the French Descente.[8]

The Russian Airborne Forces are well known for their mobility, utilizing a large amount of specifically designed vehicles built for airborne transport, as such, they are fully mechanized and traditionally have a larger complement of heavy weaponry than most contemporary airborne forces.[9]

Interwar and World War II
Soviet paratroopers deploy from a Tupolev TB-3 in 1930

The first airborne forces parachute jump is dated to 2 August 1930, taking place in the Moscow Military District. Airborne landing detachments were established after the initial 1930 experimental jump, but creation of larger units had to wait until 1932–33. On 11 December 1932, a Revolutionary Military Council order established an airborne brigade from the existing detachment in the Leningrad Military District.[10] To implement the order, a directive of the Commissariat of Military and Naval Affairs transformed the Leningrad Military District's 3rd Motorised Airborne Landing Detachment into the 3rd Airborne Brigade (Special Purpose) commanded by M.V. Boytsov. Two further airborne brigades (the 13th and 47th) and three airborne regiments (the 1st, 2nd, and 5th, all in the Far East) were created in 1936.[11] In March and April 1941, five Airborne Corps (divisions) were established on the basis of the existing 201st, 204th, 211th, 212th, and 214th Airborne Brigades.[12] The number of Airborne Corps rose from five to ten in late 1941, but then all the airborne corps were converted into "Guards" Rifle Divisions in the northern hemisphere summer of 1942.[13]

The Soviet airborne forces were mostly used as 'foot' infantry during the war. Only a few small airborne drops were carried out in the first desperate days of Operation Barbarossa, in the vicinity of Kiev, Odessa, and the Kerch peninsula.[14] The two significant airborne operations of the war were the Vyazma operation of February–March 1942, involving 4th Airborne Corps, and the Dnepr/Kiev operation of September 1943, involving a temporary corps formation consisting of 1st, 3rd, and 5th Airborne Brigades.[15] Glantz wrote:[16]

"After the extensive airborne activity during the winter campaign of 1941–42, [the] airborne forces underwent another major reorganization the following summer. Responding to events in southern Russia, where German troops had opened a major offensive that would culminate in the Stalingrad battles, the ten airborne corps, as part of the Stavka strategic reserves, deployed southward. Furthermore, the Stavka converted all ten airborne corps into guards rifle divisions to bolster Soviet forces in the south. Nine of these divisions participated in the battles around Stalingrad, and one took part in the defense of the northern Caucasus region."

The Stavka still foresaw the necessity of conducting actual airborne operations later during the war. To have such a force, the Stavka created eight new airborne corps (1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th) in the fall of 1942. Beginning in December 1942, these corps became ten guards airborne divisions (numbered 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th (formed from 9th Airborne Corps (2nd formation)), 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, two formed from the 1st Airborne Corps and the three existing separate maneuver airborne brigades). The new guards airborne divisions trained in airborne techniques, and all personnel jumped three to ten times during training, though many were from jump towers.[17]

After the defeat of German forces at Kursk, the bulk of the airborne divisions joined in the pursuit of German forces to the Dnepr River. Even as ten guards airborne divisions fought at the front, new airborne brigades formed in the rear areas. In April and May 1943, twenty brigades formed and trained for future airborne operations. Most of these brigades had become six new guards airborne divisions (11th through 16th) by September 1943.[18] The Stavka however, earmarked three of these airborne brigades for use in an airborne operation to cross the Dnepr River, which was unsuccessful.[19]

David Glantz wrote in 1984:[20]

In August [1944], the Stavka formed the 37th, 38th, and 39th Guards Airborne Corps. By October, the newly formed corps had combined into a separate airborne army under Maj. Gen. I. I. Zatevakhin. However, because of the growing need for well-trained ground units, the new army did not endure long as an airborne unit. In December, separate airborne army the Stavka reorganized the separate airborne army into the 9th Guards Army of Col. Gen. V. V. Glagolev, and all divisions were renumbered as guards rifle divisions. As testimony to the elite nature of airborne-trained units, the Stavka held the 9th Guards Army out of defensive actions, using it only for exploitation during offensives.

