Dramatic increase of advanced hardware for Russian airborne force.

The proportion of advanced military hardware operational with Russia’s airborne force has grown by 3.5 times in the past five years, Airborne Force Commander Colonel-General Andrei Serdyukov said in an interview with the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper.

BMD-4M (Picture source: Army Recognition)

"Units and formations have already received more than 42,000 items of military and special hardware. This has increased fire effectiveness by 16 percent, survivability by 20 percent and maneuverability by 1.3 times," Serdyukov said. "The implementation of the 2012-2017 state defense procurement program increased the share of advanced armament in service with the Airborne Force by 3.5 times," he added.

According to the commander, the number of state-of-the-art parachute systems and other air assault means has grown by 1.4 times, air defense systems by 3.5 times and armored vehicles and equipment by 2.4 times.

As Serdyukov said, the airborne force operates five battalion sets of BMD-4M airborne fighting vehicles and BTR-MDM armored personnel carriers, and seven self-propelled artillery battalions armed with upgraded 120mm 2S9-1M Nona-S self-propelled artillery systems, modernized reconnaissance and artillery fire control posts and Aistyonok and Sobolyatnik radars.