Soviet Anti-Air Defense
Encyclopedia
The Soviet Air Defence Forces was the air defense branch of the Soviet Armed Forces
. It continued being a service branch of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation
from 1991 to 1998. Unlike Western air defense forces, V-PVO was a branch of the military unto itself, separate from the Soviet Air Force
(VVS) and Air Defense Troops of Ground Forces. During the Soviet period it was generally ranked third in importance of the Soviet services, behind the Strategic Rocket Forces
and the Ground Forces.
there were 13 PVO zones located within the military district
s, the real growth of the Service was during the four years of the Second World War. During World War II
its formations were organized as PVO Fronts, Air Armies of PVO
, and PVO of military district, such as the Baku Air Defence Army
. The largest of these, the PVO Fronts , had the following service history:
PVO Fronts normally covered airspace over several ground Army Fronts
; these should not be confused with each other.
) into:
The PVO Strany has been separated from the other services of the Soviet Army since 1949. In May 1954, it was established as equal to the other branches of the Soviet Armed Forces, receiving its first commander-in-chief: Marshal of the Soviet Union Leonid Govorov
, Commanding General-in-Chief, PVO-S.
PVO's principal role was to shoot down United States
Strategic Air Command
bomber
s if they penetrated Soviet airspace. Secondary target were the U.S. air reconnaissance aircraft. There were a number of such aircraft shot down while operating around the Soviet borders, but the PVO gained an important victory on May 1, 1960, when a S-75 Dvina
missile downed Gary Powers
' U-2
, causing the short U-2 crisis of 1960
.
The PVO had its own chain of command, schools, radar and sound director sites. From the mid 1960s however, PRO, anti-rocket defence, and PKO, anti-space defence, troops began gaining strength under PVO leadership and its high command, eventually forming the basis for the now-Russian Space Forces. Organisationally, there were two main PVO districts for most of the USSR's postwar history, Moscow and Baku, and the rest of the country was divided into PVO regions like in Belarus, the Ukraine and the Baltics.
In a 1981 reorganization, the now Voyska PVO was stripped of many command and control
and training assets, which were moved to the Air Force.
On 1 September 1983 the PVO shot down Korean Air Flight 007
after they correctly believed that the civilian airliner had illegally crossed into restricted Soviet airspace but mistook it for a spy plane. Previously Korean Air Flight 902
had once crossed into Murmansk
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
n and the United States
governments. It even resulted in the forced and sudden resignation of the then Armed Forces Chief of the General Staff, Marshal Nikolai Ogarkov
, in the following year by the CPSU General Secretary and President of the USSR Supreme Soviet Presidium Konstantin Chernenko
.
Mathias Rust
'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 down, and modernisation 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.
were merged with the Russian Air Force
becoming the Air Force Air Defense Command.
The Day of Air Defense Forces (Den' Voysk PVO) was established in USSR on the second Sunday of April, and is still celebrated in the Russian Federation even after the 1998 merger of the Air Defense Forces with the Air Force.
Unofficial motto of the Forces 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".
The post was then disestablished with the merger of the PVO and VVS in 1998.
Surface-to-Air Missile Troops (зенитно-ракетные войска), and Fighter Aviation (истребительная авиация; Istrebitel’naya Aviatsiya; IA-PVO). Armies, corps, and divisions of the PVO were made up of units from all three branches.
Fighter Regiments of the 2nd Army PVO 1988 (Source AFM June 1993, 'Western CISAF', extracts)
Fighter Regiments of the 8th Army PVO 1988 (Source Feskov et al)
19th PVO Army was the successor to PVO formations that had operated in the area from the Second World War, among them the Baku Air Defence Army
. For existing details on the 19th PVO Army, see 19th PVO Army. 19th PVO Army was disbanded 1 April 1993, with much equipment handed over to Georgian Ministry of Defence.
The PVO inventory of 1990 was:
2,410 interceptor
s :
AWACS aircraft : 7 Tupolev Tu-126 Moss
Surface to air missiles on strength in 1990 included:
Previous fighter aircraft operated by the PVO included:
Soviet Armed Forces
The Soviet Armed Forces, also called the Armed Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Armed Forces of the Soviet Union refers to the armed forces of the Russian SFSR , and Soviet Union from their beginnings in the...
