The Soviet Air Defence Forces (russian: войска ПВО, ''voyska protivovozdushnoy oborony'', ''voyska PVO'', ''V-PVO'', lit. ''Anti-Air Defence Troops''; and formerly ''protivovozdushnaya oborona strany'', ''PVO strany'', lit. ''Anti-Air Defence of the Country'') was the

air defence Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

branch of the

Soviet Armed Forces The Soviet Armed Forces, the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union and as the Red Army (, Вооружённые Силы Советского Союза), were the armed forces of the Russian SFSR (1917–1922), the Soviet Union (1922–1991), and th ...

. Formed in 1941, it continued being a service branch of the

Russian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (, ), commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military forces of Russia. In terms of active-duty personnel, they are the world's fifth-largest military force, with at least two m ...

after 1991 until it was merged into the

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...

in 1998. Unlike Western air defence forces, V-PVO was a branch of the military unto itself, separate from the

Soviet Air Force 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 ...

(VVS) and Air Defence Troops of Ground Forces. During the Soviet period it was generally ranked third in importance of the Soviet services, behind the

Strategic Rocket Forces The Strategic Rocket Forces of the Russian Federation or the Strategic Missile Forces of the Russian Federation (RVSN RF; russian: Ракетные войска стратегического назначения Российской Фед� ...

and the Ground Forces.

History

Service during Second World War

Preparations for creation of the air defence forces started in 1932, and by the beginning of

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...

, June 1941, there were 13 PVO zones within the

military district Military districts (also called military regions) are formations of a state's armed forces (often of the Army) which are responsible for a certain area of territory. They are often more responsible for administrative than operational matters, and ...

s. At the outbreak of war, air defence forces were in the midst of rearmament. Anti-aircraft artillery teams had few of the latest 37 mm automatic and 85 mm guns. Moreover, the troops were deficient in Yak-1s and MiG-3s; 46 percent of the fleet were obsolete aircraft. Increased rates of production were initiated to provide the troops with new equipment. In July 1941, the National Defence Committee took several measures to strengthen the forces guarding Moscow and Leningrad, Yaroslavl and Gorky industrial areas, and strategic bridges across the Volga. To this end, the formation of parts of the IA, IN, anti-aircraft machine gun and searchlight units were accelerated. A classic example of a major political organization of defence and industrial center was the defence of Moscow. It was carried out by the

1st Air Defence Corps First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number 1 (number), one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, D ...

and the

6th Fighter Aviation Corps PVO The 6th Fighter Aviation Corps of Air Defence was a military formation of the Red Army Air Force Air Defense Aviation of the Soviet Armed Forces, which fought in the Great Patriotic War. The corps had the successive names the 6th Air Defence Fighte ...

. As part of these formations at the beginning of German air raids had more than 600 fighters; more than 1,000 guns of small and medium calibers; 350 machine guns; 124 fixed anti-aircraft barrage balloons; 612 stations and 600 anti-aircraft searchlights. The presence of such large forces and their skilful management foiled enemy attempts to inflict massive air strikes. Only 2.6 percent of the total number of Axis aircraft flew in the outskirts of Moscow as a result of their efforts. Air defence forces defending Moscow destroyed 738 enemy aircraft. Assaults by the 6th Fighter Aviation Corps inflicted heavy blows, destroying 567 enemy aircraft on the ground. The Air Defence Forces destroyed 1,305 aircraft and in combat with the armies of Nazi Germany and its allies, alongside the Air Force, destroyed 450 tanks and 5,000 military vehicles. On November 9, 1941, the post of the Commander of the Air Defence Forces was created and

Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Mikhail Gromadin ( :ru:Громадин, Михаил Степанович) was appointed. In January 1942, to improve the interaction of forces and air defence systems, the fighter aircraft and crews manning them were ordered to be subordinated to the Air Defence Command. In April 1942, the Moscow Air Defence Front was founded, and the

Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

and Baku Air Defence Armies were later raised. These were the first operational formations of the Air Defence Forces. In June 1943, the Office of the Commander of Air Defence Forces of the country was disbanded. Following the reorganization in April 1944 that created the

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

and

Eastern Air Defence Front Eastern may refer to: Transportation *China Eastern Airlines, a current Chinese airline based in Shanghai * Eastern Air, former name of Zambia Skyways *Eastern Air Lines, a defunct American airline that operated from 1926 to 1991 *Eastern Air L ...

