 airborne military parachuting or gliding form of inserting personnel or supplies. purpose delivering personnel, equipment, or supplies. origins attributed to italian troops on november 1927.  airborne forces are military units, usually light infantry, set up to be moved by aircraft and "dropped" into battle. thus, they can be placed behind enemy lines, and have the capability to deploy almost anywhere with little warning. the formations are limited only by the number and size of their aircraft, so given enough capacity a huge force can appear "out of nowhere" in minutes, an action referred to as vertical envelopment. conversely, airborne forces typically lack the supplies and equipment for prolonged combat operations, and are therefore more suited for airhead operations than for long-term occupation; furthermore, parachute operations are particularly sensitive to adverse weather conditions. advances in helicopter technology since world war ii have brought increased flexibility to the scope of airborne operations, and air assaults have largely replaced large-scale parachute operations, and (almost) completely replaced combat glider operations. == general information ==  airborne forces can be divided into three categories: * paratroopers landed by parachute from aircraft, * airlanding troopsâlanded by aircraft (usually glider), * air assault troops or airmobile infantryâtransported to the battle by helicopter or by aircraft. the basic premise of airborne forces is that they can arrive with such speed that a coherent defence cannot be mounted quickly. it is assumed that this tactical advantage cannot be sustained for very long, so paratroopers must either use the supplies of the enemy, be continuously resupplied by air or wait to be relieved by ground troops. though airborne troops are usually defenceless in transit, their sudden appearance can surprise or 'shock' defending forces for a short time. airborne forces are generally composed of infantry and light, non-armored vehicles and guns. in world war ii light motorcycles were used by paratroopers; the american cushman model 53 and the british welbike. after the korean war, vehicles light enough to be dropped by parachute were developed, such as the m551 sheridan tank. the soviets developed the bmd-1 and bmd-3 fighting vehicles. helicopters can transport light armored vehicles such as the german wiesel awc,
Airborne_warfare Types_of_military_forces