page_title: Airborne forces
section_title: Soviet and Russian VDV
hierarchical_section_title: Airborne forces / Post World War II / Soviet and Russian VDV
caption_attribution_description: English: Soldiers ride aboard a Soviet BMD airborne combat vehicle. Русский: Советские десантники на БМД-1, Афганистан.
context_page_description: Airborne forces are military units moved by aircraft and "dropped" into battle, typically by parachute, almost anywhere with little warning. Formations are limited only by the number and size of their aircraft; a huge force can appear "out of nowhere" behind enemy lines in minutes, an action known as vertical envelopment.
  On the other hand, airborne forces typically lack supplies for prolonged combat; they are much better equipped for an airhead than for long-term occupation. Airborne operations are particularly sensitive to weather. Advances in helicopter technology since World War II have brought increased flexibility, and air assaults have largely replaced parachutists.
context_section_description: The Soviet Union maintained the world's largest airborne force during the Cold War, consisting of seven airborne divisions and a training division. The VDV was subordinated directly to the Ministry of Defense of USSR, and was a 'prestige service' in the armed forces of the USSR and Russia to reflect its strategic purpose. Recruits received much more rigorous training and better equipment than ordinary Soviet units. Unlike most airborne forces, which are a light infantry force, VDV has evolved into a fully mechanized parachute-deployed force thanks to its use of BMD-series light IFVs, BTR-D armoured carriers, 2S9 Nona self-propelled 120 mm gun-howitzer-mortars and 2S25 Sprut-SD 125 mm tank destroyers.
  The VDV have participated in virtually all Soviet and Russian conflicts since the Second World War, including the Soviet–Afghan War. As an elite force, the VDV developed two distinctive items of clothing: the telnyashka, or striped shirt, and the famous blue beret. Airborne assault (десантно-штурмовые войска or DShV) units wore similar striped shirts (as did the naval infantry) but used helicopters, rather than the Military Transport Aviation's An-12s, An-22s, and Il-76s, which carried the airborne troops and their equipment.
caption: A BMD-1 in Kabul, Afghanistan, 1986
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