Soviet Air Forces
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Image:Flag of Russia.svg Russian Empire Image:Flag of the Soviet Union.svg Soviet Union Strategic Rocket Forces (1959–1991) |
The Soviet Air Force, also known under the abbreviation VVS, transliterated from Russian: ВВС, Военно-воздушные силы (Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily), was the official designation of one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces.
The VVS was founded as the "Workers' and Peasants' Air Fleet" in 1918, succeeding the Imperial Russian Air Force. After being placed under control of the Red Army, with the official denomination VVS in 1930, its influence on aircraft design became greater.
After the creation of the Soviet state many efforts were made in order to modernize and expand aircraft production. Domestic aircraft production increased significantly in the early years of the 1930s and towards the end of the decade the Soviet Air Force was able to introduce I-15 and I-16 fighters and SB-2, SB-2 BIS and DB-3 bombers.
One of the first big tests of the VVS came in 1936 with the Spanish Civil War, where the latest aircraft designs were put to the test by up-to-date German aircraft. Early victories by the I-16 fighter were squandered because of the limited use of that fighter. German Bf-109s arriving later in the war secured air superiority for the Spanish Nationalist cause.
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[edit] World War Two
At the outbreak of World War II, the Soviet military was not yet at a level of readiness suitable for winning a war: Stalin had said in 1931 that Soviet industry was "50 to 100 years behind" [1] the Western powers. By the end of the war, Soviet aircraft production outstripped that of German Reich - Soviet annual aircraft production is estimated to have risen to an impressive 4,700 aircraft at this time.
However, much practical experience was gained in participating in the Spanish Civil War, and against Japan in the Far-East, as well as in the Winter war against Finland in 1939. The VVS used its bombers to attack Finland in the Winter War, but the losses inflicted on them by the relatively small Finnish army showed the shortcomings of these forces, mainly due to the Great Purge in the 1930s. The Soviet Air Force as well as its industry would learn from these experiences and mistakes. So much so that shortly before the start of war with Germany a Soviet Volunteer Group was sent to China to train the Chinese Communist pilots for the continuing war with the Japanese.
The main reason of the large aircraft loses in the initial period of war with Germany was not the lack of modern tactics, but due to lack of experienced pilots and ground support crews, the destruction of many aircraft on the runways due to command failure to disperse them, and the rapid advance of the Wehrmacht ground troops, forcing the Soviet pilots on the defensive during Operation Barbarossa, while being confronted with more modern German aircraft.[2] In the first few days of Operation Barbarossa the Luftwaffe destroyed some 2000 Soviet aircraft, at a loss of only 35 aircraft (of which 15 were non-combat-related).[3]
The principal aircraft of the VVS during World War 2 were the Ilyushin Il-2 Shturmavik (assault) and the Yak fighter in its many variants[2]; each of which became the most produced aircraft of all time in its class, together accounting for about half the strength of the VVS for most of the Great Patriotic War. The Yak was a modern 1940 design and had room for development; as opposed to the aging design of the ME109, and the Yak-9 brought the VVS to parity with the Luftwaffe and eventually allowing it to gain the upper hand over the Luftwaffe until in 1944, when many Luftwaffe pilots were deliberately avoiding combat with the last and best variant, the out of sequence numbered Yak-3. The other main VVS aircraft types were Lavochkin fighters, mainly the Lavochkin La-5, the Petlyakov Pe-2 twin engined attack-bombers, and a basic but functional and versatile medium bomber the Ilyushin Il-4.
By late 1944 the VVS had attained an almost complete air supremacy over the Luftwaffe, so much so that the Battle of Romania, was Germany's last chance to stay in the war, and was planned to be a major set piece operation by committing over a million troops and much of their armour, was turned into a rout, with the Wehrmacht troops being almost overrun because the VVS had destroyed nearly every piece of German armour and every vehicle on or near the front-line. For the last year of the war German military and civilians retreating towards Berlin were hounded by the presence of "low flying aircraft" strafing and bombing them, an activity in which even the ancient Polikarpov Po-2, a much produced biplane of 1920s design, took part.
