Russian airborne troops continue recapitalisation
Russia’s airborne troops, an elite and highly-mobile independent branch of country’s military numbering 45,000 personnel, has continued a comprehensive recapitalisation in 2017.
Col Gen Andrey Serdyukov, the branch’s commander-in-chief, revealed that 2017 saw the re-equipment of three landing-assault battalions with the new BMD-4M airmobile IFV and the BTR-MDM Rakushka APC.
Two of the battalions are included in the 31st Independent Landing-Assault Brigade in the city of Ulyanovsk and another in the 76th Landing-Assault Division in Pskov.
Each battalion received 27 BMD-4Ms, three BMD-4MK commander’s vehicles and 16-20 BTR-MDMs. In total, some 150 new IFVs and APCs were taken in 2017.
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