From 1944 the airborne divisions were reconstituted as Guards Rifle Divisions.[19]

During the invasion of Manchuria and the South Sakhalin Operation, airborne units were used to seize airfields and city centers in advance of the land forces, and to ferry fuel to those units that had outrun their supply lines.

Postwar
Flag of the Soviet Airborne Forces
Shoulder sleeve insignia of the Soviet Airborne Forces
A mechanical watch featuring an insigna of the Desant
Soviet paratroopers on a BMD-1 vehicle in Afghanistan, March 25th, 1986

The HQ 9th Guards Army was redesignated Headquarters Airborne Forces in June 1946 after the war ended.[22] The units of the army were removed from the order of battle of the Air Forces of the USSR and assigned directly to the Ministry of the Armed Forces of the USSR.

In 1946 the force consisted of five corps (the 8th and 15th had been added) and ten divisions:[23]

In the summer of 1948, five more Guards Airborne Divisions were created. The 7th (Lithuania, 8th Airborne Corps), the 11th (activated 1 October 1948 in Ryazan, Moscow Oblast, from the 347th Guards Air Landing Regiment, 38th Airborne Corps),[25] the 13th Guards (at Galenki, Primorskiy Kray, with the 37th Airborne Corps), the 21st Guards (Estonia, Valga, with the 15th Airborne Corps), and the 31st Guards (Carpathians, 39th Airborne Corps). At the end of 1955 and the beginning of 1956 the 11th Guards, 21st, 100th and 114th Guards Airborne Divisions were disbanded as well as all the airborne corps headquarters.[23] The number of divisions, thus, decreased to 11. In April 1955 the transport aircraft were separated from the VDV and the Air Force Military Transport Aviation was created. In 1959 the 31st and 107th Guards Airborne Divisions were disbanded, but in October 1960 the 44th Training Airborne Division was formed. In 1964 the Soviet Airborne Forces were directly subordinated to the Ministry of Defence.

The creation of the post-war Soviet Airborne Forces owe much to the efforts of one man, Army General Vasily Margelov, so much so that the abbreviation of VDV in the Airborne Forces is sometimes waggishly interpreted as Войска дяди Васи or "Uncle Vasya's Forces".

Airborne units of two divisions (7th and 31st Guards) were used during Soviet operations in Hungary during 1956, and the 7th Guards division was used again during the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia. The first experimental air assault brigade – the 1st Airborne Brigade – was apparently activated in 1967/1968 from parts of the 51st Guards Parachute Landing Regiment (PDP) (Tula), after the Soviets had been impressed by the American experiences in Vietnam.[26][27] In 1973 the 13th and 99th Airborne Divisions were reorganised as air assault brigades, and thus the number of divisions dropped to eight.[23] There were also independent regiments and battalions. However, even by the 1980s only two divisions were capable of being deployed for combat operations in the first wave against NATO using Air Force Military Transport Aviation and Aeroflot aircraft.[28]

Airborne Forces Commander-in-Chief Vasily Margelov had continued to wear the Telnyashka blue-and-white striped shirt commemorating an earlier moment in his career, from his wartime Naval Infantry service in the Baltic Fleet. In 1979, the telnyashka became an official part of the uniform.[29]

In accordance with a directive of the General Staff, from August 3, 1979, to December 1, 1979, the 105th Guards Vienna Airborne Division was disbanded.[30] From the division remained in the city of Fergana the 345th Independent Guards Airborne Regiment (much stronger than the usual regimental size) with the separate 115th military-transport aviation squadron. The rest of the personnel of the division were reassigned to fill out other incomplete airborne units and formations and to the newly formed air assault brigades. Based on the division's 351st Guards Parachute Regiment, the 56th Guards Separate Air Assault Brigade was formed in Azadbash, (Chirchiq district) Tashkent Oblast, Uzbek SSR. Meanwhile, the 111th Guards Parachute Regiment became the 35th Separate Guards Air Assault Brigade.