s, and caused the division of the Transcaucasian Air Defence Area, which this year have been reorganized as the North, the South and the Transcaucasian Air Defence Fronts, air defence forces in the vicinity of Moscow were renamed the Moscow Air Defence Army. In the Far East in March 1945, three air defence armies were established: Maritime, Amur and Baikal. During the Second World War, the Air Defence Forces provided defensive cover to defense industry complexes and vital communication elements, and successfully minimized aerial damage to Soviet industrial and transportation capacity. In the course of the war, the PVO destroyed 7,313 German aircraft, of which 4,168 and 3,145 were targeted by the IA antiaircraft artillery, machine guns and barrage balloons. More than 80,000 soldiers, sergeants, officers and generals of the Country Air Defence Forces were awarded state orders and medals, and 92 soldiers were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and one was twice awarded the Gold Star Medal in service with the PVO.

Structure during Second World War

During the war PVO formations were organised as Air Defence Fronts and Air Defence Armies. PVO Fronts normally covered airspace over several ground Army Fronts; these should not be confused with each other. The Air Defence Fronts (russian: Фронты ПВО) had the following service history: * Western Air Defence Front ** 1st formation 29 June 1943 – 20 April 1944 renamed to Headquarters, Northern PVO Front ** Northern Front PVO 21 April 1944 – 23 December 1944 formed from Headquarters, Western PVO Front (1st formation); re-flagged as Headquarters, Western PVO Front (2nd formation) ** 2nd formation 24 December 1944 – 9 May 1945 formed from Headquarters, Northern PVO Front * Moscow Front PVO 6 April 1942 – 10 July 1943 formed from Headquarters, Moscow PVO Corps Region; re-flagged as Headquarters, Special Moscow PVO Army * Southern Front PVO 21 April 1944 – 24 December 1944 formed from Headquarters, Eastern PVO Front; re-flagged as Headquarters, Southwestern PVO Front * Southwestern Front PVO 24 December 1944 – 9 May 1945 formed from Headquarters, Southern PVO Front

Cold War

All the possible air components were divided (as of 1945, before the 1949 reforms of the

) into: * Active army (russian: действующая армия, ''deystvuyuschaya armiya'') – air forces assigned to fighting fronts, known as frontal aviation * PVO Territorial Defence Forces (russian: войска ПВО территории страны, ''voiska PVO territorii strany'') * PVO Territorial Armies (russian: армия ПВО территории страны, ''armiya PVO territorii strany'') * Reserve forces of the Stavka High Command (russian: резерв Ставки ВГК, ''rezerv Stavki VGK'') * PVO of military districts (russian: ПВО военных округов, ''PVO voennyh okrugov'') * PVO of inactive fronts (russian: ПВО недействующих фронтов, ''PVO nedeystvuyuschih frontov'') The PVO Strany was separated from the other

services in 1949. In June 1949, the

15th Guards Fighter Aviation Division 15 (fifteen) is the natural number following 14 and preceding 16. Mathematics 15 is: * A composite number, and the sixth semiprime; its proper divisors being , and . * A deficient number, a smooth number, a lucky number, a pernicious nu ...

and

180th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment PVO The 180th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment (180th Guards IAP) was a military unit of the Red Army Air Force, which took part in the fighting of the Great Patriotic War, and then became part of the Russian Air Defence Forces and finally the Russian ...

, among its regiments, were transferred to the PVO Strany, becoming part of the 20th Fighter Air Defence Army at

Oryol Oryol ( rus, Орёл, p=ɐˈrʲɵl, lit. ''eagle''), also transliterated as Orel or Oriol, is a city and the administrative center of Oryol Oblast situated on the Oka River, approximately south-southwest of Moscow. It is part of the Central Fed ...

. There, the regiment became one of the first equipped with the

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-9 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-9 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-9, USAF/DoD designation: Type 1, NATO reporting name: Fargo) was the first turbojet fighter developed by Mikoyan-Gurevich in the years immediately after World War II. ...

