The 160th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Brigade is a formation of the

Ukrainian Air Force The Ukrainian Air Force ( uk, Пові́тряні си́ли Збро́йних сил Украї́ни) is the air force of Ukraine and one of the five branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Its headquarters are in the city of Vinnytsia. W ...

. The full name of the Brigade is the 160th Warsaw-Odessa Order of Suvorov 3rd degree Anti-Aircraft Artillery Brigade. ( ua, 160-а Варшавсько-Одеська ордена Суворова ІІІ ступеня зенітна ракетна бригада). The Brigade is considered to be one of the best Anti-Aircraft Artillery units in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

. The 160th Brigade was part of the 21st Air Defence Division (1961-1989) and then the 60th Air Defence Corps from 1989-1992, both part of the

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 ...

. From 1961-92 it was located at Odessa.

History

In 1999 the Brigade was given the honorable name "Odesa" for exhibiting high level of professionalism in protecting the skies over

Odesa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrati ...

. The brigade was also awarded with its first

Colour Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...

by the

President of Ukraine The president of Ukraine ( uk, Президент України, Prezydent Ukrainy) is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, condu ...

Awards

*1944 received the honorable name «Warsaw» *1945 received the Order of Suvorov Third Class for its actions near

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

*1999 received the honorable name «Odesa»

Past commanders

Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

Mykola Oleshiuk

References

{{Reflist Air force brigades of Ukraine Air defence brigades Military units and formations established in 1941