RUSSIAN AIR FORCE
The Russian air force is divided into two commands, the Long Range Aviation Command (57th Air Army) and the Military Transport Aviation Command (61st Air Army). The former command includes eight bomber regiments, the latter nine regiments. In addition, tactical aviation forces consist of five tactical and air defense armies totaling 49 air regiments. The strategic missile force is divided into three rocket armies.[Source: Library of Congress, October 2006 **]
In the 1990s, the air forces included about 130,000 troops, of which 40,000 are conscripts. According to CFE Treaty figures, at the end of 1994 Russia's air forces, including air defense, possessed a total of 3,283 combat aircraft. The air forces are organized into four commands under the Air Force High Command. These commands are the Long-Range Aviation Command, the Frontal Aviation Command, the Military Transport Aviation Command, and the Reserve and Cadre Training Command. The usual command configuration includes a division of three regiments, each with three squadrons of aircraft, plus independent regiments. Like units of the ground forces, most air force units are deployed according to military district. [Source: Library of Congress, July 1996 *]
The air defense forces also have found it difficult to maintain readiness. In February 1996, the commander in chief, General Viktor Prudnikov, admitted that inadequate funding and poor matériel and technical support had lowered his branch's standard of combat readiness. Russia's missile forces receive no systematic daily training, and there is no firing-range practice. Air defense pilots get little flight time, and no funds are available for maintenance or aircraft parts. An estimated 50 percent of Russia's border is unprotected by radar because equipment of the radio-technical forces is inoperable. As of 1996, the air defense forces had not had funds for new orders for two years, and no improvement was expected in the near future. [Source: Library of Congress, July 1996 *]
Force readiness also depends on equipment maintenance and resupply. In 1995 aviation units received only 39 percent of the required fuel, reducing annual flight time by a factor of 3.5. In 1994 the Ministry of Defense purchased only thirty of the 300 aircraft listed as being required, and only one aircraft was purchased in 1995. General Petr Deynekin, air forces commander in chief, has estimated that, at that rate of acquisition and maintenance, the air forces would have no flyable aircraft by 2005. [Source: Library of Congress, July 1996 *]
Russian Military Planes
In 2005 The air forces had 1,013 fighter aircraft, 677 bombers and ground-attack fighters, 119 reconnaissance aircraft, 293 military transport aircraft, and 1,520 helicopters.
Russian air force aircraft includes long-range Su-24 Fencer bombers, Tu-95 Bear bombers and Tu-160 Blackjack bombers and ground-attack and fighter aircraft suhc as the Su-17, Su-24, Su-25, Su-27, and MiG-29 classes. The top of the line Russian plane, the MIG-29, resembles an American-made F-16. It has two powerful engines that allow it to take off almost vertically like a rocket. Pilots have sight-and-shoot helmets which allow them to fire laser-guided missiles under the wings by simply staring at the enemy target for two seconds.
The Bear is a long-range subsonic turboprop bomber modeled after the United States World-War-II-era B-29. Although still serviceable, it is an obsolete combat aircraft by modern military standards. Its operational range would carry it over the United States, however. The Blackjack is a modern, high-performance aircraft that has a shorter range than the Bear. The Blackjack can reach long-range targets in the United States with the aid of midair refueling. For this purpose, the strategic bomber force has several dozen tanker aircraft in its inventory. [Source: Library of Congress, 1996 *]
In the mid-1990s, the first priority for the air forces was the Su-T-60S multirole bomber, which had been designed to replace the Tu-22M and the Su-24. The Su-T-60S is a long-range supersonic tactical/operational nuclear-capable bomber with built-in stealth technology developed by the Sukhoy Design Bureau. Although its development was officially secret, the Su-T-60S was reported to be in the prototype stage and ready for flight testing in mid-1996. *
The second priority for the air forces was the Su-27IB tactical fighter-bomber being built for the Frontal Aviation Command. A naval aviation version was designated the Su-32FN. This side-by-side, two-seat aircraft was in serial production in the mid-1990s at the Sukhoy Chkalov Aircraft Plant in Novosibirsk. In its bomber mode, the Su-27IB was expected to be armed with the AA-11 Archer short-range air-to-air missile, and in its fighter mode with the AA-12 Adder mid-range, air-to-air, fire-and-forget missile. *
Russian Helicopters and Transport Planes
The Mi-26 helicopter is a giant Russian helicopter. Nicknamed the cow, it is used widely as a transport vehicle and is a workforces in battlefield zones. It is designed to carry 22 tos of cargo or 80 combat-equipped soldiers but routinely carries double that. Observers have seen it flying with a full load of passengers plus 10 tons of weapons. In the late 1990s the military was ordered to stop using the helicopters to stop carrying people. The orders were ignored. In 2002, 116 people were killed in an accident in Chechnya.
