Russian Airborne Troops

Vozdushno-Desantnye Voyska Air-Landing Forces
VDV medium emblem.
Active	1930s – present
Country	Soviet Union (until 1991) Russian Federation
Allegiance	Supreme Commander-in-Chief
Type	Airborne Forces
Role	Light infantry, airborne infantry, airmobile infantry, peacekeepers
Size	35000[1]
Nickname	Blue Berets, Winged Infantry
Patron
Motto	Никто, кроме нас
Colors	Sky Blue
Anniversaries	August 2 – Day of Desantniks
Engagements	World War II Afghan War First Chechen War Second Chechen War 2008 South Ossetia war
Commanders
Current commander	General-Lieutenant Vladimir Shamanov
Notable commanders	V. F. Margelov

The Russian Airborne Troops or VDV (from "Vozdushno-Desantnye Voiska", Russian: Воздушно-десантные войска = ВДВ; Air-landing Forces) is a military branch of service of the Russian Military, on par with the Strategic Rocket Forces and the Russian Space Forces. 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.^[2]

Definition

The word desánt, as used in the Vozdushno-Desantnye Vojska, is a borrowing of the French descente (‘debarkation’ or ‘landing’). It is also used by the Russian Ground Forces for the desantno-shturmoviye batal′ony (Russian: десантно-штурмовые батальоны), the airmobile assault battalions, and by the Russian Naval Infantry in voyenno-morskoy desant (Russian: военно-морской десант), an amphibious landing. The airborne, air-assault, and amphibious troops of all services are referred to as desantniki, which literally means ‘those who land’. The term desant is defined by Radzievskii as:

Troops intended for landing, or which have already landed on enemy-occupied territory for the purpose of conducting combat operations. According to the transportation method used, a landing force may be amphibious, airborne, or combined; and according to its scale and purpose, such a force may be strategic, operational, or tactical.^[3]

The concept of desant is linked with the Russian doctrinal emphasis on flanking maneuvers.

Interwar and World War II

World War II-era Soviet Paratroopers deploy from a Tupolev TB-3.

Originally formed in the Soviet Union during the mid 1930s, they were massively expanded during World War II. They then formed up to ten Airborne Corps with numerous Independent Airborne Brigades, with most or all achieving "Guards" status. 9th Guards Army was eventually formed with three Guards Rifle Corps (37th, 38th, and 39th) being of Airborne divisions. At the end of the war they were reconstituted as Guards Rifle Divisions.

The Soviet airborne forces were mostly used as 'leg' 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.^[4] 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.^[5]

Armed Forces of the
Russian Federation

Ministry of Defence Services (Vid) Russian Air Force Russian Ground Forces Russian Navy Independent troops (Rod) Strategic Missile Troops Russian Space Forces Russian Airborne Troops Other troops Naval Infantry Naval Aviation Missiles and Artillery Agency Ranks of the Russian Military Air Force ranks and insignia Army ranks and insignia Navy ranks and insignia History of the Russian Military Military History of Russia History of Russian military ranks Military ranks of the Soviet Union

List of Airborne Corps 22 June 1941

Source soldat.ru forums.^[6]

• 1st Airborne Corps: Major General Usenko Matvei Alekseyevich (on 23 June – October 1941 year)
  Colonel, 19 January 1942 Major General Zholudev Victor Grigorevich (on December 15, 1941 – July 1942)
  Major General Alexander Peter Alekseyevich (September – December 1942).
• 2nd Airborne Corps:
  Major General Kharitonov Fedor Mikhaylovich (23 June – 9 September 1941)
  Colonel Gubarevich Joseph Ivanovich (May – October 1941)
  Colonel, since 1942 Major General Tikhonov Mikhail Fedorovich (September 1941 – May 1942).
• 3rd Airborne Corps:
  Major General Glazunov Vasiliy Afanasevich (June 23 – 29 August 1941)
  Colonel Travnikov Nikolai Grigorevich (September 1941 – March 1942)
  Colonel Afanasev Fedor Alexandrovich (February – July 1942).
• 4th Airborne Corps:
  Major General Zhadov Aleksey Semenovich (23 June – 2 August 1941)
  Colonel, 19 January 1942 Major General Levashev Aleksey Fedorovich (November 1941 – February 23, 1942)
  Colonel, 13 May 1942 Major General Kazankin Alexander Fedorovich (23 February 1942 – December 1942).

