Varyag Special Forces

Varyag Special Forces
Part Of	Yuktobanian Army
Leader(s)	Unknown commander
Members	Varyag 2 Varyag 4 Unknown number of soldiers
Equipment	AH-64A Apache CH-47 Shoulder-mounted SAM launchers
Deployment	Circum-Pacific War

"If this place blows up, this whole area will just be one big crater."

― Yuktobanian commando

The Varyag Special Forces, also known as the Yuktobanian Special Forces, was an elite unit of the Yuktobanian Army that served in the Circum-Pacific War. The Varyag members were trained to conduct operations in unconventional combat environments, such as ravines and tropical jungles.

History

Main article: Operation Snake Pit

Sometime in early November 2010, the Varyag Special Forces were assigned to guard one of the Yuktobanian Army's armories in Duga. On November 7 at 0630hrs, Osean fighters launched a surprise attack on the ammunition dump; the armory control tower quickly ordered the Varyag units to engage the hostile aircraft. Concealed in the thick jungle foliage, the commandos attempted to ambush the Osean aircraft with short-range missile attacks. The special forces unit was unsuccessful, and the armory was ultimately destroyed.

Main article: Operation Riverbed

Varyag's last known deployment occurred on December 16, when it was dispatched to Payavlenie Ravine to recover a nuclear warhead that had been stolen by the resistance movement. To accomplish this, a number of Varyag commando teams scoured the ravine's caves and recesses while a large number of gunboats and attack helicopters patrolled the river. Unbeknownst to the Yuktobanians, the resistance fighters were eavesdropping on Varyag's communication chatter. A squadron of black-bodied fighters then entered the airspace and engaged the Yuktobanian forces throughout the ravine. Varyag was consequently unable to recover the warhead before the resistance members dismantled it.

Trivia

• The name "Varyag" is derived from the Varangian people, the Viking ancestors of the Rus'.
• Varyag has been the name of at least five different vessels in the Imperial, Soviet, and modern Russian navies.
• Though the Varyag soldiers' shoulder-mounted SAMs are supposedly undetectable from the air, they can be destroyed by tracking the missile's path back to its point of origin and either bombing or strafing that area with machine gun fire.