An Ilyushin Il-76 "Candid" loading VDV personnel in 1984

However, there was also a mistaken Western belief, either intentional Soviet deception or stemming from confusion in the West, that an Airborne Division, reported as the 6th, was being maintained at Belogorsk in the Far East in the 1980s.[31] This maskirovka division was then 'disbanded' later in the 1980s, causing comment within Western professional journals that another division was likely to be reformed so that the Far East had an airborne presence.[32] The division was not listed in V.I. Feskov et al.'s The Soviet Army during the period of the Cold War, (2004) and the division at Belogorsk, the 98th Guards Airborne Svirskaya Red Banner Order of Kutuzov Division moved to Bolgrad in the Ukraine in late 1969.[33]

The 103rd Guards Airborne Division, 345th Independent Guards Airborne Regiment and the 56th Air Assault Brigade fought in the Soviet–Afghan War.

In 1989, the Airborne Forces consisted of:

Air assault units of the Ground Forces

From the late 1970s to the 1980s, 13 separate air assault brigades were activated. These brigades provided airmobile capability for military districts and groups of forces. In 1989, these brigades transferred to control of the VDV. During the same period, 19 separate air assault battalions were activated. These battalions originally provided airmobile capability to armies and other formations but were mostly disbanded in 1989.[37]

In 1979, the 58th Air Assault Brigade was activated as a mobilization unit in Kremenchug. It was co-located with the 23rd Air Assault Brigade from 1986 and disbanded in 1989.[38] The 128th Air Assault Brigade existed between 1986 and 1989 as a mobilization unit in Stavropol.[39] The 130th Air Assault Brigade existed between 1986 and 1989 as a mobilization unit in Abakan.[40]

Commanders of the Soviet Airborne Forces and Russian Airborne Forces
  • Vasili Glazunov 1941–1943
  • Alexander Kapitokhin 1943–1944
  • Ivan Zatevakhin 1944–1946
  • Vasily Glagolev 1946–1947
  • Alexander Kazankin 1947–1948
  • Sergei Rudenko 1948–1949
  • Alexander Gorbatov 1950–1954
  • Vasily Margelov 1954–1959
  • Ivan Tutarinov 1959–1961
  • Vasily Margelov 1961–1979
  • Dmitri Sukhorukov 1979–1987
  • Nikolai Kalinin 1987–1989
  • Vladislav Achalov 1989–1990
  • Pavel Grachev 1990–1991
  • Yevgeny Podkolzin 1991–1996: (April 18, 1936 – 19 June 2003). In 1958 he graduated from Alma-Ata military parachute School named after the Supreme Soviet of the Kyrgyz SSR. After his graduation he commanded a platoon, a separate reconnaissance company, and a paratrooper battalion. From 1970–1973 student of the Military Academy MV Frunze. After graduation he became a regimental commander, and from 1976 by 1980 the commander of the 106th Guards Airborne Division. From 1980 for 1982 – student of the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the USSR Voroshilov. Since 1982, First Deputy Chief of Staff, and from 1986 – chief of staff of the Airborne Forces – First Deputy Commander of the Airborne Forces. From August 1991 to December 4, 1996 – Commander of the Airborne Forces of the USSR, the CIS and, later, Russia.
  • Georgy Shpak (Шпак, Георгий Иванович), General Colonel (4 December 1996 – September 2003)
  • Alexander Kolmakov (Колмаков, Александр Петрович) General Colonel (8 September 2003 – November 2007)

After the Fall of the Soviet Union
Structure of the Russian Airborne Forces

With the demise of the Soviet Union, the number of VDV divisions has shrunk from seven to four, as well as four brigades and the brigade-sized training center.[41] In October 2013, Shamanov announced that a new air assault brigade would be formed in Voronezh in 2016 with the number of the 345th Separate Guards Airborne Regiment.[42] The establishment of the brigade was postponed to 2017–18, according to a June 2015 announcement.[43] It was announced in July 2015 that plans called for the 31st Airborne Brigade to be expanded into the 104th Guards Airborne Division by 2023,[44] and for an additional airborne regiment to be attached to each division.[1]

Russian paratroopers during an exercise in Kazakhstan in 2006
Paratroopers of the 83rd Airborne Brigade preparing for jump drills in 2017
Personnel of the 76th Guards Air Assault Division at the 2018 Minsk Independence Day Parade

On July 30, 2015, the Airborne Forces Commander-in-Chief announced that there were plans to reform the 104th Guards Airborne Division from the 31st Guards Airborne Brigade in Ulyanovsk.[1]

The 11th Air Assault Brigade in the Central Military District (formerly the Siberian Military District) and the 56th Air Assault Brigade in the Southern Military District (formerly the North Caucasus Military District) were partially infantry formations reporting directly to the military districts they are stationed in.[45] The VDV's training institute is the Ryazan Institute for the Airborne Forces named for General of the Army V.F. Margelov.[46] In addition, in the mid-late 1990s, the former 345th Independent Guards Airborne Regiment was stationed in Gudauta, Abkhazia AR, Georgia. It later became the 10th Independent Peacekeeping Airborne Regiment. The unit was further designated the 50th Military Base.

In the early 1990s, General Pavel Grachev, the first Russian Defence Minister, planned for the VDV to form the core of the planned Mobile Forces. This was announced in Krasnaya Zvezda, the Ministry of Defence's daily newspaper, in July 1992. However, the Mobile Forces plan never eventuated. The number of formations available for the force was far less than anticipated, since much of the Airborne Forces had been 'nationalised' by the republics their units had been previously based in, and other arms of service, such as the GRU and Military Transport Aviation, who were to provide the airlift component, were adamantly opposed to ceding control of their forces.[47]

From 1996 the VDV dispatched the 1st Separate Airborne Brigade to Bosnia and Herzegovina as part of IFOR's Multi-National Division North. The brigade, unusually, used Russian Ground Forces equipment such as BTR-80s.

After an experimental period, the 104th Parachute Regiment of 76th Airborne Division became the first Russian Ground Forces regiment that was fully composed of professional soldiers (and not of srochniki – conscripted soldiers aged eighteen). It was announced that the 98th Airborne Division is also earmarked for contract manning, and by September 2006, it was confirmed that 95% of the units of the 98th Division had shifted to contract manning.[48]

Older sleeve ensign version of a Russian Airborne field uniform

The VDV divisions are equipped with armoured fighting vehicles, artillery and anti-aircraft guns, trucks and jeeps. Thus VDV units possess superior mobility and firepower with these vehicles. Each division has both regiments equipped with them and their derivatives. (Each division used to have three regiments, but the 106th was the last, and lost its third regiment in 2006.) With the reduction in forces after 1991, the 61st Air Army, Russia's military air transport force, has enough operational heavy transport aircraft to move one airborne division, manned at peacetime standards, in two-and-a-half lifts.[49] The single independent brigade, the 31st at Ulyanovsk, however, is not equipped with its own armor or artillery and may be equivalent to Western airborne troops, in that it functions as light infantry and must walk when reaching their destination. The 31st was the former 104th Guards Airborne Division.

VDV troops participated in the rapid deployment of Russian forces stationed in Bosnian city Ugljevik, in and around Pristina airport during the Kosovo War. They also were deployed in Chechnya as an active bridgehead for other forces to follow.