Russian Airborne major emblem

Flag of the Russian Airborne Troops

• 5th Airborne Corps:
  Major General Bezuglyy Ivan Semenovich (June – October 1941)
  Colonel Gur'yev Stepan Savelevich (3 October 1941 – August 1942)
  Colonel Afanasev Fedor Alexandrovich (August – November 1942)
  Major General of Shore Duty Parafilo Terenty Mikhaylovich (25 November – December 1942)
• 6th Airborne Corps:
  Major General Pastrevich Alexander Ivanovich (October 1941 – August 1942)
  Major General Kirzimov Alexander Ilyich (August – December 1942)
• 7th Airborne Corps:
  Colonel, since 1942 Major General Gubarevich Joseph Ivanovich (October 1941 – August 1942)
  Major General Lyapin Peter Ivanovich (August – December 1942).
• 8th Airborne Corps:
  Colonel, 1942 Major General Glazkov Vasiliy Andreevich (October 1941 – August 1942)
  Colonel Konev Ivan Nikitin (29 August – December 1942).
• 9th Airborne Corps:
  Major General Bezuglyy Ivan Semenovich (October 1941 – March 30, 1942, “for the use of combat aircraft for personal purposes, the non-fulfillment within the required period of the orders of the military council VDV (Airborne Troops) about the transfer of aircraft to other formations” removed from the held post, and is from June lowered in the service rank to Colonel)
  Colonel, since 1942 Major General Denisenko Mikhail Ivanovich (March – August 1942)
  Colonel Mamontov Aleksey Georgievich (18 August – 29 October 1942)
  Major General Travnikov Nikolai Grigorevich (October 29 – December 1942).
• 10th Airborne Corps
  Colonel, 1942 Major General Ivanov Nikolai Petrovich (November 1941 – August 1942)
  Major General Kapitokhin Alexander Grigorevich (August 29 – December 1942).

Airborne Corps formed during World War II

During October 1944 the three Guards Airborne Corps were formed into the Independent Guards Airborne Army. In December this Army was renamed into the 9th Guards Army.^[7]

• 37th Guard Svirsk Airborne Corps (19 January – 9 August 1944, and from 30 December 1944, 37th Guards Rifle Corps):^[8]
  General Lieutenant Mironov Pavel Vasilyevich (19 January 1944 – May 1946)
  • 98th Guards Svirsk Rifle Division
  • 99th Guards Svirsk Rifle Division
  • 103rd Guards Rifle Division (see ru:103-я гвардейская стрелковая дивизия; formed from 13th Guards Airborne Division (2nd formation))
• 38th Guard Airborne Corps:
  Major General, from November 5, General Lieutenant Kapitokhin Alexander Grigorevich (August 9, 1944 year – March 25, 1945)
  General Lieutenant Utvenko Alexander Ivanovich (26 March 1945 – July 1946)
  • 104th Guards Rifle Division
  • 105th Guards Rifle Division
  • 106th Guards Rifle Division
• 39th Guard Airborne Corps:
  General Lieutenant Tikhonov Mikhail Fedorovich (August 1944 – June 1945).
  • 100th Guards Rifle Division
  • 107th Guards Rifle Division
  • 114th Guards Rifle Division (from 14th Guards Airborne Division (2nd formation))

Postwar

Soviet Paratroopers on a BMD-1 vehicle in Afghanistan; March 25th, 1986

HQ 9th Guards Army was redesignated Headquarters Airborne Forces soon after the war ended. The units of the Army were removed from the order of battle of the Air Forces of USSR and assigned directly to the Ministry of Armed Forces of USSR.

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

The 37th, 38th, and 39th Corps survived for a while, and in 1946 the force consisted of five corps (the 8th and 15th had been added) and ten divisions:^[9]

• 8th Airborne Corps (103rd and 114th Divisions). The 114th Airborne Division was established in 1946 on the basis of the similarly numbered Rifle Division in Borovukha (just east of Slutsk) in the Belarussian SSR. The Division was disbanded in 1956, with two of its regiments (the 350th and 357th) joining the 103rd Guards Airborne Division.^[10]
• 15th Airborne Corps (the 76th and 104th Divisions),
• 37th Airborne Corps (the 98th and 99th in Primorsky Krai)
• 38th Airborne Corps (105th and 106th at Tula),
• 39th Airborne Corps at Belaya Tserkov in Ukraine (the 100th and 107th Divisions (Chernihiv, disbanded 1959))

However the force was eventually reduced to seven Airborne Divisions, with an Independent Airborne regiment and up to sixteen Air Assault Brigades.