, the first of a series of Mikoyan-and-Gurevich Design Bureau jet fighters. In April 1950, the regiment received its first

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 (russian: Микоя́н и Гуре́вич МиГ-15; USAF/DoD designation: Type 14; NATO reporting name: Fagot) is a jet fighter aircraft developed by Mikoyan-Gurevich for the Soviet Union. The MiG-15 was one of ...

s. In May 1954, the PVO Strany was raised to a status equal to the other service branches of the Soviet Armed Forces, receiving its first commander-in-chief: Marshal of the Soviet Union

Leonid Govorov Leonid Aleksandrovich Govorov (russian: Леони́д Алекса́ндрович Го́воров; – 19 March 1955) was a Soviet military commander. Trained as an artillery officer, he joined the Red Army in 1920. He graduated from several ...

. The PVO's principal role was to shoot down

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was both a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile ...

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching aerial torpedo, torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped ...

s if they penetrated Soviet airspace. Secondary target were U.S.

air reconnaissance Aerial reconnaissance is reconnaissance for a military or strategic purpose that is conducted using reconnaissance aircraft. The role of reconnaissance can fulfil a variety of requirements including artillery spotting, the collection of imagery ...

aircraft. There were a number of such aircraft shot down while operating around the Soviet borders, including MiG-17s downing a US reconnaissance

Lockheed C-130 Hercules The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 was originally design ...

over Armenia, with 17 casualties in 1958."The Shootdown of Flight 60528."
''National Vigilance Park- NSA/CSS'' via ''nsa.gov,'' 15 January 2009. Retrieved: 15 September 2012. The PVO gained an important victory on May 1, 1960, when a

S-75 Dvina The S-75 (Russian: С-75; NATO reporting name SA-2 Guideline) is a Soviet-designed, high-altitude air defence system, built around a surface-to-air missile with command guidance. Following its first deployment in 1957 it became one of the most w ...

missile downed

Gary Powers Francis Gary Powers (August 17, 1929 – August 1, 1977) was an American pilot whose Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Lockheed U-2 spy plane was shot down while flying a reconnaissance mission in Soviet Union airspace, causing the 1960 U-2 in ...

's U-2, causing the short

U-2 crisis of 1960 On 1 May 1960, a United States U-2 spy plane was shot down by the Soviet Air Defence Forces while conducting photographic aerial reconnaissance deep inside Soviet territory. The single-seat aircraft, flown by American pilot Francis Gary Power ...

. (See Strategic Air Command#Strategic Reconnaissance) Soviet surface-to-air missiles

The PVO had its own chain of command, schools, radar and sound director sites. On March 30, 1967, a Directorate of the Chief of Anti-Missile and Anti-Space Defence (''Управление командующего войсками противоракетной и противокосмической'' (''УКВ ПРО и ПКО'')), under Lieutenant-General of Artillery Yuri Votintsev, was formed within the Air Defence Forces. In February 1971 the 1st Division for Warning Against Missile Attack (1st Division WAMA, ''1-я Дивизия предупреждения о ракетном нападении'' (''1-я дПРН'')) was formed with HQ in Solnechnegorsk, the 57th Separate Radiotechnical Nod in Olenegorsk, Murmansk Oblast and the 129th Separate Radiotechnical Nod in Skrunda, Latvian SSR. Organisationally, there were two main PVO districts for most of the USSR's postwar history, the

Moscow Air Defence District The Order of Lenin Moscow Air Defence District was a formation of the Soviet Air Defence Forces and the Russian Air Defence Forces, which existed from 1954 to 1998, to fulfill the tasks of anti-aircraft defense of administrative and economic facili ...

(formed 1950) and

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

(formed 1954). The rest of the country was initially divided into PVO regions covering Belarus, the Ukraine, the Baltics and Central Asia. However, in 1960 it appears that most of the PVO regions/areas were reorganised into seven separate armies of the Air Defence Forces – the

2nd A second is the base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI). Second, Seconds or 2nd may also refer to: Mathematics * 2 (number), as an ordinal (also written as ''2nd'' or ''2d'') * Second of arc, an angular measurement unit ...

4th Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

, 6th,

8th 8 (eight) is the natural number following 7 and preceding 9. In mathematics 8 is: * a composite number, its proper divisors being , , and . It is twice 4 or four times 2. * a power of two, being 2 (two cubed), and is the first number of t ...

10th 10 (ten) is the even natural number following 9 and preceding 11. Ten is the base of the decimal numeral system, by far the most common system of denoting numbers in both spoken and written language. It is the first double-digit number. The rea ...

11th 11 (eleven) is the natural number following 10 and preceding 12. It is the first repdigit. In English, it is the smallest positive integer whose name has three syllables. Name "Eleven" derives from the Old English ', which is first attested i ...

