VDV flag.

The Vozdushno-Desantnye Vojska or VDV (ВДВ), English for "Airborne Troops", is a Russian military corps. Image File history File links Vdv_flag. ... Image File history File links Vdv_flag. ...

The VDV is an independent and distinct branch of the Russian military, equal to the Russian Navy, Russian Air Force and Russian Army. The Airborne Troops are the most capable mobile assault forces of Russia, as they are airborne forces in the first place. A rare occurrence of a 5-country multinational fleet, during Operation Enduring Freedom in the Oman Sea. ... An air force is a military organization that primarily operates in air-based war. ... Army (from French armée) can, in some countries, refer to any armed force. ... Mobile has several different meanings. ... U.S. paratroopers jump into Australia on a military training exercise. ...

Originally formed in the Soviet Union during the mid 1930s and massively expanded during World War II, where they formed up to ten Airborne Corps with numerous Independent Airborne Brigades, with most or all achieving "Guards" status. At the end of the war they were reconstituted as Guards Rifle Divisions. They were later rebuilt and eventually formed seven Air Assault Divisions. With an Independent Air Assault regiment and up to sixteen Air Assault Brigades. They were formed into their own VDV command to give the Soviets a Rapid Strike force to spearhead strategic military operations. // Events and trends The 1930s were described as an abrupt shift to more radical lifestyles, as countries were struggling to find a solution to the global depression. ... World War II was a truly global conflict with many facets: immense human suffering, fierce indoctrination, and the use of new, extremely devastating weapons such as the atomic bomb. ... Guards (Russian (language): гвардия) or Guards units (Russian (language): гвардейские части) were and are elite military units in Imperial Russia, Soviet Union and Russian Federation. ...

With the demise of the Soviet Union, the number of VDV divisions has shrunk from seven to four (7th Airborne Division, 76th Airborne Division, 98th Airborne Division, and 106th Airborne Division) but they remain as efficient and as battle-ready, as previously. Furthermore, 76th Airborne Division is the only Russian army division, that is fully composed of contract soldiers (and not of "srochniki" - the conscripted soldiers aged eighteen).

Unlike western airborne units which must walk when they arrive at their destination, the VDV divisions are mechanized with over 250 armored fighting vehicles, the BMD family of vehicles. VDV units have superior mobility with these vehicles and superior firepower, each division has three regiments equipped with them and their derivatives. The Indepent brigades, however, are not equipped with their own armor or artillery and are equivalent to western airborne as they function as light infantry and must walk when reaching their destination. Did you Mean? Beckers muscular dystrophy BMD-1 Soviet/Russian airborne infantry fighting vehicle Bone mineral density This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

VDV troops participated in the rapid deployment of Russian forces in and around Pristina airport during the Kosovo crisis, taking NATO by surprise. They also were deployed in Chechnya as an active bridgehead for other forces to follow. Prishtinë/Prishtina (Albanian indefinite/definite form) or Priština (Приштина) (Serbian) is the capital city of Kosovo, a landlocked province of Serbia located at 42°65′ N 21°17′ E. It is estimated that the current population of Prishtina is as high as 500,000. ... Kosovo (Serbian: Косово и Метохија / Kosovo i Metohija , Albanian: Kosovë / Kosova) , in English most often called just Kosovo, is a province of Serbia. ... Capital Grozny Area - total - % water 78th - 15,500 km² - negligible Population - Total - Density 49th - est. ...

A VDV unit, the 45th ORPSN (Separate Reconnaissance Regiment of Special Designation), that reportedly performed brilliantly in Chechnya during the second campaign, was said to actually represent a Spetznaz GRU unit, which was later proven untrue. A regiment is a military unit, larger than a company and smaller than a division. ... Spetsnaz soldier training Spetsnaz (Войска специального назначения - спецназ/Voiska spetsialnogo naznacheniya - spetsnaz, /Specnaz/ in SAMPA) is a general term for Special Forces, SpecOps in Russian, literally special purpose units. In Russian the term is commonly used to denote special forces of all countries, but in English it is used only... GRU is the English transliteration of the Russian acronym ГРУ, which stands for Гла́вное Разве́дывательное Управле́ние (Glavnoe Razvedyvatelnoe Upravlenie), meaning Main Intelligence Directorate. ...

In 2004, the Russian MoD announced that the VDV will be re-equipped with new APC vehicles of the BMD-4 type (RIA Novosti, December 20th, 2004). Ultimately, the VDV will form the core of the future Russian Mobile Forces. However, it is unlikely that this reorganization will happen in the years to come due to lack of funding and resistance from within the VDV. APC is an abbreviation of: General Armoured personnel carrier Automatic Performance Control Automatic Passenger Counter Advanced process control Average Propensity to Consume A Perfect Circle, the band Health Adenomatous polyposis coli gene, the function loss of this gene predisposes one to colon cancer. ... Did you Mean? Beckers muscular dystrophy BMD-1 Soviet/Russian airborne infantry fighting vehicle Bone mineral density This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

External links

• Unofficial website of VDV