Russian Airborne Forces

The Russian Airborne Forces (Russian: Воздушно-десантные войска России, ВДВ, romanized: Vozdushno-desantnye voyska Rossii, VDV) is the airborne separate combat arm of the Russian Armed Forces. It is a rapid response force and strategic reserve that is under the President of Russia, reporting directly to the Chief of the General Staff, and is organized into airborne and air assault units. It was formed in 1992 from divisions of the Soviet Airborne Forces that came under Russian control following the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

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

The Russian Airborne Forces utilizes a range of specialist airborne warfare vehicles and are fully mechanized. Traditionally they have had a larger complement of heavy weaponry than most contemporary airborne forces.

According to an order of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation in 1997, the Airborne Forces form the strategic reserve of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, under the direct command of the Chief of the General Staff, and as a rapid response force may be tasked with carrying out operations either independently or within larger army groups alongside units of the Ground Forces. The Airborne Forces can also participate in peacekeeping missions under the mandate of the United Nations (UN) or the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO).

The Airborne Forces are organized into three types of units, consisting of Airborne, Air Assault, and Mountain Air Assault. The airborne units can be parachuted into a combat zone, while the air assault units are airlifted there by aircraft or helicopter. Specifically designated mountain units were created after the Airborne Forces were frequently used in conflicts in the North Caucasus region in the immediate post-Soviet years. The structure of the Airborne Forces uses airborne or air assault divisions for the operational level, airborne or air assault brigades for the operational-tactical level, and regiments for the tactical level. This structure can be augmented with the addition of Ground Forces motorized rifle, artillery, aviation, or other units, depending on the situation.

After studying airborne operations during World War II, the Soviet leadership concluded they were largely unsuccessful, with only a few exceptions. They recognized the potential for an airborne force to attack targets behind enemy lines, but the main problems that were identified included a lack of firepower. An effort to resolve this was the introduction of the BMD series of armored vehicles in 1970, which were eventually issued to every regiment of an airborne division. Up to the present, the Russian Airborne Forces are more heavily armed than their Western counterparts, with the usage of armored personnel carriers.

The dissolution of the Soviet Union led to the dividing up of the former Soviet Armed Forces by the newly independent states. The Russian Airborne Forces were established on 7 May 1992 by a decree from the President of the Russian Federation, Boris Yeltsin. He held a meeting with the heads of state of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan to determine the distribution of former Soviet military assets. During 1992 and 1993 many of the airborne units were transferred to the territory of Russia, as only two of the seven Soviet airborne divisions had been located in the former Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. During this process the Russian General Staff wanted to prioritize maintaining control over the strategic assets of the Soviet military, which besides the Strategic Rocket Forces also included the Airborne Forces. There was initially an attempt to keep them under the joint command of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), but the concept of the CIS unified forces fell apart by the summer of 1993, as the independent states took control over the units on their territories.

The Russian Federation kept six of the seven divisions, which as of 1993 included: