Military units set up to be moved by aircraft and "dropped" into battle
Part of a series on
War
History
Prehistoric
Ancient
Post-classical
Early modern
Pike and shot
napoleonic
Late modern
industrial
fourth-gen
Military
Organization
Command and control
Defense ministry
Army
Navy
Air force
Marines
Coast guard
Space force
Reserves
Regular / Irregular
Ranks
Specialties:
Staff
Engineers
Intelligence
Reconnaissance
Medical
Military police
Land units:
Infantry
Armor
Cavalry
Artillery
Special forces
Signal corps
Naval units:
Warships
Submarines
Aircraft carriers
Landing craft
Auxiliary ship
Air units:
Fighters
Bombers
Command
Close air support
Electronic-warfare
Reconnaissance
Combat systems:
Fire-control system
Fire-control radar
Director (military)
Combat information center
Sonar
Radar
Historical:
Ship gun fire-control
Gun data computer
Torpedo data computer
Development:
Basic training
Military manoeuvrers
Combat training
Battlespace
Aerospace
Air
Airborne
Space
Land
Cold-region
Desert
Jungle
Mountain
Urban
Subterranean
Tunnel
Sea
Amphibious
Blue
Brown
Green
Surface
Underwater
Cyber
Information
Weapons
Air defence
Armor
Artillery
Barrage
Biological
Camouflage
Cavalry
Horses
Air cavalry
Chemical
Combined arms
Conventional
Cyber
Denial
Disinformation
Drone / Robot
Electronic
Infantry
Loitering
Missile
Music
Nuclear
Psychological
Radiological
Unconventional
Tactics
List of military tactics
Aerial
Airlift
Air assault
Airbridge
Airdrop
Battle
Cavalry
Charge
Counterattack
Counterinsurgency
Defeat in detail
Foxhole
Drone
Envelopment
Guerrilla
Morale
Rapid dominance
Siege
Swarm
Screen
Tactical objective
Target saturation
Trench
Withdrawal
Operational
Military operation
Operations research
Blitzkrieg
Expeditionary
Deep operation
Maneuver
Operational manoeuvre group
Raid
Strategy
List of military strategies and concepts
Military campaign
Attrition
Commerce raiding
Counter-offensive
Culminating
Defence in depth
Fabian
Empty fort
Mosaic
Deception
Defensive
Depth
Goal
Naval
Offensive
Scorched earth
Grand strategy
Asymmetric
Blockade
Broken-backed
Class
Cold war
Colonial
Conquest
Containment
Economic
Endemic
Fleet in being
Irregular
Liberation
Limited
Network-centric
New generation
Perpetual
Political
Princely
Proxy
Religious
Resource
Strategic
Succession
Technology
Theater
Total war
World war
Administrative
Branch
Policy
Staff
Training
Service
Sociology
Organization
Area of responsibility
Chain of command
Command and control
Doctrine
Principles of war
Economy of force
Medicine
Engineers
Intelligence
Ranks
Technology and equipment
Personnel
Military recruitment
Conscription
Recruit training
Military specialism
Women in the military
Children in the military
Transgender people and military service
Sexual harassment in the military
Conscientious objector
Counter-recruitment
Logistics
History
Military–industrial complex
Arms industry
Materiel
Supply-chain management
Base
MOB
FOB
Outpost
Science
Power projection
Loss-of-strength gradient
Law
Court-martial
Geneva Conventions
Geneva Protocol
Islamic rules
Justice
Perfidy
Jewish laws on war
Right of conquest
Rules of engagement
Martial law
War crime
Theory
Air supremacy
Command of the sea
Full-spectrum dominance
Overmatch
Unrestricted Warfare
Related
Outline of war
Just war theory
Principles of war
Philosophy of war
War film
Military science fiction
War game
Lanchester's laws
Security dilemma
Tripwire force
Mercenary
War novel
Women in war
War resister
War studies
Anti-war movement
Horses in warfare
Wartime sexual violence
Fifth column
Lists
Battles
Military occupations
Military terms
Operations
Sieges
War crimes
Wars
Weapons
Writers
v
t
e
Airborne forces are ground combat units carried by aircraft and airdropped into battle zones, typically by parachute drop. Parachute-qualified infantry and support personnel serving in airborne units are also known as paratroopers.
The main advantage of airborne forces is their ability to be deployed into combat zones without land passage, as long as the airspace is accessible. Formations of airborne forces are limited only by the number and size of their transport aircraft; a sizeable force can appear "out of the sky" behind enemy lines in merely hours if not minutes, an action known as vertical envelopment.
Airborne forces typically lack enough supplies for prolonged combat and so they are used for establishing an airhead to bring in larger forces before carrying out other combat objectives. Some infantry fighting vehicles have also been modified for paradropping with infantry to provide heavier firepower.
Protocol I of the Geneva Conventions protects parachutists in distress, but not airborne troops. Their necessarily-slow descent causes paratroopers to be vulnerable to anti-air fire from ground defenders, but combat jumps are at low altitude (400–500 ft) and normally carried out a short distance away (or directly on if lightly defended) from the target area at night. Airborne operations are also particularly sensitive to weather conditions, which can be dangerous to both the paratroopers and airlifters, and so extensive planning is critical to the success of an airborne operation.
Advances in VTOL technologies (helicopter and tiltrotor) since World War II have brought increased flexibility, and air assaults have largely been the preferred method of insertion for recent conflicts, but airborne insertion is still maintained as a rapid response capability to get troops on the ground anywhere in the world within hours for a variety of missions.
Airborneforces are ground combat units carried by aircraft and airdropped into battle zones, typically by parachute drop. Parachute-qualified infantry...
Russian AirborneForces (Russian: Воздушно-десантные войска России, ВДВ, romanized: Vozdushno-desantnye voyska Rossii, VDV) is the airborneforces branch...
The Soviet AirborneForces or VDV (from Vozdushno-desantnye voyska SSSR, Russian: Воздушно-десантные войска СССР, ВДВ; Air-landing Forces) was a separate...
Airmobile Forces are the airborneforces of Ukraine. After the Dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, several Ukraine-based units from the Soviet Airborne Forces...
Ground Forces, the Navy, and the Aerospace Forces, as well as two independent arms of service: the Strategic Rocket Forces and AirborneForces. In addition...
modifications, with the Strategic Rocket Forces using Army uniforms and the AirborneForces using Aerospace Forces uniforms. The customary basic colours...
Airborneforces raised by Australia have included a number of conventional and special forces units. During the Second World War the Australian Army formed...
The 82nd Airborne Division is an airborne infantry division of the United States Army specializing in parachute assault operations into hostile areas with...
the Army General Order No. 35. 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne) In 1957 the two original special forces groups (10th and 77th) were joined by the...
82nd and 101st Airborne Divisions and a number of independent airborne units, all British airborneforces including the 1st and 6th Airborne Division plus...
The 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) ("Screaming Eagles") is an air assault infantry division of the United States Army that specializes in air assault...
American airborne landings in Normandy were a series of military operations carried by the United States as part of Operation Overlord, the invasion of...
beret in a military configuration has been an international symbol of airborneforces since the Second World War. It was first officially introduced by the...
Garden, with the British I Airborne Corps being chosen instead to exercise operational command of all Allied airborneforces in the operation, including...
Special Operations Forces—prior to the creation of USASOC, circa 1984 (51:52) The United States Army Special Operations Command (Airborne) (USASOC (/ˈjuːsəˌsɒk/...
nearby land targets; gliders, helicopters and other aircraft to carry airborneforces such as paratroopers; aerial refueling tankers to extend operation...
The 11th Airborne Division ("Arctic Angels") is a United States Army airborne formation based in Alaska. First activated on 25 February 1943, during World...
65th Airborne Special Forces Brigade (Persian: تیپ ۶۵ نیروهای ویژه هوابرد), or the NOHED Brigade (تیپ نوهد), is an airborne, special forces unit of the...
The 19th Special Forces Group (Airborne) (19th SFG) (A) is one of two National Guard groups of the United States Army Special Forces. 19th Group—as it...
Operation Varsity (24 March 1945) was a successful airborneforces operation launched by Allied troops toward the end of World War II. Involving more...
as paratroopers. These include special forces units that are parachute-trained, as well as non-airborneforces units. Independent Special Purpose Detachment...
numerous of army SOF units, mostly airborneforces. A distinction is made between the main operational forces and support forces. All of them are independent...
Spetsnaz and the AirborneForces, Greenhill, London, 1993, p.34 Carey Schofield, The Russian Elite: Inside Spetsnaz and the AirborneForces, Greenhill, London...