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 1968 operations in Czechoslovakia. The first experimental air assault brigade – the 1st Airborne [Airmobile/Air Assault] Brigade – was apparently activated in 1967/1968 from parts of the 51st Guards Parachute Landing Regiment (PDP) (Tula), after the Russian had been impressed by the American experiences in Vietnam.^[11]

By the 1980s there were seven airborne divisions in the VDV (including one training) and several independent brigades, regiments and battalions although only two divisions were capable of being deployed for combat operations in the first wave against NATO employing assets of the Transport Aviation of the Military Air Forces and the Aeroflot.^[12]

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 in the Far East in the 1980s.^[13] 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.^[14] 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 nearest division ever active, the 99th Guards Airborne Svirsk Red Banner Division based at Ussuriysk, was broken up to form separate air assault brigades (parts of the 11th, 13th, and 83rd Brigades) in 1973.^[15]

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. 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 351st Guards Parachute Regiment, 105th Guards Vienna Airborne Division, the 56th Guards Separate Air Assault Brigade was formed in para Azadbash (district Chirchik) Tashkent Oblast, Uzbek SSR.

In 1989, the Airborne Forces consisted of:

• 7th Guards Cherkassy Airborne Division (HQ Kaunas Fortress, Lithuanian SSR)
• 76th Guards Chernigov Airborne Division (Pskov, RSFSR)
• 98th Guards Svir Airborne Division (Bolgrad & Kishinev, Moldovan SSR)
• 103rd Guards Airborne Division (Vitebsk, Belorussian SSR) The division was established in Belarus in 1946 on the basis of the similarly-numbered Rifle Division. In 1956 the 350th and 357th regiments joined the division from the disbanded 114th Guards Airborne Division. In December 1979 elements of the division were transferred to Afghanistan. During the fighting in Afghanistan the division was awarded the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Red Banner.^[16]
• 104th Guards Airborne Division (Kirovabad, Azerbaijan SSR)
• 106th Guards Airborne Division (Tula, RSFSR)
• 242nd District Training Centre of the Airborne Forces (Gaižiūnai/Jonava, Lithuanian SSR) created from the 44th Training Airborne Division. However, the divisional banner was retained.^[17] The division's full designation in Russian was 44 воздушно-десантная Овручская Краснознаменная орденов Суворова и Богдана Хмельницкого дивизия – 44th Airborne Ovruch Red Banner Order of Suvorov and Bogdan Khmelnitsky Division) with three training regiments. The division was established in Pskov in October 1960 as the 4th Airborne Division, and according to some sources, it was given the Fighting Banner of the 111th Guards Rifle Division (the wartime 4th Guards Airborne Division), although the Division and its regiments were not guards units. After the formation of the division was relocated to Lithuania, where it received the number 44.^[16]
• 345th Independent Guards Airborne Regiment (Gudauta, Georgian SSR)
• 11th Air Assault Brigade
• 13th Air Assault Brigade
• 14th, 21st, 23rd, 35th, 36th (Garbolovo, Leningrad MD), 37th, 38th, 39th, 40th, 56th, 83rd, 95th, 100th Air Assault Brigades
• 171st Independent Communications Brigade (Medvezhi Ozera, Moscow Military District, RSFSR)

After the Fall of the Soviet Union

Structure Russian Airborne Forces

With the demise of the Soviet Union, the number of VDV divisions has shrunk from seven to four, as well as one brigade and the brigade-sized training centre:^[18]

• 7th Guards Air Assault (Mountain) Division in Novorossiysk
• 76th Guards Air Assault Division in Pskov
• 98th Guards Airborne Division in Ivanovo
• 106th Guards Airborne Division in Tula
• 31st Guards Airborne Brigade in Ulyanovsk
• 242nd Training Centre of the VDV in Omsk
• 45th Detached Reconnaissance Regiment in Kubinka
• 1182nd Guards Artillery Regiment
• 38th Signal Regiment

The 11th Air Assault Brigade in the Central Militray District (former Siberian Military District) and the 56th Air Assault Regiment in the Southern Military District (former North Caucasus Military District) are partially infantry formations reporting directly to the military districts they are stationed in.^[19] The VDV's training institute is the Ryazan Institute for the Airborne Troops named for General of the Army V.F. Margelov.^[20] 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 ('Red Star,') 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.^[21]

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" – the 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.^[22]

Original ensign of Russian Airborne service uniform after collapse of USSR

The VDV divisions are equipped with armoured fighting vehicles, artillery and anti-aircraft guns, trucks and jeeps.^{[citation needed]} 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.^[23] 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 the 2nd of August.