14th 14 (fourteen) is a natural number following 13 (number), 13 and preceding 15 (number), 15. In relation to the word "four" (4), 14 is spelled "fourteen". In mathematics * 14 is a composite number. * 14 is a square pyramidal number. * 14 is a s ...

, and

19th Air Defence Army 19 (nineteen) is the natural number following 18 and preceding 20. It is a prime number. Mathematics 19 is the eighth prime number, and forms a sexy prime with 13, a twin prime with 17, and a cousin prime with 23. It is the third full re ...

. In 1963 the 30th independent Air Defence Corps in Tashkent became the 12th Independent Air Defence Army. In 1977, the Air Forces and Air Defence Forces were re-organised in the Baltic states and the Leningrad Oblast (a trial run for the larger re-organisation in 1980 covering the whole country). All fighter units in the PVO were transferred to the VVS, the PVO only retaining the anti-aircraft missile units and radar units – the 6th Independent Air Defence Army was disbanded, and the

15th Air Army The 15th Air Army was a military formation of the Soviet Air Forces, active from July 1942 until December 1993. History It was formed between 11 July and 15 August 1942, in accordance with the directive of the commander of the Soviet Air Force ...

became the

Air Forces of the Baltic Military District The 15th Air Army was a military formation of the Soviet Air Forces, active from July 1942 until December 1993. History It was formed between 11 July and 15 August 1942, in accordance with the directive of the commander of the Soviet Air Force ...

. By 1981, the now Voyska PVO had been stripped of many

command and control Command and control (abbr. C2) is a "set of organizational and technical attributes and processes ... hatemploys human, physical, and information resources to solve problems and accomplish missions" to achieve the goals of an organization or en ...

and training assets, which were moved to the Air Force. During the 1980s, the PVO interceptor units were re-equipped with the

Mikoyan MiG-31 The Mikoyan MiG-31 (russian: link=no, Микоян МиГ-31; NATO reporting name: Foxhound) is a supersonic interceptor aircraft that was developed for use by the Soviet Air Forces. The aircraft was designed by the Mikoyan design bureau as a ...

and Sukhoi Su-27P, while missile units received new

electronic countermeasure An electronic countermeasure (ECM) is an electrical or electronic device designed to trick or deceive radar, sonar, or other detection systems, like infrared (IR) or lasers. It may be used both offensively and defensively to deny targeting info ...

s systems and the S-300 surface-to-air missile system. The modernization of the PVO prioritized units in the

High North The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, N ...

and the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

due to the threat from American

spyplane A reconnaissance aircraft (colloquially, a spy plane) is a military aircraft designed or adapted to perform aerial reconnaissance with roles including collection of imagery intelligence (including using photography), signals intelligence, as we ...

missions and

United States Pacific Fleet The United States Pacific Fleet (USPACFLT) is a theater-level component command of the United States Navy, located in the Pacific Ocean. It provides naval forces to the Indo-Pacific Command. Fleet headquarters is at Joint Base Pearl Harbor� ...

carrier aircraft. Shelton lists a total of 140 officer commissioning schools, drawn from a ''

Krasnaya Zvezda ''Krasnaya Zvezda'' (russian: Кра́сная звезда́, literally "Red Star") is the official newspaper of the Soviet and later Russian Ministry of Defence. Today its official designation is "Central Organ of the Russian Ministry of Defen ...

'' list of 17 January 1980. That total included 15 Air Defence Forces schools (four Fighter Aviation, five radio-electronics, and six Anti-Aircraft Rocket). On 1 September 1983 the PVO shot down

Korean Air Flight 007 Korean Air Lines Flight 007 (KE007/KAL007)The flight number KAL 007 was used by air traffic control, while the public flight booking system used KE 007 was a scheduled Korean Air Lines flight from New York City to Seoul via Anchorage, Alas ...

after the civilian airliner had crossed into restricted Soviet airspace and was mistaken for a spy plane. Previously

Korean Air Flight 902 Korean Air Lines Flight 902 (KAL 902) was a scheduled Korean Air Lines flight from Orly Airport, Paris to Gimpo International Airport, Seoul via Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, Anchorage. On 20 April 1978, the Soviet air defense sho ...

