Airborne forces

Airborne forces are military units trained and equipped to deploy by parachute, glider, or transport aircraft. They conduct operations that place troops rapidly at objectives, often behind enemy lines.

Paratrooper: A soldier trained to enter a battle area by parachute. Paratroopers are the defining personnel of parachute-delivered airborne units.
Soviet airborne forces: The Soviet military formations organized for parachute and air-landing operations. The Soviet Union pioneered large-scale airborne exercises and formations before World War II.
Vertical envelopment: A military maneuver that attacks an enemy from above or behind using aircraft-delivered forces. Airborne forces can bypass front lines and execute this form of maneuver.
Airborne warfare: Warfare involving the use of aircraft to deliver forces or attack targets from the air. Airborne forces are one component of the broader practice of airborne warfare.
Operation Varsity: The Allied airborne assault across the Rhine in March 1945. Its large, concentrated drop illustrates how airborne forces were used to support a ground crossing.
Air assault: A military operation that moves forces by helicopter to seize or secure objectives. Helicopter insertion is distinct from the parachute and fixed-wing delivery associated with airborne forces.
German airborne forces: German military formations trained for parachute and air-landing operations, known as Fallschirmjäger. German airborne units demonstrated the operational reach and vulnerability of airborne assault early in World War II.
Airborne operation: A military operation in which forces are inserted into an area by aircraft. This broader operational category includes parachute, glider, and air-landing missions.
Amphibious warfare: Military operations that move forces from sea to shore, usually against resistance. It offers a parallel form of bypassing defended approaches, but uses maritime rather than aerial delivery.
Operation Tonga: The British airborne landings in Normandy on the night before D-Day in 1944. These missions secured key bridges and approaches for the Allied invasion of Normandy.

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