VDV troopers on repetition of V-Day parade.

One of their most prized distinguishing marks is their Telnyashka shirt (another, maybe even more emblematic, is a blue beret. VDV soldiers are often called "blue berets").

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 Troops academy in Ryazan', and remains on active duty with the Russian Airborne Troops.

Since 2008, women have been allowed to serve in the VDV, in combat positions, including as officers, after finishing 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 is twice 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.^[24] General Shamanov and the acting commander of the 106th Airborne Division were severely injured in a car crash on 30 October 2010. The general's driver was killed.^[25]

On 28 January 2010, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that the VDV's air components had been placed under the VVS.^[26]

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 CinC of the VDV, 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.^[27] 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 eliminated).

Armament and equipment

Older sleeve ensign version of Russian Airborne field uniform

Personal firearms and crew served weapons

• AK-74M and AKS-74 assault rifles, and AKS-74U special purpose and self-defence carbine (5.45x39mm).
• RPK-74, light weight machinegun (5.45x39mm).
• PKM, general purpose machinegun (7.62x54mm).
• 6P41 "Pecheneg" general purpose machinegun (7.62x54mm), currently replacing PKM as general purpose machinegun throughout the Russian Armed Forces.
• Dragunov SVD, sniper rifle (7.62x54mm).
• Dragunov SVU, modified SVD in bullpup configuration and its variants are in a limited use.
• GP-25 and GP-30, under-barrel 40mm grenade launchers for fragmentation and gas grenades.
• AGS-17 Plamya (Flame), 30mm automatic grenade launcher.
• RPO-A "Shmel" (Bumblebee), infantry rocket flamethrower, or the older RPO "Rys".
• RPG-7 anti-tank rocket launcher, or more modern systems such as the RPG-22.
• 2B14 "Podnos" 82mm mortar or the older M-37M
• 9K38 "Igla" man-portable SAM system, or the more modern 9K338 "Igla-S".
• 9K111 "Fagot" and 9K115 "Metis" man-portable anti-tank systems.

Armoured Vehicles

Unlike the rest of the mechanized units, which use 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. BMD-4 is also capable of full, continuous fire while in the deep water, unlike any other vehicle with such heavy weaponry (100mm gun and 30mm auto cannon).

There is also a turret-less variant of the BMD-1, the BTR-D, which is used as troop carrier and severs as the basis for specialised versions such as anti-tank, command and signals. The BTR-D will partially be replaced by the new multi-purpose APC BTR-MD "Rakushka" that will also come in several different versions. 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.^[28]

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 is the number next to ASU designation in mm).

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

Today the VDV operates the following systems:

• 2S9 Anona 120mm self-propelled gun-mortar.
• 2S25 Sprut-SD 125mm self-propelled artillery/anti-tank gun based on BMD-3 hull.
• D-30 (2A18) 122mm howitzer and anti-tank weapon, towed by truck, not amphibious, unique capability to make 360 degree turns as it is deployed on tripod
• ZU-23-2 23mm 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.^[29]

Other Vehicles

The VDV is equipped with numerous types of airborne capable trucks and jeeps, for example the Ural-4320, the GAZ-66V and the UAZ-3151 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-VDV 4x4.^[30][31]

Gallery

Russian paratroopers - martial arts demonstration

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin with cadets of General Margelov Airborne Troops Academy in Ryazan

Troops of 98th Airborne Division in Chechnya; March 20th, 2000

1 Silver Ruble commemorative coin of the series "Armed Forces of the Russian Federation". On the reverse, relief images of a commando, airplanes and paratroopers. The inscription at the top along the rim - "ВОЗДУШНО-ДЕСАНТНЫЕ ВОЙСКА" (AIRBORNE TROOPS). 2006