. It continued being a service branch of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation
Armed Forces of the Russian Federation
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are the military services of Russia, established after the break-up of the Soviet Union. On 7 May 1992 Boris Yeltsin signed a decree establishing the Russian Ministry of Defence and placing all Soviet Armed Forces troops on the territory of the RSFSR...
from 1991 to 1998. Unlike Western air defense forces, V-PVO was a branch of the military unto itself, separate from the Soviet Air Force
Soviet Air Force
The Soviet Air Force, officially known in Russian as Военно-воздушные силы or Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily and often abbreviated VVS was the official designation of one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces...
(VVS) and Air Defense Troops of Ground Forces. During the Soviet period it was generally ranked third in importance of the Soviet services, behind the Strategic Rocket Forces
Strategic Rocket Forces
The Strategic Missile Troops or Strategic Rocket Forces of the Russian Federation or RVSN RF , transliteration: Raketnye voyska strategicheskogo naznacheniya Rossiyskoy Federatsii, literally Missile Troops of Strategic Designation of the Russian Federation) are a military branch of the Russian...
and the Ground Forces.
World War II
While the preparations for creation of the air defense forces started in 1932, and by the start of the World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
there were 13 PVO zones located within the military district
Military district
Military districts are formations of a state's armed forces which are responsible for a certain area of territory. They are often more responsible for administrative than operational matters, and in countries with conscript forces, often handle parts of the conscription cycle.Navies have also used...
s, the real growth of the Service was during the four years of the Second World War. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
its formations were organized as PVO Fronts, Air Armies of PVO
Air Army (Soviet Union)
An air army was a type of formation of the Soviet Air Forces from 1936 until its dissolution in 1991. Air armies continued to be used in the successor Russian Air Force until 2009....
, and PVO of military district, such as the Baku Air Defence Army
Baku Air Defence Army
The Baku Air Defence Army was formed on the Eastern Front of World War II, following the decree of the USSR State Defense Committee of April 5, 1942. Previously known as the Baku Air Defence Corps, its main objective became sheltering the Baku oil fields from German raids. The Wehrmacht had been...
. The largest of these, the PVO Fronts , had the following service history:
- Western Front PVO
- 1st formation 29 June 1943 - 20 April 1944 renamed to Headquarters, Northern PVO Front
- 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
- 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)
- Southwestern Front PVO 24 December 1944 - 9 May 1945 formed from Headquarters, Southern PVO Front
- Southern Front PVO 21 April 1944 - 24 December 1944 formed from Headquarters, Eastern PVO Front; re-flagged as Headquarters, Southwestern PVO Front
PVO Fronts normally covered airspace over several ground Army Fronts
Front (Soviet Army)
A front was a major military organization in the Soviet Army during many wars. It was roughly equivalent to an army group in the militaries of most other countries except Germany...
; these should not be confused with each other.
Cold War
All the possible air components were divided (as of 1945, before the 1949 reforms of the Soviet Armed ForcesSoviet Armed Forces
The Soviet Armed Forces, also called the Armed Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Armed Forces of the Soviet Union refers to the armed forces of the Russian SFSR , and Soviet Union from their beginnings in the...
) into:
- Active Army air forces assigned to fighting Fronts, known as Frontal Aviation
- PVO Territorial Defence Forces (PVO-TDF)
- PVO Army on sovereign territory
- STAVKA High Command Forces Reserve PVO
- Military Districts' PVO
- Inactive Fronts' PVO
The PVO Strany has been separated from the other services of the Soviet Army since 1949. In May 1954, it was established as equal to the other branches of the Soviet Armed Forces, receiving its first commander-in-chief: Marshal of the Soviet Union Leonid Govorov
Leonid Govorov
Leonid Aleksandrovich Govorov was a Soviet military commander. An artillery officer, he joined the Red Army in 1920. He graduated from several Soviet military academies, including the Military Academy of Red Army General Staff. He participated in the Winter War as a senior artillery officer.In...
, Commanding General-in-Chief, PVO-S.