Russian airborne troops had their own holiday during the Soviet era, which continues to be celebrated on 2 August. Their most emblematic mark of distinction is a blue beret. VDV soldiers are often called "blue berets". Each year, current and former paratroopers, often in an inebriated state, celebrate by meeting up and wandering city streets and parks. The day is notorious for two common sights: paratroopers frolicking in fountains and picking fights with hapless passers-by.[50]

President Vladimir Putin at a ceremony unveiling a memorial erected to paratroopers of the 6th Company, 76th Air Assault Division

Notable former Airborne Forces officers include Aleksandr Lebed, who was involved in responses to disorder in the Caucasus republics in the last years of the Soviet Union, and Pavel Grachev who went on to become the first Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation. PRIDE heavyweight mixed martial arts fighter Sergei Kharitonov, went to the Airborne Forces academy in Ryazan', and remains on active duty with the Russian Airborne Forces.

Since 2008, women have been allowed to serve in the VDV, as officers, after finishing studies in the academy.

On 26 May 2009 Lieutenant-General Vladimir Anatolevich Shamanov became the new commander of the VDV, replacing Lieutenant-General Valeriy Yevtukhovich who was being discharged to the reserve. Shamanov was decorated as a Hero of Russia for his combat role in the campaigns in Chechnya. His previous posts are the chief of the combat training directorate and commander of the 58th Army. His most recent post was chief of the main combat training directorate.[51] Shamanov and the acting commander of the 106th Airborne Division were severely injured in a car crash on 30 October 2010, with the driver being killed.[52]

On 28 January 2010, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that the VDV's air components had been placed under the VVS.[53]

Under the 2008 reform programme, the four existing two-regiment divisions should have been transformed into 7–8 air-assault brigades. However once General Shamanov became commander-in-chief of the Airborne Forces, it was decided to keep the original structure. The divisions have been beefed up and there are now four independent airborne/air-assault brigades, one for each military district.[54] The 332nd School for Praporshchiks of the VDV (Russian: 332 Школа прапорщиков ВДВ) in Moscow was disbanded in December 2009 (also under the 2008 reform programme, all praporshchik (WO) posts in the Russian Armed Forces have been formally abolished).

In October 2013 it was reported that the three airborne brigades under military district control (seemingly the 11th and 83rd (Ulan-Ude and Ussuriysk) in the Eastern Military District and the 56th at Kamyshin in the Southern Military District) would be returned to VDV command.[55] The process was completed as of July 2015.[56]

Elements of the 76th Guards Air Assault Division's 104th Guards Air Assault Regiment appear to be participating in the War in Donbass.[57] These units appear to have been used as spearhead forces during the August 2014 Russian counteroffensive.[58] During the August 2014 counteroffensive, battalion tactical groups of the 7th Guards Airborne Division's 247th Guards Air Assault Regiment, the 98th Guards Airborne Division's 331st Guards Airborne Regiment, the 106th Guards Airborne Division's 137th Guards Airborne Regiment, and the 31st Guards Air Assault Brigade were sent into Ukraine. Reconnaissance teams from the 45th Detached Reconnaissance Brigade and the 106th's 173rd Guards Separate Reconnaissance Company were previously deployed to Ukraine alongside Ground Forces units.[59]

In February 2016, it was reported that an airborne battalion would be deployed to Dzhankoy, Crimea in 2017–18 on a permanent basis and be upgraded to a regiment in 2020.[60] In May 2017, Shamanov announced that the battalion would be formed at Feodosiya by 1 December 2017 as part of the 7th Guards Mountain Air Assault Division, and would be expanded into the 97th Air Assault Regiment with three battalions by late 2019.[61] Since the 2014 annexation, the status of Crimea is under dispute between Russia and Ukraine; Ukraine and the majority of the international community considers Crimea an integral part of Ukraine, while Russia, on the other hand, considers Crimea an integral part of Russia.[62]

In August 2016, Russian paratroopers placed 1st place in the Airborne Platoon competition during the International Army games in Russia. In the process the Russian paratroopers defeated teams from China, Iran, Belarus, and Kazakhstan.[63]

Troops of the 137th Airborne Regiment and the Belarusian 38th Air Assault Brigade in 2018. Belarusian and Russian forces maintain a close working relationship.