References

1. ^ Вести.Ru: Владимир Шаманов: число желающих служить в ВДВ остается очень высоким
2. ^ p.386, Isby
3. ^ pp.175–176, Simpkin
4. ^ p.387, Bonn
5. ^ p.172-182, Staskov
6. ^ Zhukov, A.E., Forum at www.soldat.ru
7. ^ See also Axis History Forum thread on 9GA and Soviet airborne units
8. ^ See also ru:37-й гвардейский стрелковый корпус
9. ^ http://www8.brinkster.com/vad777/sssr-89-91/vdv.htm.
10. ^ Feskov,, V.I.; K.A. Kalashnikov, V.I. Golikov. (2004). The Soviet Army in the Years of the 'Cold War' (1945–1991). Tomsk: Tomsk University Press. p. 102. ISBN 5-7511-1819-7. 
11. ^ http://www.almanacwhf.ru/?no=6&art=Cool via www.orbat.com forum
12. ^ pp.190–191, Simpkin
13. ^ p.29, IISS Military Balance 1985–86; p.36, Isby
14. ^ Jane's Military Review, 1984, 85, or 1986
15. ^ Feskov,, V.I.; K.A. Kalashnikov, V.I. Golikov. (2004). The Soviet Army in the Years of the 'Cold War' (1945–1991). Tomsk: Tomsk University Press. p. 31. ISBN 5-7511-1819-7. 
16. ^ ^{a b} Feskov,, V.I.; K.A. Kalashnikov, V.I. Golikov. (2004). The Soviet Army in the Years of the 'Cold War' (1945–1991). Tomsk: Tomsk University Press. p. 101. ISBN 5-7511-1819-7. 
17. ^ [1]. See also [2]
18. ^ Routledge, IISS Military Balance 2007, p.195
19. ^ The 56th Air Assault Regiment is the former 56th Guards Separate Air Assault Brigade.
20. ^ See also ru:Рязанский институт Воздушно-десантных войск имени генерала армии Маргелова В.Ф.
21. ^ Baev, Pavel, The Russian Army in a Time of Troubles, International Peace Research Institute, Oslo, 1996, p.127-135
22. ^ . http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-20602902_ITM. ^{[dead link]}
23. ^ p.243,363, Austin & Muraviev quoting Kedrov & Sokut, 'Transportirovat diviziu za odin vyliot [To transport Division in One Take-Off], Nezavisimoe Voennoe Obozrenie, No.11, 1999, p.1, translation from Russian
24. ^ http://www.silobreaker.com/general-shamanov-appointed-as-commander-of-the-russian-airborne-forces-5_2262366120428175381
25. ^ http://russiandefpolicy.wordpress.com/2010/11/01/shamanov-update/
26. ^ [swords]=8fd5893941d69d0e3f378576261ae3e&tx_ttnews[any_of_the_words]=T-50stealthfighter&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=35987&tx_ttnews{backPid=7&cHash=b80f06243a Russian Fifth Generation Fighter Takes to the Sky]
27. ^ Moscow Defense Brief #2, 2010 p. 22-24
28. ^ https://russiandefpolicy.wordpress.com/2011/05/31/shamanov-on-the-vdvs-goz/
29. ^ http://russiandefpolicy.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/hows-it-look-for-vdv/
30. ^ http://kamazexport.com/478.html
31. ^ http://russiandefpolicy.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/hows-it-look-for-vdv/

Sources

• Austin, Greg, & Muraviev, Alexey D., Red Star East: The Armed Forces of Russia in Asia, Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 2000 [3]
• Bonn, Keith E.(ed.), Slaughterhouse: The handbook of the Eastern Front, Aberjona Press, Bedford, PA, 2005
• Brinkster.com VDV at Brinskster.com
• Feskov,, V.I.; K.A. Kalashnikov, V.I. Golikov. (2004). The Soviet Army in the Years of the 'Cold War' (1945–1991). Tomsk: Tomsk University Press. ISBN 5-7511-1819-7. 
• Isby, David C., Weapons and tactics of the Soviet Army, Jane's Publishing Company, London 1988
• KMS Ltd in association with "RYAZAN" International Airborne and Special Forces Veterans Organisation RUSSIAN VDV
• Schofield, Carey, The Russian Elite: Inside Spetsnaz and the Airborne Forces, Stackpole/Greenhill, 1993
• Simpkin, Richard, Red Armour: An examination of the Soviet Mobile Force Concept, Brassey's Defence Publishers, London, 1984
• Staskov, Lt. Gen. N.V., 1943 Dnepr Airborne Operation: Lessons and Conclusions, Military Thought, Vol. 12, No.4, 2003 (in Russian)

External links

• Unofficial website of VDV Russian Only
• Official web site of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation In Russian
• "Desantura" Russian Mostly and Theme for foreign colleagues Russian & English
• Association of VDV veterans Russian Only
• History of VDV on pobeda.ru Russian Only
• SovietArmyStuff.com – Uniforms, Equipment, Badges, Patches and More "English site"