The 79th Airmobile Brigade is a formation of the Ukrainian Airmobile Forces

Ukrainian Airmobile Forces

The airmobile force is a highly mobile component of the Ukrainian Ground Forces.The airmobile forces consist of formations, units and elements of the Army and the Army aviation, trained for combined activities behind the enemy lines....

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Brigade is located in Mykolaiv

Mykolaiv

Mykolaiv , also known as Nikolayev , is a city in southern Ukraine, administrative center of the Mykolaiv Oblast. Mykolaiv is the main ship building center of the Black Sea, and, arguably, the whole Eastern Europe.-Name of city:...

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For their transport the Brigade uses UAZ

UAZ-469

The UAZ-469 is an all-terrain vehicle manufactured by UAZ. It was used by the Red Army and other Warsaw Pact forces, as well as paramilitary units in Eastern Bloc countries. In the Soviet Union, it also saw widespread service in all state organizations that needed a robust off-road vehicle.The...

 fitted with DShK

DShK

The DShK 1938 is a Soviet heavy machine gun firing the 12.7x108mm cartridge. The weapon was also used as a heavy infantry machine gun, in which case it was frequently deployed with a two-wheeled mounting and a single-sheet armour-plate shield...

 anti-aircraft machine gun, 2B14 Podnos

2B14 Podnos

The 2B14 Podnos is a Russian 82mm mortar. The 2B14 was designed in early 1980s as a light indirect fire weapon for the use of airborne and other light infantry forces. Despite the intent to field the 2B14 with light infantry units, the 2B14 appears to have been fielded with regular motor rifle...

 82mm mortar, SPG-9D

SPG-9

The SPG-9 Kopye is a Russian tripod-mounted man-portable, 73 millimetre calibre recoilless gun developed by the Soviet Union. It fires fin-stabilised, rocket-assisted HE and HEAT projectiles similar to those fired by the 73 mm 2A28 Grom low pressure gun of the BMP-1 vehicle...

, AGS-17

AGS-17

The AGS-17 Plamya is a Soviet-designed automatic grenade launcher currently in production in the Russian Federation and in service worldwide.-Description:...

 automatic grenade launcher.
Until summer of 2007 the Brigade was a Regiment. In 2008 the Brigade is being manned by contract soldiers.

Soldiers from the Brigade have served as peacekeepers in Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia

Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....

, Iraq

Iraq

Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

, Kosovo

Kosovo

Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...

, Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone , officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Guinea to the north and east, Liberia to the southeast, and the Atlantic Ocean to the west and southwest. Sierra Leone covers a total area of and has an estimated population between 5.4 and 6.4...

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History

The Brigades history began as 40th Air Assault Brigade in the late 1979. Later it was reorganized into the 40th Airborne Brigade in the later years of the 1980s. In September 1993 the Brigade was renamed 40th Separate Airmobile Brigade.

The 40th Brigade was reorganized and reduced into the 79th Airmobile Regiment.

On July 1, 2007 the Brigade was formed by combining the 79th Airmobile Regiment with 11th Army Aviation Regiment.

Brigade 2007

• 1st Battalion
• 2nd Battalion
• 3rd Battalion
• Artillery Company
• Anti-aircraft Company
• Rocket artillery Company
• Reconnaissance Company
• Engineer Company
• Chemical Company
• Signal Company
• Maintenance Company
• Headquarters Platoon
• Field Training Site(Range)
• Separate Army Aviation Regiment

Past Commanders

• Lieutenant Colonel
  Lieutenant colonel
  Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
  
   Atroshchenko - December 1992
• Zeleniak - December 1992 -
• Colonel
  Colonel
  Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
  
  Kostiantyn Maslenikov - July 1, 2007 -

External links

Unofficial website of VDV