On 4 October 2016, Colonel General Andrey Serdyukov was appointed new commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, replacing Shamanov, who became chief of the Duma Committee on Defense.[64]

During 2016, three reconnaissance battalions and six tank companies, and two companies of electronic warfare and unmanned aerial vehicles were formed. 188 new and upgraded armored vehicles were also delivered, with the Russian Airborne Forces equipment level of modern weapons at 47%. From 2015–2016 five intelligence units and six tank units have been formed, over 3,000 new pieces of weaponry and special military equipment were supplied, the number of contract servicemen had grown by 1.5 times, while the troops' training intensity had risen by 20 percent.[65]

The Russian Airborne Forces have received over eleven thousand new and upgraded weapons in 2017. The share of modern armaments and hardware comprises 62 percent. In two years four battalion sets of 120 BMD-4M and BTR-MDM Rakushka vehicles were supplied. Besides that, the force received over 100 upgraded weapons, including 2S9-1M self-propelled guns. From 2015–2017 the air defense units received close to 500 modern automated reconnaissance and command complexes, new Verba portable missiles, and over 30 upgraded Strela-10MN missile complexes. On December 1, 2017, the organizational events to create a separate airborne assault battalion in Novorosiisk mountain division deployed in Feodosiya and a separate repairs and maintenance battalion in the Moscow region have been completed. Contracted servicemen comprise over 70 percent of the troops. Barnaul-T R&D produced a planning module paradropped to airborne units to simultaneously track a hundred of air objects and a paradroppable reconnaissance and command module to detect targets in a 40-km range which is deployed in five minutes.[66] State tests of a new Bakhcha-U-PDS parachute platform for the BMD-4M and BTR-MDM vehicles were completed in May 2018.[67] Deliveries of new ‘heavy drop’ systems PBS-950U and PBS-955 began in 2020.[68] In 2019, two battalion sets of BMD-4M airborne combat vehicles and BTR-MDM Rakushka armored personnel carriers, more than 200 units of various automotive equipment, including special armored vehicles, army snowmobiles, four-wheelers and buggies and more than 9 thousand parachute systems D-10 and "Arbalet-2" were delivered to the troops.[69]

in April 2020, military personnel from the Russian Airborne Forces, performed the world's first HALO paradrop from the lower border of the Arctic stratosphere. The Russian commando group used "next-generation special-purpose parachute system", military tested oxygen equipment, navigation devices, special equipment, and uniforms. This was the first high-altitude landing in the Arctic latitudes over 10km in the history of Russian aviation. The crews of Il-76 aircraft landed at the northernmost airfield of the country on the island of Franz Josef Land. As part of its mission in the Arctic region, the aircrew provided landing of airborne units from altitudes of 10 and 1.8 thousand meters, as well as landing of cargo with a total weight of about 18 tons. After conducting practical combat training, the Il-76 aircrews landed at the Nagurskoe airfield in the northern part of the island of Franz Josef Land. The high-altitude landing was dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the victory In the great Patriotic war of 1941-1945 and the 90th anniversary of the formation of the Airborne troops.[70] [71]

Armament and equipment
Common shoulder sleeve insignia of the Russian Airborne Forces

Personal firearms and crew served weapons include:

