| Russia |
The history of present day Russia can be traced back to the ninth century when Grand Prince Rurik founded the first "Russian empire" in Novgorod (862 AD), but he moved the capitol to Kiev already in 882 AD, which is seen as the official start of the Russian State. The capital was again moved to Vladimir (1154) and later to Moscow (1326).
Here in Moscow, Ivan IV (The Terrible) was the first to call himself "Tsar of All the Russians" in 1547.
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| Russian Air Arms - A short history |
Military aviation in Russia started in 1910 when the first training was started in Sevastopol and St. Petersburg. The first exercise was in the fall of 1911, when five Farmans and five Bleriots were used during military manoeuvres in the Warsaw area. In 1912 a special Air Service was created within the Russian Army. In the same year the expertise was brought into practice when the first squadron was deployed to Bulgaria during the Balkan War, where they conducted reconnaissance missions against the Turks, although most aviators were civilian for political reasons.
From then on the Air Service gradually expanded, so by the time the World War I broke out, it was the largest Air Service in terms of the number of aircraft (244 aircraft in 39 squadrons, mostly French aircraft build in Russia).
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| Russian Air Arms - Today |
In 1997, the Russian Forces existed of 5 independant parts:
The Strategic Misslie Forces (RVSN)
The Ground Army (SV)
The Air Defence Forces (PVO)
The Air Force (VVS)
The Naval Force (VMF)
These units all used their own aircraft and helicopters.
In 1998 the PVO was disbanded as an independant force and all assets were transferred to the Air Force (VVS). This was quite a dramatic change which resulted in many units disbanded or move to another command.
Also the RVSN was made part of the VVS and is now mainly controlled by the 37th Air Army of the Air Force. Starting January 2003 all Army Aviation Units also reside under command of the Air Force.
Also a part of the armed forces reorganisation was the merger of the Ural (UrVO) and Volga Military Districts (PriVO) resulting the in the creation of the PUrVO.
The armed forces are now divided over six military districts and one special rayon.
Most tactical aviation units, although subordinate to the Air Force headquarters, report operationally to these Military Districts through an "Army VVSiPVO", or in the case of the Moscow MD to the Moscow Air Force and Defense District, which in turn delegates some units to the MD. In the case of the Kaliningrad Special Rayon all units (including Army and Air Force units) report to the Navies Baltic Fleet headquarters.
The Military Districts and Armies are;
| Far Eastern MD | 11 A VVSiPVO |
| Leningrad MD | 6 A VVSiPVO |
| Moscow Air Force and Defense District | 16 AK / Moscow Okrug VVSiPVO |
| North Caucasus MD | 4 A VVSiPVO |
| Siberian MD | 14 A VVSiPVO |
| Volga and Ural MD | 5 A VVSiPVO |
Exceptions to this are the transport aircraft and strategic bombers, which report directly to the headquarters in Moscow through the 61st Air Army (formerly VTA) and 37th Air Army (formerly (DA) respectively. Also some test bases, special units and Aircraft Repair Plants report directly to the VVSiPVO HQ or MoD.
Most of the Naval Aviation (AVMF) report to one of the Fleets. The four Fleets with aviation assets are: Northern Fleet, Baltic Fleet, Black Sea Fleet and Pacific Fleet.
In the Order of Battle here, we will use this division in Military Districts also for splitting up the armed forces.
For convenience, the AVMF units are also sorted by location in the Military Districts.
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Photo: Eugene Gadet
Photo: Hugo Mambour/AviaScribe
| More |
You can find more about the Russian Air Arms on these pages. On the Order of Battle page we show you where the
main bases in Russia are. A country map of Russia is available. Click on an airbase to see what's there to be found. Also we present links to
Expediamaps services: with each airbase you can find a link to a map of the airbases' neighbourhood.
It is also possible to send updates to us!
And of course we present you some links to other Russian Aviation Pages.
Order of Battle
The Database
Translation page
Cyrillic script
Links to Related Websites
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