Russia and Ukraine make the world's largest cargo planes. The Ukraine-made Antonov An-124 has the largest wingspan of any plane (240 feet and 5¾ inches). The Antonov-124-100 has a 120 ton capacity. It carries a large share of super heavy and oversized air cargo, a market worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Antonov’s newest aircraft, the six-engine Mriya, has a wing span as long as a football field and carries twice the payload of a Lockheed C5-A.
The enormous Antonov-225 is the world's largest plane. It has the highest take off weight of any plane (661 tons). In 1989 one An-225 lifted 344,582 pounds to a height of 40,715. The heaviest commercial load ever carried was three 47.4 ton transformers from Barcelona to New Caledonia in 1991.
The Antonov-225 has three engines on each wing and a tail that looks an extra set of wings. Its wingspan is 88.4 meters and the cargo bay measures 43 meters long, 6.4 meters wide and 4.4 meters deep. It can hold 80 cars or 160 universal freight containers. A modified version of the plane designed to carry the Soviet space shuttle, took off from the Hostomel Aerodrome in Ukraine in May 2001 and made its first successful test flight.
Russian Air Force Facilities
The Siberian Military District has no frontal or long-range assets. It deploys only 239 L-39 jet training aircraft of the Reserve and Cadre Training Command. The Ural Military District is supported by one regiment of thirty Su-24 fighter-bombers of the Frontal Aviation Command. The North Caucasus Military District's air assets are organized as an air army that includes a long-range bomber division of eighty-five Su-24 bombers, together with two frontal aviation divisions, a ground-attack division of 110 Su-25 fighter-bombers, and a fighter division of 110 MiG-29 fighters. The North Caucasus Military District air army also has a reconnaissance regiment consisting of thirty-five Su-24 aircraft. *
Two training centers of the Reserve and Cadre Training Command are located in the North Caucasus district. They base five training regiments equipped with 500 operational and training aircraft of various types. Two more fighter training regiments deploying a combination of ninety-four combat aircraft are stationed in the Volga Military District. The Moscow Military District is supported by an air army that consists of a bomber division of ninety Su-24 aircraft of the Long-Range Aviation Command, a fighter division of 145 Su-27 and MiG-29 aircraft, a ground-attack regiment of forty Su-25 fighters, and a reconnaissance regiment of fifty-five Su-24 and MiG-25 aircraft. The Moscow Military District also hosts two training regiments of the Reserve and Cadre Training Command. *
The Northern Military District is supported by an air army consisting of a bomber division under the Long-Range Aviation Command and a fighter division and a reconnaissance regiment under the Frontal Aviation Command. The bomber division is equipped with eighty Su-24 bombers, the fighter division with ninety-five Su-27 and MiG-29 aircraft. *
In addition to the allocations made by district, forty-six aircraft officially belong to the Long-Range Aviation Command but are under the control of Ukraine. Their operational readiness is suspect. A composite regiment of transport aircraft and helicopters from the Military Transport Aviation Command is stationed at Kaliningrad. *
The Military Transport Aviation Command is organized into three divisions, each comprising three regiments of thirty aircraft. In addition, there are a few independent aviation transport regiments, including one stationed in Kaliningrad. Overall, the independent training regiments deploy about 350 aircraft of the Il-76 Kandid, An-12, An-22, and An-124 types. *
Strategic aviation is an intercontinental nuclear strike force that includes about 15,000 personnel. In concert with the strategic rocket forces, it provides the Russian Federation's strategic nuclear threat. Organizationally, strategic aviation falls under the Long-Range Aviation Command of the air forces, but it is under the operational control of the Ministry of Defense. Bases are located in the Far Eastern, Moscow, and Northern military districts. According to the reckoning of START I, strategic aviation aircraft can deliver a total of 1,506 nuclear warheads, including bombs, cruise missiles, and air-to-surface missiles. The Far Eastern force deploys 107 Tu-95 Bear bombers of the G and H models and twenty Tu-160 Blackjack bombers. *
The Northern and Moscow military districts each house a heavy bomber regiment of twenty modern Tu-22M high-performance jet bombers. The Tu-22M has less range than the older Tu-95 models, but it is better suited to modern air warfare. According to experts, the Bears are located in Asia because they match China's obsolete air defenses, and the more modern aircraft are in Europe to be matched against the more formidable West European defenses. *
The air force contingent of the Far Eastern Military District consists of 124 Su-24 Fencer bombers of the long-range aviation force, and 245 ground-attack and fighter aircraft of the Su-17, Su-24, Su-25, Su-27, and MiG-29 classes in frontal aviation. The Transbaikal Military District hosts an air army comprising 185 combat aircraft. The long-range contingent in that district consists of eighty Su-24 bombers. The frontal aviation portion includes thirty MiG-29 and seventy-five Su-17 and Su-24 ground-attack and dual-role aircraft. *
