Building and equipping airborne forces

JSC ROSOBORONEXPORT (part of Rostec State Corporation) offers the foreign customers its services in organizing and fully equipping airborne units as part of the national armed forces.

The Company is ready to assist in forming an organizational structure of airborne units, establishing the necessary ground infrastructure, equipping the units with all types of military equipment and weapons and training military personnel. ROSOBORONEXPORT’s efforts will result in the emergence of a fully operational branch of the foreign customer’s armed forces.

"The experience of modern military, counter-terror and peacekeeping operations suggests that airborne units are the most trained tactical formations capable to rapidly achieve the goals behind enemy lines and on the forward edge of the battle area (FEBA). They can successfully conduct raids to defeat the enemy, capture and hold territories and critical facilities,"- said Alexander Mikheev, Director General of ROSOBORONEXPORT. "Today ROSOBORONEXPORT offers friendly countries to implement projects for building, equipping and training airborne units, given rich traditions and combat experience of the Russian Airborne Forces. The Company sees a great potential for its offer in the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East and Africa."

In the framework of organizing airborne units in the partner armies, ROSOBORONEXPORT proposes to equip them with all the necessary state-of-the-art military equipment for performing combat missions. In recent years, Russian defence companies have developed new models of military equipment, as well as heavily modernized weapons.

The BMD-4M airborne assault vehicle from Rostec's High-Precision Systems is an air-droppable tracked amphibious fighting vehicle armed with a 100mm gun, a 30mm cannon and a 7.62mm machine gun. It has a three-man crew and accommodates seven equipped paratroopers. Its airborne platform is fitted with an adjustable hydro-pneumatic suspension that provides a ground clearance from 100 to 500 mm, thus reducing the profile of the vehicle when it is used in defence.

High-Precision Systems’ upgraded 2S25 125mm self-propelled anti-tank gun (Sprut light amphibious tank) is the only light amphibious combat vehicle in its class that is similar in firepower to the T-90MS tank and compatible with munitions for Russian main battle tanks. It is equipped with a lethal weapon system, including a 125mm gun with a 7.62mm coaxial machine gun and a 7.62mm remote-controlled machine gun mount. The vehicle is fitted with a guided missile system designed to defeat armored targets, including those equipped with ERA, at ranges up to 5 km.

The BTR-MDM armored personnel carrier, manufactured by High-Precision Systems, is designed to transport up to 13 troops, ammunition, spare parts, fuels as part of assault units in all conditions of combat employment. Command post vehicles, mobile signal centers, medical vehicles and technical support vehicles can also be equipped on the BTR-MDM chassis.

A MRAP vehicle of the Typhoon-K family manufactured by Remdiesel (part of Rostec State Corporation), which is armed with a 30mm remote-controlled weapon station, is also designed to support combat operations by airborne units, transport personnel and cargo.

Remdiesel’s MTR technical reconnaissance vehicle is designed to carry a crew of 5 people and special equipment. It is fitted with surveillance and technical reconnaissance devices.

Depending on the missions assigned, an airborne unit can be armed with a 120mm 2S42 Lotos self-propelled howitzer, a 2S41 Drok self-propelled mortar and a Kornet-EM ATGM system. The 83t501 Zavet-D system based on the BTR-MDM is designed to provide automated artillery fire control.

All military equipment of the airborne forces can be air landed or air dropped at a specified point.

Personnel, military equipment and cargo are air dropped at the mission location using parachute systems developed and manufactured by Rostec companies.

ROSOBORONEXPORT offers foreign partners a wide range of air drop systems for a variety of missions. Among them are the Dalnolet, Tandem-400, Arbalet-2, Berkut-2 and Stayer-2 dedicated systems, as well as the D-6 and D-10 mass dropping systems.

The Dalnolet special purpose system enables paratroopers to jump from an altitude of 8,000 meters, including as part of a group, at up to 60 km away from the aircraft. At the same time a paratrooper can carry enough weapons, ammunition and special equipment, since the total flight weight is 190 kg. With the Tandem-400 two-seat special purpose parachute system, it is possible to be air dropped with a passenger or place a container weighing up to 50 kg on a harness system (the total flight weight is 225 kg). To equip paratroopers with a payload, Russia has developed various cargo restraint systems and cargo containers that meet modern ergonomics requirements, as well as protective helmets, night vision devices and oxygen equipment for paratrooper breathing during air drops at altitudes from 4000 to 8000 meters.

Airborne assault vehicles weighing up to 20 tons are air dropped using the MKS-350-12/12M cargo multi-canopy parachute system and a PBS platformless parachute system.

ROSOBORONEXPORT proposes to use modern Russian-made parachute cargo systems for airdropping weapons, ammunition, military and humanitarian supplies.

In addition, Rostec State Corporation has proactively developed the APSDG-250 automated parachute system which makes it possible to drop loads up to 250 kg from altitudes up to 8,000 meters with a touchdown error of up to 100 meters.

To ensure high mobility of airborne units, ROSOBORONEXPORT offers the latest Ilyushin Il-76MD-90A(E) military transport aircraft developed and built by Rostec's UAC, which has more than 70% of upgraded systems and units compared to the Il-76.

The Il-76MD-90A(E) can carry and airdrop weapons and military equipment used by airborne forces. It accommodates up to three BMD-4M assault vehicles, up to three BTR-MDM APCs and up to two upgraded 125mm 2S25 self-propelled anti-tank guns (Sprut light amphibious tanks). The aircraft provides airdropping of up to 126 fully-equipped paratroopers. Its range is 4,000 km with a 60-ton load and 5,000 km with a 52-ton load.

The aircraft can be equipped with the President-S defensive aids system, which automatically protects the Il-76MD-90A(E) from enemy guided missiles across the entire envelope of their engagement ranges and aspect angles.

An important competitive advantage of the Il-76MD-90A(E) is its capability to take off and land on unprepared and unpaved airfields.

Effective training of the airborne personnel is carried out using modern equipment. ROSOBORONEXPORT is ready to provide partners wishing to have trained and efficient airborne units with dynamic crew simulators, gunnery trainers, driving simulators, as well as crew training classrooms. The initial paratrooper training with parachute landing fall drill in various conditions is carried out at the UTK-VDP airborne training facility.

As part of personnel training, the Russian Ministry of Defence’s experienced instructors will train future paratroopers in the basics of airborne warfare tactics, actions in combat situations, equipment and weapon operation features, taking into account the realities of modern military conflicts, including the use of unmanned reconnaissance-and-strike systems.