| Publication |
2010.
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| Summary/Abstract |
The elite Russian airborne forces, unlike other structures within the conventional armed forces, survived the "new look" reform initiated by Defense Minister, Anatoliy Serdyukov in October 2008, relatively unscathed. How this was achieved, what it meant for reform planning as a whole, as well as the significance of the change to its leadership in 2009 is examined. Problems facing the airborne units are perhaps not as intense as in the ground forces, though its leadership struggled to protect key aspects of its essential requirements in order to conduct adequate combat training. However, its successful preservation of the division-based structure, more than any other development in the past two years, illustrates the enduring potential for the defense ministry to reconceptualize the original reform concept in response to service or branch of service interests.
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