Air Defense Forces
The air defense forces, charged with defense against enemy air attack, have a total of about 200,000 troops, of whom 60,000 are conscripts. The air defense forces include missile, air force, and radio-technical units and an air defense army. There also are two independent air defense corps. The missile forces are equipped with approximately 2,500 launchers deployed in about 250 different sites around the country. Air defense forces have particular responsibility for defending administrative and industrial centers; for instance, they surround Moscow with about 100 missile launchers. The air force troop contingent consists of about 850 combat aircraft, including 100 MiG-23, 425 MiG-31, and 325 Su-27 aircraft. [Source: Library of Congress, July 1996 *]
The air defense forces also operate twenty Il-76 aircraft configured for airborne early warning and command and control. The air force troops operate their own training program from one training center that includes four regiments equipped with more than 380 MiG-23 and L-39 aircraft. *
The missile troops are equipped with about 150 SA-2 Guideline, 100 SA-3 Goa, 500 SA-5 Gammon, and 1,750 SA-10 Grumble missile launchers. A program to replace all of the older systems with the SA-10, well under way by 1996, has been considered by experts to be one of the most successful reequipment programs of the post-Soviet armed forces. Seven of the military districts have at least one aviation air defense regiment each; two districts, Moscow and the Far Eastern, have specially designated air defense districts. *
The borders of the Moscow Air Defense District are the same as those of the Moscow Military District. The Far Eastern Air Defense District combines the territory of the Far Eastern Military District and the Transbaikal Military District. Presumably, the boundaries of the other military districts are the same for air defense as for other defense designations. *
Strategic Rocket Forces
In the Soviet era, the strategic rocket forces (SRF) were established as the elite service of the nation's military because they have the vital mission of operating long- and medium-range missiles with nuclear warheads. They remained so in the mid-1990s. In 1996 the SRF had about 100,000 troops, of which about half were conscripts; the SRF has the highest proportion of well-educated officers among the armed services. The SRF also is the only service with an active force modernization program. [Source: Library of Congress, July 1996 *]
Russia's report for the CFE Treaty indicated the existence of ten SRF missile bases within the European scope of the treaty, including sites at Plesetsk (north of Moscow), Kapustin Yar (near Volgograd), Vladimir (east of Moscow), Vypolzovo (northwest of Moscow), Yoshkar Ola (in the Republic of Mari El), Kozel'sk (southwest of Moscow), Tatishchevo (north of Volgograd), Teykovo (northeast of Moscow), and Surovatikha (south of Nizhniy Novgorod). Indicating the priority given air defense of the European sector, Russia listed only four additional missile bases outside the CFE Treaty reporting area, at Nizhniy Tagil, Irkutsk, Novosibirsk, and Kansk. There is a training regiment at the missile test facility near Plesetsk and another at the Kapustin Yar test facility. Russia has continued the reduction in strategic missile inventory required under START I, although at a pace slower than the United States would like. By mid-1996 all nuclear warheads on former Soviet SRF missiles in Kazakstan and Ukraine had been returned to Russia or destroyed, and all missiles were scheduled to leave Belarus by the end of 1996. *
The Russian SRF missile inventory not only is shrinking in response to treaty requirements but also is changing in character. The new SS-25 Topol is the only system suited to Russian strategic requirements and acceptable under the requirements of START I, so rocket production efforts will concentrate on this model for the foreseeable future. *
The Topol is fielded in SRF regiments comprising three battalions totaling nine launch vehicles. In 1996 forty such regiments were operational. Several older operational ICBM systems also remained in the field. These included an SS-17 regiment of ten silos, six SS-18 silo fields totaling 222 missiles with multiple warheads, four SS-19 silo fields totaling 250 missiles with multiple warheads, and ninety-two SS-24 missiles of which thirty-six are mounted on trains. All except the SS-24 were being phased out in favor of the SS-25 Topol. Two remaining SS-25 regiments without warheads were scheduled for redeployment from Belarus to the Perm' region in 1996. *
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Text Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Times of London, Lonely Planet Guides, Library of Congress, U.S. government, Compton’s Encyclopedia, The Guardian, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, The New Yorker, Time, Newsweek, Reuters, AP, AFP, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic Monthly, The Economist, Foreign Policy, Wikipedia, BBC, CNN, and various books, websites and other publications.
Last updated May 2016