PVO's principal role was to shoot down United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Strategic Air Command
Strategic Air Command
The Strategic Air Command was both a Major Command of the United States Air Force and a "specified command" of the United States Department of Defense. SAC was the operational establishment in charge of America's land-based strategic bomber aircraft and land-based intercontinental ballistic...
bomber
Bomber
A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground and sea targets, by dropping bombs on them, or – in recent years – by launching cruise missiles at them.-Classifications of bombers:...
s if they penetrated Soviet airspace. Secondary target were the U.S. air reconnaissance aircraft. There were a number of such aircraft shot down while operating around the Soviet borders, but the PVO gained an important victory on May 1, 1960, when a S-75 Dvina
S-75 Dvina
The S-75 Dvina is a Soviet-designed, high-altitude, command guided, surface-to-air missile system...
missile downed Gary Powers
Gary Powers
Francis Gary Powers was an American pilot whose Central Intelligence Agency U-2 spy plane was shot down while flying a reconnaissance mission over Soviet Union airspace, causing the 1960 U-2 incident.- Early life :...
' U-2
Lockheed U-2
The Lockheed U-2, nicknamed "Dragon Lady", is a single-engine, very high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft operated by the United States Air Force and previously flown by the Central Intelligence Agency . It provides day and night, very high-altitude , all-weather intelligence gathering...
, causing the short U-2 crisis of 1960
U-2 Crisis of 1960
The 1960 U-2 incident occurred during the Cold War on May 1, 1960, during the presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower and during the leadership of Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, when a United States U-2 spy plane was shot down over the airspace of the Soviet Union.The United States government at...
.
The PVO had its own chain of command, schools, radar and sound director sites. From the mid 1960s however, PRO, anti-rocket defence, and PKO, anti-space defence, troops began gaining strength under PVO leadership and its high command, eventually forming the basis for the now-Russian Space Forces. Organisationally, there were two main PVO districts for most of the USSR's postwar history, Moscow and Baku, and the rest of the country was divided into PVO regions like in Belarus, the Ukraine and the Baltics.
In a 1981 reorganization, the now Voyska PVO was stripped of many command and control
Command and Control (military)
Command and control, or C2, in a military organization can be defined as the exercise of authority and direction by a properly designated commanding officer over assigned and attached forces in the accomplishment of the mission...
and training assets, which were moved to the Air Force.
On 1 September 1983 the PVO shot down Korean Air Flight 007
Korean Air Flight 007
Korean Air Lines Flight 007 was a Korean Air Lines civilian airliner that was shot down by Soviet interceptors on 1 September 1983, over the Sea of Japan, near Moneron Island just west of Sakhalin island...
after they correctly believed that the civilian airliner had illegally crossed into restricted Soviet airspace but mistook it for a spy plane. Previously Korean Air Flight 902
Korean Air Flight 902
Korean Air Lines Flight 902 was the flight number of a civilian airliner that was shot down April 20, 1978, near Murmansk, USSR, after it violated Soviet airspace and allegedly failed to respond to Soviet interceptors. Tapes released by Rovaniemi Area Control Centre show that the pilots of KAL902...
had once crossed into Murmansk
Murmansk
Murmansk is a city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast, Russia. It serves as a seaport and is located in the extreme northwest part of Russia, on the Kola Bay, from the Barents Sea on the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula, not far from Russia's borders with Norway and Finland...
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
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
n and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
governments. It even resulted in the forced and sudden resignation of the then Armed Forces Chief of the General Staff, Marshal Nikolai Ogarkov
Nikolai Ogarkov
Nikolai Vasilyevich Ogarkov , was promoted to Marshal of the Soviet Union in 1977. Between 1977 and 1984 he was Chief of the General Staff of the USSR. He became widely known in the West when he became the Soviet military's spokesman following the shootdown of Korean Air Lines Flight 007 near...
, in the following year by the CPSU General Secretary and President of the USSR Supreme Soviet Presidium Konstantin Chernenko
Konstantin Chernenko
Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko was a Soviet politician and the fifth General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He led the Soviet Union from 13 February 1984 until his death thirteen months later, on 10 March 1985...
.
Mathias Rust
Mathias Rust
Mathias Rust is a German aviator known for his illegal landing on May 28, 1987 near Red Square in Moscow. As an amateur pilot, he flew from Finland to Moscow, being tracked several times by Soviet air defence and interceptors...