had once crossed into

Murmansk Murmansk (Russian: ''Мурманск'' lit. "Norwegian coast"; Finnish: ''Murmansk'', sometimes ''Muurmanski'', previously ''Muurmanni''; Norwegian: ''Norskekysten;'' Northern Sámi: ''Murmánska;'' Kildin Sámi: ''Мурман ланнҍ'') i ...

airspace, and had to make an emergency landing when a Soviet Air Force Su-15 fired on it. Soviet government officials finally admitted their mistake much to the anger of the

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

n and the

governments. It even resulted in the forced and sudden resignation of the then Armed Forces Chief of the General Staff, Marshal

Nikolai Ogarkov Nikolai Vasilyevich Ogarkov (russian: Николай Васильевич Огарков; 30 October 1917 – 23 January 1994) was a prominent Soviet military personality. He was promoted to Marshal of the Soviet Union in 1977. Between 1977 and 1 ...

, in the following year by the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union (leader of the Soviet Union)

Konstantin Chernenko Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko uk, Костянтин Устинович Черненко, translit=Kostiantyn Ustynovych Chernenko (24 September 1911 – 10 March 1985) was a Soviet politician and the seventh General Secretary of the Commun ...

Mathias Rust Mathias Rust (born 1 June 1968) is a German aviator known for his flight that ended with a landing near Red Square in Moscow on 28 May 1987. A teenage amateur pilot, he flew from Helsinki, Finland, to Moscow, being tracked several times by Sov ...

's flight to Moscow in May 1987 caused a massive shakeup within the PVO. It seems that after the KAL 007 shootdown of 1983, no one was willing to give an order to bring Rust's tiny

Cessna 172 The Cessna 172 Skyhawk is an American four-seat, single-engine, high wing, fixed-wing aircraft made by the Cessna Aircraft Company.

down, and modernization programmes within the PVO had led to the installation of radar and communications systems at the state border that could not effectively pass tracking data to systems closer to Moscow. PVO Commander-in-Chief Marshal A. I. Koldunov was only among the first to be removed from his position. Over 150 officers, mostly from the PVO, were tried in court and removed from their posts. A large-scale changeover of senior officers of the force more generally followed as well.

Under the Russian flag

When the Soviet Union dissolved, the air fleet of the PVO included roughly 2,200 fighters and interceptors. The personnel and equipment of many units were left in newly independent republics, although the impact of the loss was reduced by the relocation of some units back to Russia. The Russian Air Defence Forces ultimately inherited about 65% of final Soviet PVO assets. In December 1994, the

4th Independent Air Defence Army The 4th Independent Air Defence Army (Russian: 4-я отдельная армия ПВО) was an army of the Soviet Air Defence Forces. It was formed on 10 April 1960 from the Uralskaya Air Defence Army at Sverdlovsk, Sverdlovsk Oblast. It carried ...

at Ekaterinberg in the Urals was transformed into the 5th Independent Air Defence Corps, which in 1998 became the

5th Air and Air Defence Forces Army The 5th Army of VVS and PVO (''5-я Краснознамённая армия военно-воздушных сил и противовоздушной обороны'') was the Russian Air Force's smallest Air Army, with the headquarters located ...

. In accordance with a December 1994 directive, the 14th Independent Air Defence Army was reorganized as the 6th Independent Air Defence Corps ( :ru:6-й_отдельный_корпус_ПВО) with the 16th Guards, 20th, and 94th Mukden Air Defence Divisions). In 1998, the force groupings and headquarters of the PVO that had remained within

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

were merged with the

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

becoming part of the Moscow District of Air and Air Defence Forces, and the 4th, 5th, 6th, 11th, and 14th Armies of VVS and PVO. The Day of Air Defence Forces (''Den' Voysk PVO'') was initially established in 1975, to be celebrated on April 11. In 1980 this was changed to the second Sunday of April. It is still celebrated in the Russian Federation even after the 1998 merger of the Air Defence Forces with the Air Force. The unofficial motto of the PVO is 'Сами не летаем – другим не дадим'('Sami ne letaem – drugim ne dadim'), which can be translated as "Don't fly – don't let others" / "If we can't fly – we won't let anyone else either".

Commanders-in-Chief, Air Defence Forces

* Marshal of the Soviet Union

– 1954–1955 * Marshal of the Soviet Union

Sergey Biryuzov Sergey Semyonovich Biryuzov (; 21 August 1904 – 19 October 1964) was a Marshal of the Soviet Union and Chief of the General Staff. Early life and prewar service Biryuzov was born in Skopin, in the Ryazan Governorate of the Russian Empire, in ...

