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80th Airmobile Regiment
File:80oaep.jpg
Sleeve patch of the Regiment
Active December 19, 1955 -
Country Ukraine
Branch Ukrainian Ground Forces
Type Airmobile
Size 1,600 (2004-2005)
Part of 13th Army Corps[1]
Garrison/HQ Lviv[2] Ukraine
Motto(s) Nobody but Us[3]
Equipment BTR-80[4]
Engagements Soviet war in Afghanistan
Nagorno-Karabakh War
Operation Iraqi Freedom
Decorations Order of the Red Star
Commanders
Commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Viktor Kopachynskii[5]
Ceremonial chief Lieutenant Colonel Ihor Kontenruk[2]
Executive officer Lieutenant Colonel Valeriy Tarakulov[6]
Insignia
Airmobile Forces insignia Ukr airborne
Identification
symbol
File:81mb iraq.jpg

The 80th Airmobile Regiment (Ukrainian: 80 окремий аеромобільний полк) is an airmobile formation of the Ukrainian Ground Forces. The regiment is part of the 13th Army Corps.[2]

History[]

The 80th Parachute-Landing Regiment was formed on December 19, 1955 in the Caucasus Region. It originally formed part of the 104th Guards Airborne Division of the Soviet Airborne Forces whose divisional headquarters was at Kirovabad (now Gyandzha) in the Azerbaijan SSR. Carey Schofield writes that the 104th Guards Airborne Division 'had only two regiments from 1975 to 1980 after the disbandment of the 80th Guards Airborne Regiment in Baku'.[7] In 1967 for its achievements in training the Regiment was awarded the Order of the Red Star. In 1979 the Regiment was relocated to Khyriv in Lviv Oblast,[8] seemingly, according to Russian sources, as the 39th Air Assault Brigade.[9] In June 1990 the 39th Air Assault Brigade became the 224th Training Center of the Soviet Airborne Forces. In May 1992 the service men of the unit gave the Oath to protect and serve the Ukrainian people. In 1995 the 224th Training Center of the Soviet VDV was renamed the 6th Separate Airmobile Brigade, which in 1999 was reorganized into the 80th Airmobile Regiment.

Deployments[]

Soldiers from the Regiment have served in Afghanistan, Nagorno-Karabakh, Kosovo,[10] Sierra Leone, and Iraq.

Almost a third of the Regiment was deployed to Iraq, as the last Ukrainian unit (81st Tactical Group) on May 15, 2005.[11][12]

Structure[]

  • Headquarters Company[13]
  • 1st Airmobile Battalion[13]
    • 2nd Airmobile Company[13]
  • 2nd Airmobile Battalion[13]
    • 5th Airmobile Company[4]
  • 1st Mortar Battery[1]

Past commanders[]

  • Colonel Ihor Overin[14] - 2005
  • Lieutenant Colonel Viktor Kopachynskii

Awards[]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 (Ukrainian) 4 paratroopers injured when mortar explodes
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 (Ukrainian) Oath taking ceremony Autumn 2007
  3. 81st Tactical Group patch
  4. 4.0 4.1 (Ukrainian) Training in the Regiment
  5. (Ukrainian) 36th paratroopers receive awards
  6. (Ukrainian) Easter Celebration
  7. Carey Schofield, 'The Russian Elite: Inside Spetsnaz and the Airborne Forces, Greenhill Books, 1993, p.135
  8. (Ukrainian) 52nd anniversary of unit
  9. (Russian) VDV, and Michael Holm, 39th independent Landing-Assault Brigade, retrieved 2012.
  10. (Ukrainian) Rotation of troops in Kosovo
  11. Lviv Gazete to Iraq
  12. (Ukrainian) Ukrainian Heraldry Union
  13. 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 (Ukrainian) Ministry of Defense' Army of Ukraine magazine Issue 1, 2007
  14. (Ukrainian) 80th regiment is ready to relieve unit in Iraq
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