'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 down, and modernisation 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.
1998 - merging into Russian Air Force
In 1998, the force groupings and headquarters of the PVO that had remained within RussiaRussia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
were merged with the Russian Air Force
Russian Air Force
The Russian Air Force is the air force of Russian Military. It is currently under the command of Colonel General Aleksandr Zelin. The Russian Navy has its own air arm, the Russian Naval Aviation, which is the former Soviet Aviatsiya Voyenno Morskogo Flota , or AV-MF).The Air Force was formed from...
becoming the Air Force Air Defense Command.
The Day of Air Defense Forces (Den' Voysk PVO) was established in USSR on the second Sunday of April, and is still celebrated in the Russian Federation even after the 1998 merger of the Air Defense Forces with the Air Force.
Unofficial motto of the Forces 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".
Commanders-in-Chief, Air Defense Forces
- Marshal of the Soviet Union Leonid GovorovLeonid GovorovLeonid Aleksandrovich Govorov was a Soviet military commander. An artillery officer, he joined the Red Army in 1920. He graduated from several Soviet military academies, including the Military Academy of Red Army General Staff. He participated in the Winter War as a senior artillery officer.In...
1954-1955 - Marshal of the Soviet Union Sergei Biryuzov 1955-1962
- Marshal of Aviation V.A. Sudets 1962-1966
- Marshal of the Soviet Union Pavel BatitskyPavel BatitskyPavel Fyodorovich Batitsky was a Soviet military leader awarded the highest honorary title of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1965 and appointed Marshal of the Soviet Union in 1968...
1966-1978 - Chief Marshal of Aviation A. I. Koldunov 1978-May 1987
- General of the Army I.M. Тret'yak 31 May 1987-24 August 1991
- General of the Army Viktor A Prudnikov (ПРУДНИКОВ) с 09/1991-December 1997
- General-Colonel Viktor P Sinitsin (СИНИЦИН Виктор Павлович) Dec 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). Armies, corps, and divisions of the PVO were made up of units from all three branches.
- Moscow District of the PVO (now the Russian Special Purpose CommandSpecial Purpose CommandThe Special Purpose Command 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, taking in 40 million people, as well as the country's capital, Moscow...
) - 2nd Air Army (Belarussian Military District)
- 11th and 28th Corps of the PVO
Fighter Regiments of the 2nd Army PVO 1988 (Source AFM June 1993, 'Western CISAF', extracts)
| Regiment | Base | Equipment | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61st Fighter Aviation Regiment | Baranovichi Baranovichi Baranovichi , is a city in the Brest Province of western Belarus with a population of 173,000. It is a significant railway junction and home to a state university.-Overview:... |
MiG-25/Su-27 | |
| 201st Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment | Machulishi Machulishi Machulishi is a municipality and urban-type settlement in Belarus, located in the Minsk Region. It is part of the Minsk Raion and its population, as of 2010, was of 7,300.-History:The town was first mentioned in 1590... |
MiG-23 |
- 4th Army of the PVO (HQ Sverdlovsk)
- 5th and 19th Corps of PVO
- 6th Army of the PVO6th Air ArmyThe 6th Red Banner Leningrad Army of Military-Air Forces and Air Defence was an Air Army of the Russian Air Force active from 1998 to 2009. 6th Air Army was redesignated in 1949...
(Leningrad Military DistrictLeningrad Military DistrictThe 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.-History:...
)- 27th Corps, RigaRigaRiga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...
, 54th Corps, and 14th Division of PVO, TallinnTallinnTallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list...