– 1955–1962 * Marshal of Aviation

Vladimir Sudets Vladimir Alexandrovich Sudets (russian: Владимир Александрович Судец; 23 October 1904 - 6 May 1981) was a Soviet air commander during World War II, commanding the 17th Air Army, and later became Marshal of the aviation ...

– 1962–1966 * Marshal of the Soviet Union

Pavel Batitsky Pavel Fyodorovich Batitsky ( ua, Павло Федорович Батицький; russian: Па́вел Фёдорович Бати́цкий; 27 June 1910 – 17 February 1984) was a Soviet military leader awarded the highest honorary title of ...

– 1966–1978 * Chief Marshal of Aviation

Alexander Koldunov Alexander Ivanovich Koldunov (russian: Александр Иванович Колдунов; 20 September 1923 – 7 June 1992) was one of the highest-scoring flying aces of the Soviet Union during World War II and a twice recipient of the titl ...

– 1978 – May 1987 * General of the Army Ivan Тret'yak – 31 May 1987 – 24 August 1991 * General of the Army Viktor Prudnikov – September 1991 – December 1997 * Colonel-General Viktor Sinitsin – December 1997 – Feb 1998 The post was then disestablished with the merger of the PVO and VVS in 1998.

Structure

The PVO structure during the Cold War and in Russia until 1998 consisted of three specialized branches: the Radiotechnical Troops (радиотехнические войска), Surface-to-Air Missile Troops (зенитно-ракетные войска), and Fighter Aviation (истребительная авиация; istrebitel'naya aviatsiya; IA-PVO).

Viktor Suvorov Vladimir Bogdanovich Rezun (russian: link=no, Владимир Богданович Резун; born 20 April 1947), known by his pseudonym of Viktor Suvorov () is a former Soviet GRU officer who is the author of non-fiction books about World ...

Inside the Soviet Army ''Inside the Soviet Army'' (; Hamish Hamilton, 1982; also published in the United States, Prentice Hall, ), is a book by Viktor Suvorov (published under his pseudonym), which describes the general organisation, doctrine, and strategy of the Soviet ...

, Hamish Hamilton, 1982, Armies, corps, and divisions of the PVO were made up of units from all three branches. *

(now the Russian

Special Purpose Command The Special Purpose Command (''Komandovaniye Spetsialnogo Naznacheniya'') was a formation of the Russian Air Force, the strongest among the tactical aviation and anti-aircraft groupings. Its zone of responsibility amounted to 1.3 million km², ta ...

) *

2nd Air Defence Army , image = Soviet Union Belorussian Military District.svg , image_size = 300px , caption = The territory of the Byelorussian Military District in 1991. , dates = 28 November 1918 – 6 May 1992 , country = (1918–1920) (1920–1991) (1922� ...

(

Belorussian Military District , image = Soviet Union Belorussian Military District.svg , image_size = 300px , caption = The territory of the Byelorussian Military District in 1991. , dates = 28 November 1918 – 6 May 1992 , country = (1918–1920) (1920–1991) (1922� ...

) *

(HQ Sverdlovsk) ** 5th Air Defence Corps **

19th Air Defence Corps 19 (nineteen) is the natural number following 18 (number), 18 and preceding 20 (number), 20. It is a prime number. Mathematics 19 is the eighth prime number, and forms a sexy prime with 13 (number), 13, a twin prime with 17 (number), 17, and ...

** 20th Air Defence Corps (Perm, Perm Oblast) ***

763rd Fighter Aviation Regiment The 763rd Fighter Aviation Regiment was a regiment of the Soviet Air Defence Forces and then the Russian Air Defence Forces from 1952 to 1998. History The regiment began to form at Bolshoye Savino Airport near Perm. Personnel for staffing numbers ...

***

764th Fighter Aviation Regiment The 764th Fighter Aviation Regiment (Military Unit Number 88503) is a regiment of the Russian Air Force, based at Bolshoye Savino Airport near Perm. History The 764th Regiment was activated on 15 June 1952 at Bolshoye Savino Airport at Perm, pa ...

*** 765th Fighter Aviation Regiment PVO *

6th Independent Air Defence Army 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

(

Leningrad Military District The Leningrad Military District was a military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In 2010 it was merged with the Moscow Military District, the Northern Fleet and the Baltic Fleet to form the new Western Military District. Hi ...