  • AK-74M (including upgraded variants with the KM-AK Obves modernization kit)[72] and AKS-74 assault rifles, and AKS-74U special purpose and self-defence carbine (5.45×39mm)
  • AK-12 assault rifles (5.45×39mm)[73]
  • RPK-74, light weight machinegun (5.45×39mm), now largely withdrawn from service and replaced by the PKM/PKP
  • PKM, general purpose machinegun (7.62×54mmR)
  • 6P41 "Pecheneg" (PKP) general purpose machinegun (7.62×54mmR), currently replacing the PKM as the general purpose machie gun throughout the Russian Armed Forces
  • Dragunov SVDS, sniper rifle (7.62×54mmR)
  • Dragunov SVU, modified SVD in bullpup configuration and its variants are in limited use
  • SV-98, main sniper rifle (7.62×54mmR)[74]
  • ASVK-M Kord-M anti-materiel sniper rifle (12.7×108mm)[75]
  • VSS Vintorez, silenced sniper rifle (9×39mm)
  • MP-443 Grach, semi-automatic pistol (9×19mm Parabellum)
  • Makarov, semi-automatic pistol (9x18mm Mak) & Glock 17, semi-automatic pistol (9x19 Parabellum)
  • GP-25, GP-30 and GP-34, under-barrel 40 mm grenade launchers for fragmentation and gas grenades
  • AGS-17 Plamya (Flame), 30 mm automatic grenade launcher
  • RPO-A Shmel (Bumblebee), infantry rocket flamethrower, currently replacing the older RPO Rys (Lynx)
  • RPG-7D anti-tank rocket launcher, or more modern systems such as the RPG-22 and RPG-26
  • 2B14 Podnos 82 mm mortar or the 120 mm 2S12 Sani on UAZ vehicles
  • 9K38 Igla man-portable SAM system, or the more modern 9K338 Igla-S
  • 9K333 Verba man-portable SAM system, currently entering service[76][77]
  • 9K111 Fagot, 9K115 Metis[78] and 9M133 Kornet[79] man-portable anti-tank systems
  • AS Val Special Assault Rifle[80]

VDV are fully equipped with Barmica and Ratnik infantry combat suits as of 2018.[81][82][83] Andromeda-D, Barnaul-T and Dozor automated control systems, AS-1 snowmobiles, four wheelers, a specially-created uniform for hot climates and Nanuk Arctic gear, reconnaissance-control and planning modules and the REX-1 counter-unmanned aerial vehicle rifle-like, man-portable jammer developed by Kalashnikov Group subsidiary ZALA Aero Group are also being introduced into service.[84][85][86][87][88][89][90][91][92][93] Portable versions of the Garmony air defence radar, modernized reconnaissance and artillery fire control posts and Aistyonok and Sobolyatnik radars are being supplied to the VDV.[94][95] The Russian Airborne Forces have also received new military binoculars.[96]

Armoured vehicles

Unlike the rest of the mechanized units, which use a variety of APCs and IFVs such as the BMP series, BTR series, and MT-LB, the VDV uses exclusively BMD family vehicles. There are over 1,800 armored fighting vehicles, mostly BMD-1 (since 1969) and BMD-2 (since 1985). There were also over 100 BMD-3 (1990) that were partially upgraded to BMD-4 level. All of them are amphibious, moving at around 10 km/h in water. The BMD-4 is also capable of full, continuous fire while in deep water, unlike any other vehicle with such heavy weaponry (100 mm gun and 30 mm auto cannon). However, some units (such as those who served on peacekeeping duties in the Balkans) are known to have used BTR armored personnel carriers rather than BMD's. T-72B3 tanks supplied to the Russian Airborne Forces in 2018 have been upgraded and are equipped with Andromeda automatic control system.[97]

There is also a turret-less variant of the BMD-1, the BTR-D, which is used as troop carrier and serves as the basis for specialised versions such as anti-tank, command and signals. The BTR-D will be partially replaced by the new multi-purpose APC BTR-MD "Rakushka" that will also come in several different versions. Approximately 280 vehicles in all BTR-D configurations are in service.[98] As part of the 2011 state defence order (GOZ), 10 BMD-4M and 10 "Rakushka's" have been ordered, but according to the VDV's CinC General Colonel Shamanov, Kurganmashzavod did not give a guarantee it would produce them.[99] The Russian Defense Ministry adopted the BMD-4M in early December 2012. They are planning to receive 10 BMD-4M vehicles and 10 BTR-MD vehicles for final testing by mid-2013, with commissioning by the end of 2013. The Russian Airborne plans to acquire 1,000 BMD-4Ms through 2020.[100] The first production batch of the new armored vehicles BMD-4M and BTR-MDM "Shell" in the amount of 24 units (12 each) transferred to the Russian Airborne Forces in 2015.[101] VDV equipped first regiment with BMD-4Ms and BTR-MDMs in 2016.[102] In 2017, they received two battalion sets of BMD-4M combat airborne vehicles and BTR-MDM APCs, over 80 Rys’ and UAZ Pickup armored automobiles.[103]