- 27th Corps, Riga
- 8th Army of the PVO (HQ Kiev)
- 49th and 60th Corps of the PVO
Fighter Regiments of the 8th Army PVO 1988 (Source Feskov et al)
| Regiment | Base | Equipment | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62nd Fighter Aviation Regiment | Belbek Sevastopol International Airport "Belbek" Sevastopol International Airport is AN airport in Belbek, near Sevastopol, Ukraine.- History :The airfield was first constructed in June 1941, during the first year of World War II. Initially it housed a military fighter aviation unit... |
Su-27P | Crimean Oblast Crimean Oblast The Crimean Oblast was an oblast of the former Russian SFSR and Ukrainian SSR , which was at the time part of the Soviet Union. Its capital was the city of Simferopol.... |
| 136th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment | Kirovskoe (Кировское) | Su-27P | (?) |
| 146th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment | Vasylkiv (air base) Vasylkiv (air base) Vasylkiv was an interceptor aircraft base during the Cold War in Kiev Oblast, Ukraine located 7 km north of Vasylkiv. It is a medium-sized fighter base with numerous revetments.... ? (Васильков) |
MiG-25PD | 146 GvIAP 1945 |
| 179th Fighter Aviation Regiment | Stryi Stryi (air base) Stryi is an air base in Lviv Oblast, Ukraine located 4 km southwest of Stryi... (Стрый) |
MiG-23MLD | Ярославский ордена Кутузова ; 179 иап 1945 |
| 636th Fighter Aviation Regiment | Kramatorsk Kramatorsk Kramatorsk is a city in the eastern Ukraine within Donetsk Oblast. Its population is about 200,000 people, including surrounding settlements under Kramatorsk City Council government.... |
МиГ-23П, Су-15ТМ | (Краматорск) |
| 737th Fighter Aviation Regiment | Artsyz Artsyz Artsyz is a city in Odessa Oblast, Ukraine. Population is 16,370 .... |
MiG-23МЛ | |
| 738th Fighter Aviation Regiment | Zaporoshye-Mokroe, Zaporozhia Oblast | МиГ-23МЛ | 738 иап 1945; disbanded 9 November 1990 |
| 894th Fighter Aviation Regiment | Ozerne Ozerne (air base) Ozerne is an air base in Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukraine located 11 km southeast of Zhytomyr... |
МиГ-23MLD | 894 иап, activated 9 June 1942 |
| 933rd Fighter Aviation Regiment | Dnepropetrovsk | MiG-25PD | 933 иап |
- 10th Army of the PVO (HQ Murmansk)
- 21st and 22nd Corps of the PVO and 22nd Division of the PVO
- 11th Red Banner Army of the PVO11th Air ArmyThe 11th Air Army is a unit of the Russian Air Force, which was located in the Russian Far East and Pacific Coast area, and its zone of responsibility covered the Far East Military District....
(Far East Military District)- 8th and 23rd Corps, and 6th, 24th, and 29th Divisions of the PVO
- 12th Army of the PVO (HQ Tashkent)
- 24th and 37th Corps of the PVO
- 14th Air Army14th Air ArmyThe 14th Air Army of the Russian Air Force, was first formed in World War II as part of the Soviet Air Force. It was disbanded in 2009....
(Siberian Military DistrictSiberian Military DistrictThe Siberian Military District was a Military district of the Russian Ground Forces. In 2010 it was divided between the two newly formed Central and Eastern Military Districts.- History :...
)- 38th, 39th, 50th and 56th (Semipalatinsk) Corps of the PVO and 41st Division of the PVO
- 19th Army of the PVO(Transcaucasus Military District)
- 14th Corps of PVO (Tblisi)
- 51st Corps of PVO (Rostov-na-Donu)
- 10th Division of PVO (VolgogradVolgogradVolgograd , formerly called Tsaritsyn and Stalingrad is an important industrial city and the administrative center of Volgograd Oblast, Russia. It is long, north to south, situated on the western bank of the Volga River...
) - 97th Lvov Red BannerOrder of the Red BannerThe Soviet government of Russia established the Order of the Red Banner , a military decoration, on September 16, 1918 during the Russian Civil War...
Division of PVO (Baku)
19th PVO Army was the successor to PVO formations that had operated in the area from the Second World War, among them the Baku Air Defence Army
Baku Air Defence Army
The Baku Air Defence Army was formed on the Eastern Front of World War II, following the decree of the USSR State Defense Committee of April 5, 1942. Previously known as the Baku Air Defence Corps, its main objective became sheltering the Baku oil fields from German raids. The Wehrmacht had been...
. For existing details on the 19th PVO Army, see 19th PVO Army. 19th PVO Army was disbanded 1 April 1993, with much equipment handed over to Georgian Ministry of Defence.
