The 18th Guards Assault Aviation Vitebsk twice Red Banner, the Order of Suvorov and the French Cross of the Order of the Legion of Honor Regiment "Normandie-Niemen" (''18-й гвардейский штурмовой авиационный полк;'' 18th Guards ShAP) was a military unit of the

Soviet Air Forces The Soviet Air Forces ( rus, Военно-воздушные силы, r=Voyenno-vozdushnyye sily, VVS; literally "Military Air Forces") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces. The Air Forces ...

. It is now part of the

Russian Air Force " Air March" , mascot = , anniversaries = 12 August , equipment = , equipment_label = , battles = , decorations = , bat ...

. It was originally organised from the 6th Fighter Aviation Regiment between 28 February and 15 May 1942 as in the Siberian Military District. It was given the status of a

Guards unit Guards units (russian: Гвардия, translit=Gvardiya) were elite units and formations in the Soviet Armed Forces that continue to exist in the Russian Armed Forces and other post-Soviet states. These units were awarded Guards status after di ...

in accordance with a Prikaz of the NKO, No. 70 оf 07.03.1942. It fought in the

Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers against the Soviet Union (USSR), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), and Sou ...

, winning fame in France as it incorporated the Normandie-Niemen Free French flyers, and in the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

, later entering the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. From March 1952 it was based at

Galenki Galyonki (russian: Галёнки) is a rural locality (a '' selo'') in Oktyabrsky District of Primorsky Krai, Russia. Population: History It was founded in 1880.Приморский крайисполком. "Приморский край. � ...

Primorskiy Krai Primorsky Krai (russian: Приморский край, r=Primorsky kray, p=prʲɪˈmorskʲɪj kraj), informally known as Primorye (, ), is a federal subject (a krai) of Russia, located in the Far East region of the country and is a part of the ...

4 05 49N, 131 48 12Ein the

Russian Far East The Russian Far East (russian: Дальний Восток России, r=Dal'niy Vostok Rossii, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is admini ...

.Michael Holm
18th Guards Vitebskiy twice Red Banner order of Suvorov Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment 18-й гвардейский Витебский дважды Краснознаменный ордена Суворова авиационный полк истребителей бомбардировщиков Military Unit: 21806
/ref> Its most recent form dates from March 1993 when it was reorganised as a штурмовой (literally "ground attack") unit,

Military Unit Number A Military Unit Number (Russian: Войсковая часть) is a numeric alternate designation for military units in the armed forces and internal troops of post-Soviet states, originally used by those of the Soviet Union The Soviet ...

21806, being previously equipped with the

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-27 The Mikoyan MiG-27 (russian: Микоян МиГ-27; NATO reporting name: Flogger-D/J) is a variable-sweep wing, variable-sweep attack aircraft, ground-attack aircraft, originally built by the Mikoyan, Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau in the Sov ...

"Flogger." During the 1990s and 2000s it was part of the 11th Air and Air Defence Forces Army. It was amalgamated with the 187th Assault Aviation Regiment into the 6983rd Guards Aviation Base in December 2009, but then reformed at

Chernigovka, Primorsky Krai Chernigovka (russian: Черниговка) is a rural locality (a '' selo'') and the administrative center of Chernigovsky District, Primorsky Krai, Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanni ...

, still in the Far East, in 2013. In 2019 it was reported as including two squadrons of Sukhoi Su-25 "Frogfoot."{{Cite web, url=http://www.easternorbat.com/html/russian_air_force_eng.html, title = Russian Air Force - Today

References

Regiments of the Russian Air Forces Military units and formations established in 1993 Regiments of the Russian Air Force from 2014