) ** 27th Air Defence Corps,

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

, **

54th Air Defence Corps The 2nd Air Defense Division is an air defence military formation of the Russian Aerospace Forces. It was previously the 54th Air Defence Corps (), a corps both of the Soviet Air Defence Forces and later the Russian Air Force. Formed in 1986, th ...

14th Air Defence Division 14 (fourteen) is a natural number following 13 and preceding 15. In relation to the word "four" ( 4), 14 is spelled "fourteen". In mathematics * 14 is a composite number. * 14 is a square pyramidal number. * 14 is a stella octangula number. ...

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

8th Air Defence Army The 8th Separate Army of the Air Defence Forces (Military Unit Number 25342) was a Soviet military formation established in 1960. Army headquarters was in Kiev, Ukrainian SSR. The 8th air defense army was formed in March 1960 on the basis of the ...

(HQ Kiev) **

49th Air Defence Corps "Thank God for Mississippi" is an adage used in the United States, particularly in the South, that is generally used when discussing rankings of U.S. states. Since the U.S. state of Mississippi commonly ranks at or near the bottom of such rankin ...

60th Air Defence Corps 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

10th Independent Air Defence Army The 10th Independent Red Banner Air Defence Army (Military Unit Number 41137) was an army of the Soviet Air Defence Forces, active from 1960 to 1994. The headquarters was at Arkhangelsk, Arkhangelsk Oblast. The army originated from the White Sea A ...

(HQ

Arkhangelsk Arkhangelsk (, ; rus, Арха́нгельск, p=ɐrˈxanɡʲɪlʲsk), also known in English as Archangel and Archangelsk, is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies o ...

) * 11th Red Banner Army of the PVO (

Far East Military District The Far Eastern Military District (russian: Дальневосточный военный округ; Dalʹnevostochnyĭ voennyĭ okrug) was a military district of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. In 2010 it was merged with the Pacific ...

) **

8th Air Defence Corps The 25th Red Banner Air Defence Division (; Military Unit Number 54912) is a division of the Russian Aerospace Forces, part of the 11th Air and Air Defence Forces Army. Headquartered at Komsomolsk-on-Amur, the division controls S-400 surface-to- ...

23rd Air Defence Corps Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

6th Air Defence Division 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

24th Air Defence Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

and 29th Divisions of the PVO * 12th Independent Air Defence Army (HQ Tashkent) ** 24th and 37th Corps of the PVO *

14th Independent Air Defence Army 14 (fourteen) is a natural number following 13 and preceding 15. In relation to the word "four" ( 4), 14 is spelled "fourteen". In mathematics * 14 is a composite number. * 14 is a square pyramidal number. * 14 is a stella octangula number ...

(

Siberian Military District The Siberian Military District was a Military district of the Russian Ground Forces. The district was originally formed as a military district of the Russian Empire in 1864. In 1924 it was reformed in the Red Army. After the end of World War II the ...

) ** 38th Air Defence Corps ** 39th Air Defence Corps (Irkutsk) ( :ru:Мукденское соединение ПВО) ** 50th Air Defence Corps ** 56th Air Defence Corps (Semipalatinsk) ** 41st Air Defence Division * 19th Independent Air Defence Army (19th Army of the PVO) (

Transcaucasus Military District The Transcaucasian Military District, a military district of the Soviet Armed Forces, traces its history to May 1921 and the incorporation of Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia into the Soviet Union. It was disbanded by being redesignated as a Grou ...

) - listing for 1988 **Communications Center (Novosibirsk, Novosibirsk Oblast) **12th Air Defence Corps (Rostov-na-Don, Rostov Oblast) (became 51st Air Defence Corps in 1998) **14th Air Defence Corps (Tbilisi, Georgian SSR) **15th "Lvov

Red Banner Red Banner (russian: Красное знамя) was a symbol of revolutionary struggle used late Russian Empire, in Soviet Russia, and in the USSR and the background of the Soviet state flag and other similar flags. Military units, instit ...

" Air Defence Corps (Alyaty (Baku),

Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic Azerbaijan ( az, Азәрбајҹан, Azərbaycan, italics=no), officially the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic (Azerbaijan SSR; az, Азәрбајҹан Совет Сосиалист Республикасы, Azərbaycan Sovet Sosialist R ...