Inventory (1987/1990)
2,410 interceptor
Interceptor aircraft
An interceptor aircraft is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically to prevent missions of enemy aircraft, particularly bombers and reconnaissance aircraft. Interceptors generally rely on high speed and powerful armament in order to complete their mission as quickly as possible and set up...
s :
- 210 Su-27 Flanker
- 850 MiG-23 Flogger
- 350 MiG-25 Foxbat
- 360 MiG-31 Foxhound
- 500 Su-15 Flagon
- 90 Yak-28 Firebar
- 50 Tu-128 Fiddler
AWACS aircraft : 7 Tupolev Tu-126 Moss
Tupolev Tu-126
|-See also:-Bibliography:*Duffy, Paul and Kandalov, Andrei. Tupolev: The Man and His Aircraft. Shrewsbury, UK:Airlife, 1996. ISBN 1 85310 728 X....
- 1 Beriev A-50 MainstayBeriev A-50|-See also:Related development:Ilyushin Il-76, KJ-2000Comparable aircraft:E-3 Sentry-External links:* * * * * *...
Surface to air missiles on strength in 1990 included:
- 1,400 S-25 Berkut - being replaced by the Almaz S-300 and expected to be replaced by the Almaz S-400 TriumfS-400The S-400 Triumf is a new generation anti-aircraft weapon system developed by Russia's Almaz Central Design Bureau as an upgrade of the S-300 family. It is currently in limited service with the Russian Armed Forces....
- 2,400 Lavochkin S-75 DvinaS-75 DvinaThe S-75 Dvina is a Soviet-designed, high-altitude, command guided, surface-to-air missile system...
- 1,000 Isayev S-125 Neva\PechoraS-125The Isayev S-125 Neva/Pechora Soviet surface-to-air missile system was designed to complement the S-25 and S-75. It has a shorter effective range and lower engagement altitude than either of its predecessors and also flies slower, but due to its two-stage design it is more effective against more...
- 300+ sites, 2 or 4 missile launchers and rails - 1,950 Almaz S-200 Angara\Vega\Dubna - 130 sites
- 1,700 Almaz S-300 - 85 sites, 15 more building
- ABM-1 GaloshABM-1 GaloshABM-1 Galosh was a Soviet, nuclear tipped surface-to-air anti-ballistic missile . The Galosh is based on the A-35 ABM System using Grushin model A-350 missile. The primary mission was to destroy U.S...
Anti-Ballistic MissileAnti-ballistic missileAn anti-ballistic missile is a missile designed to counter ballistic missiles .A ballistic missile is used to deliver nuclear, chemical, biological or conventional warheads in a ballistic flight trajectory. The term "anti-ballistic missile" describes any antimissile system designed to counter...
, part of the A-35 missile defense systemA-35 anti-ballistic missile systemThe A-35 anti-ballistic missile system, or A-35 Aldan, was a Soviet military battle management radar complex deployed around Moscow to intercept enemy missiles targeting the city or its surrounding areas. In development since the 1960s and in operation from 1971 until the 1990s, It featured the...
Previous fighter aircraft operated by the PVO included:
- MiG-3
- La-9 FritzLavochkin La-9|-See also:-Bibliography:* Gordon, Yefim. Lavochkin's Piston-Engined Fighters . Earl Shilton, Leicester, UK: Midland Publishing Ltd., 2003. ISBN 1-85780-151-2....
- La-11 FangLavochkin La-11-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Gordon, Yefim. Lavochkin's Piston-Engined Fighters . Earl Shilton, Leicester, UK: Midland Publishing Ltd., 2003. ISBN 1-85780-151-2....
- MiG-15 Fagot
- MiG-17 Fresco
- MiG-19 Farmer
- MiG-21 Fishbed
- Su-9 Fishpot
- Yak-25
See also
- List of Soviet Air Force bases
- Korean Air Lines Flight 007
- Anatoly KornukovAnatoly KornukovArmy General Anatoly Kornukov is a Russian general, and former fighter pilot in the Soviet Air Defence Forces.A pilot under his command, Victor Belenko, defected to Japan in an advanced MIG-25 fighter.On Sept...