ABSTRACT
Motorization and mechanization of tactical units, engineers who assist their own forces' mobility and try to hinder the enemy's, amphibious vehicles, and fixed-and rotary-wing aircraft all contribute to mobility. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) danger is greater because the Pact has greater capability both to defend its own rear areas and to attack NATO's. Increased force mobility through mechanization has increased the importance of engineers, who improve the mobility of their own forces and impede that of the enemy. Specialized engineer units under corps, army or front command repair roads and airfields, build bridges, lay pipelines and build fortifications, all tasks requiring heavy equipment. Fixed-wing transport aircraft can rapidly deliver airborne units to battlefields several hundred kilometers from their bases. Airborne forces are organized into divisions but might be committed in smaller units. Although smaller and more lightly armed than ground units, airborne divisions include artillery and other heavy equipment especially designed for airdrop.
