The 45th Air Assault Brigade was a brigade of the Ukrainian Air Assault Forces, formed twice. The brigade was first formed in 1993 from elements of the

299th Guards Airborne Regiment The 99th Infantry Division was formed in 1942 and deployed overseas in 1944. The "Checkerboard" or "Battle Babies" division landed at the French port of Le Havre and proceeded northeast to Belgium. During the heavy fighting in the Battle of the ...

of the

98th Guards Airborne Division The 98th Guards Airborne Division is an airborne division of the Russian Airborne Troops, currently based in Ivanovo. Russian 98th Airborne Division patch.svg, 98th Guards Airborne Division shoulder sleeve insignia (1993) History During the Se ...

. Part of the 1st Airmobile Division, the brigade was disbanded. The brigade was reformed from an airmobile battalion in 2016. The brigade was disbanded again in 2020.

History

First formation

The brigade was first formed in 1993 from elements of the

of the

. It became part of the 1st Airmobile Division at

Bolhrad Bolhrad ( uk, Болгра́д, Bolhrad, ; bg, Болград, Bolgrad; ro, Bolgrad, Gagauz: ''Bolgrad''), is a small city in Odesa Oblast (province) of southwestern Ukraine, in the historical region of Budjak. It is the administrative center o ...

. The division was disbanded in 2003. The brigade became the 16th Mechanized Brigade ( Military Unit Number 1533) and was then disbanded in 2006.

Second formation

In 2013, the 88th Separate Airmobile Battalion was formed as part of the 79th Airmobile Brigade. The battalion fought in the

War in Donbass War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

. On 19 October 2016, the battalion became the 45th Air Assault Brigade at Bolhrad. The brigade was entirely manned by contract servicemen and was equipped with BTR-3DA armored personnel carriers. Much of the brigade was mixed units formed from other airmobile brigades.{{Cite news , url=http://na.mil.gov.ua/39135-zaversheno-formuvannya-45-yi-okremoyi-desantno-shturmovoyi-brygady-vysokomobilnyh-desantnyh-vijsk-zbrojnyh-syl-ukrayiny , title=Завершено формування 45-ї окремої десантно-штурмової бригади Високомобільних десантних військ Збройних Сил України , date=19 October 2016 , work=Narodnaya Armiya , language=Ukrainian , trans-title=Formation of 45th Separate Airmobile Brigade of the Ukrainian Airmobile Forces created , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161020200501/http://na.mil.gov.ua/39135-zaversheno-formuvannya-45-yi-okremoyi-desantno-shturmovoyi-brygady-vysokomobilnyh-desantnyh-vijsk-zbrojnyh-syl-ukrayiny , archive-date=20 October 2016 , url-status=dead , access-date=20 October 2016 , df=dmy-all The brigade was disbanded in 2020 due to demobilization of most of its staff.

Structure

As of 2017 the brigade's structure was as follows: * 45th Air Assault Brigade,

** Headquarters & Headquarters Company ** 1st Air Assault Battalion (BTR-3DA) ** 2nd Air Assault Battalion (BTR-3DA) ** 3rd Air Assault Battalion (BTR-3DA) ** Brigade Artillery Group *** Headquarters & Target Acquisition Battery *** Self-propelled Artillery Battalion (

2S1 Gvozdika The 2S1 ''Gvozdika'' (russian: link=no, 2С1 «Гвоздика», "Carnation") is a Soviet self-propelled howitzer based on the MT-LBu multi-purpose chassis, mounting a 122 mm 2A18 howitzer. "2S1" is its GRAU designation. An alternative Rus ...

) *** Howitzer Artillery Battalion ( 2A18 D-30) *** Rocket Artillery Battalion ( BM-21 Grad) ** Anti-Aircraft Missile Artillery Battalion ** Tank Company ** Reconnaissance Company ** Engineer Company ** Landing Support Company ** Maintenance Company ** Logistic Company ** Signal Company ** CBRN-defense Company ** Medical Company ** Sniper Platoon

References

Brigades of the Ukrainian Air Assault Forces Military units and formations established in 1993 2016 establishments in Ukraine