The new BMD-4M
The new BTR-MDM "Shell"

Russian airborne brigade-level units have received SPM-2 GAZ-233036 Tigr armored cars. They have also ordered experimental Kamaz Typhoon armored infantry transports, following modifications to meet the demands of the airborne troops. The Russian Airborne Forces have received about 100 Tigr and Rys special armored vehicles, 200 Snegohod A-1 snow-going and AM-1 all-terrain vehicles, UAZ Patriot light motor vehicles, Toros 4x4 armored vehicles and Kamaz trucks that can be air-dropped.[104][105][106] VDV currently receives Berkyt protected snowmobiles for personnel transportation and fire support in arctic conditions.[107][108] Infauna and Leer-2 EW systems alongside Aileron-3SV UAVs and P-230T command vehicles are also received.[109][110][111][112]

On 1 August 2013, it was reported that the Russian Airborne Forces will develop a hybrid combat vehicle that combines features of an airborne infantry fighting vehicle and a helicopter. To meet the demands of future armed conflicts, a combat module that combines a light combat vehicle and an attack helicopter is being considered, with a crew of three-four people. The vehicle will be developed for the VDV by 2030.[113]

Artillery

The airborne self-propelled artillery guns ASU-57 and ASU-85 have been withdrawn. They had light armour and limited anti-tank capability, but provided invaluable fire support for paratroopers behind enemy lines (the caliber of the gun in mm is the number next to the ASU designation).

Also withdrawn were the multiple rocket launch systems RPU-14 (8U38) of 140 mm and the BM-21V "Grad-V" (9P125) of 122 mm on GAZ-66, as well as the 85 mm gun SD-44.

Today the VDV operates the following systems:

  • 2S9 Nona and modernized 2S9M[114] 120 mm self-propelled gun-mortar. Currently being replaced by the 2B23 Nona-M1 120 mm towed mortar and 2S31 Vena 120 mm self-propelled gun-mortar/2S12A modernized 120 mm self-propelled mortar[115][116][117][118]
  • 2S25 Sprut-SD 125 mm self-propelled artillery/anti-tank gun based on BMD-3 hull
  • D-30 (2A18) 122 mm howitzer and anti-tank weapon, towed by truck, not amphibious, able to make 360 degree turns as it is deployed on a tripod
  • ZU-23-2 23 mm air-defence gun, is either mounted on the BTR-D, or can be towed by a jeep or truck as it has wheels. Since 2011, some ZU-23s are being replaced by the Strela-10M3/MN and since 2016 by the newest versions of the Buk missile system.[119][120][121]
  • 2S36 Zauralets-D – future 120 mm self-propelled gun-howitzer based on the BMD-4[122]
  • 2S37 – future 152 mm self-propelled gun-howitzer based on the BMD-4[122]

The VDV is equipped with numerous types of airborne capable trucks and jeeps, for example the Ural-4320, the GAZ-66V and the GAZ-2975 "Tigr" for transporting cargo, specialist crews and equipment (e.g. mortars, ammunitions), but not infantry (all fighting paratroopers are transported in armoured vehicles). Currently, the GAZ-66 is being replaced by the KAMAZ-43501.[119][123]

UAVs
A Granat-4 UAV of the 56th Separate Guards Air Assault Brigade
  • Compact recon complex "Iskatel" (The Seeker) with 2 UAVs[124]
  • UAV complex Orlan-10[125]
  • UAV complex Granat[126]
  • UAV complex Takhion[127]

See also

Notes
  1.  Soviet Union
    (1930–1991)

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