) **10th Air Defence Division (

Volgograd Volgograd ( rus, Волгогра́д, a=ru-Volgograd.ogg, p=vəɫɡɐˈɡrat), geographical renaming, formerly Tsaritsyn (russian: Цари́цын, Tsarítsyn, label=none; ) (1589–1925), and Stalingrad (russian: Сталингра́д, Stal ...

, Volgograd Oblast)

Inventory (1990)

The PVO inventory of 1990 was: ;2,315

interceptors An interceptor aircraft, or simply interceptor, is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically for the defensive interception role against an attacking enemy aircraft, particularly bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Aircraft that are c ...

: : 500

Sukhoi Su-15 The Sukhoi Su-15 (NATO reporting name: Flagon) is a twinjet supersonic interceptor aircraft developed by the Soviet Union. It entered service in 1965 and remained one of the front-line designs into the 1990s. The Su-15 was designed to replace t ...

: 850

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-23; NATO reporting name: Flogger) is a variable-geometry fighter aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau in the Soviet Union. It is a third-generati ...

: 350

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-25; NATO reporting name: Foxbat) is a supersonic interceptor and reconnaissance aircraft that is among the fastest military aircraft to enter service. Designed by the ...

: 210

Sukhoi Su-27 The Sukhoi Su-27 (russian: Сухой Су-27; NATO reporting name: Flanker) is a Soviet-origin twin-engine supermaneuverable fighter aircraft designed by Sukhoi. It was intended as a direct competitor for the large US fourth-generation jet ...

: 360

; AWACS aircraft : 3 Tupolev Tu-126 Moss : 14 Beriev A-50 Mainstay Surface-to-air missiles in service in 1990 included: : 1,400

S-25 Berkut The S-25 ''Berkut'' (russian: С-25 «Беркут»; "Berkut" means golden eagle in English) is a surface-to-air guided missile, the first operational SAM system in the Soviet Union. In the early 1950s it was tested at Kapustin Yar. It was depl ...

: 2,400 Lavochkin S-75 Dvina : 1,000 Isayev S-125 Neva\Pechora – 300+ sites, 2 or 4 missile launchers and rails : 1,950 Almaz S-200 Angara\Vega\Dubna – 130 sites : 1,700 Almaz S-300 – 850The Military Balance 2010. p.222,223 sites, 15 more building :

ABM-1 Galosh The A-350 GRAU 5V61 ( NATO reporting name ABM-1 Galosh, formerly SH-01) was a Soviet, nuclear armed surface-to-air anti-ballistic missile.Anti-Ballistic Missile An anti-ballistic missile (ABM) is a surface-to-air missile designed to counter ballistic missiles (missile defense). Ballistic missiles are used to deliver nuclear weapon, nuclear, Chemical weapon, chemical, Bioagent, biological, or conventiona ...

, part of the A-35 missile defence system

Obsolete aircraft

Previous fighter aircraft operated by the PVO included: *

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-3) was a Soviet Union, Soviet interceptor aircraft, fighter-interceptor used during World War II. It was a development of the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-1, MiG-1 by the OKO (op ...

* Lavochkin La-9 Fritz * Lavochkin La-11 Fang * Lavochkin La-15 Fantail * Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 Fagot * Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 Fresco * Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 Farmer * Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 Fishbed * Sukhoi Su-9 Fishpot-C * Sukhoi Su-11 Fishpot * Tupolev Tu-28 Fiddler *

Yakovlev Yak-9 The Yakovlev Yak-9 (russian: Яковлев Як-9) is a single-engine, single-seat multipurpose fighter aircraft used by the Soviet Union and its allies during World War II and the early Cold War. It was a development of the robust and successf ...

* Yak-25 Flashlight

Air-to-air missiles

* K-5, AA-1 Alkali - Obsolete short-range air-to-air missile * K-8, AA-3 Anab - Medium-range air-to-air missile * K-13, AA-2 Atoll - Short-range air-to-air missile * R-4, AA-5 Ash - Long-range air-to-air missile * R-40, AA-6 Acrid - Long-range air-to-air missile * R-23, AA-7 Apex - Medium-range air-to-air missile * R-27, AA-10 Alamo - Medium-range air-to-air missile * R-33, AA-9 Amos - Long-range air-to-air missile * R-60, AA-8 Aphid - Short-range air-to-air missile * R-73, AA-11 Archer - Short-range air-to-air missile

References

Citations

Sources

* * * * * *