As with many allied countries in World War II the Soviet Union received western aircraft by lend-lease, the main ones being the Hawker Hurricane, the Curtiss P-40 Kittyhawk and P-39 Airacobra, although the early Spitfires were much appreciated and prized by the Soviet pilots.
[edit] Cold War
During the Cold War, the Soviet Air Force was rearmed, strengthened and modern air doctrines were introduced. At its peak in the 1980s, it could deploy approximately 10,000 aircraft, and at the beginning of the 1990s the Soviet Union had an air force that in terms of quantity and quality fulfilled superpower standards.
During the Cold War the VVS was divided into three segments: Long Range Aviation (Dal'naya Aviatsiya or 'DA'), focused on long-range bombers; Frontal Aviation (Frontovaya Aviatsiya or 'FA'), focused on battlefield air defense, close air support, and interdiction; and Military Transport Aviation (Voenno-Transportnaya Aviatsiya or 'VTA'), which controlled all transport aircraft. The Air Defense Forces (Voyska protivovozdushnoy oborony or Voyska PVO), which focused on air defense and interceptor aircraft, was then a separate and distinct service within the Soviet military organization. It was this force that shot down KAL 007 on September 1, 1983.
A list of units and bases can be found here.
The Russian Navy has its own independent air arm, Naval Aviation (Aviatsiya Voenno Morskogo Flota or 'AV-MF').
Soviet Air Armies in the last years of the Soviet Union included:
- 1st Air Army (Frontal Aviation) Far East Military District
- 2nd Air Army Air Defence Force
- 4th Air Army (Frontal Aviation)
- 5th Air Army (Frontal Aviation) (Odessa Military District)
- 6th Air Army (Soviet Air Defence Force)
- 8th Air Army (Soviet Air Defence Force) (see also ru:8-я воздушная армия)
- 10th Air Army (Soviet Air Defence Force)
- 11th Air Army (Soviet Air Defence Force)
- 12th Air Army (Soviet Air Defence Forces)
- 14th Air Army (Soviet Air Defence Forces)
- 15th Air Army (Baltic Military District)
- 16th Air Army (Group of Soviet Forces in Germany)
- 17th Air Army (Kiev Military District)(primarily a training force)
- 19th Air Army (Soviet Air Defence Force)
- 23rd Air Army (Transbaikal Military District)
- 24th Air Army (South-Western Strategic Direction)
- 26th Air Army (Belarussian Military District)
- 30th Air Army (Irkutsk, Long Range Aviation)
- 37th Air Army (Moscow, Long Range Aviation)
- 46th Air Army (Smolensk, Long Range Aviation)
[edit] 1980s Fighter Programs
In the 1980s the Soviet Union acknowledged the development of the Advanced Tactical Fighter in the USA and began the development of an equivalent fighter in order to maintain its position as a superpower.
Two programs were initiated, one of which was proposed to directly confront the United States' then-projected Advanced Tactical Fighter (that was to lead to the development of the F-22 Raptor/YF-23). This future fighter was designated as Mnogofounksionalni Frontovoi Istrebitel (MFI) (Multifunctional Frontline Fighter) and designed as a heavy multirole aircraft, with air-supremacy utmost in the minds of the designers.
In response to the American X-32/F-35 project, Russia began the LFI program, which would develop a fighter reminiscent of the X-32/F-35 with a single engine, without the capabilities of a true multirole aircraft.
Russia would later change the designation of the LFI project to LFS, making it a multirole aircraft, primarily emphasising ground attack capability. During the 1990s the Russian military cancelled the LFS projects and continued with the MFI project, with minimal funding, believing that it was more important than the production of a light fighter-aircraft. Most recently the 'PAK FA' was planned, no advanced fighter successor to the Su-27 and MiG-29 family has entered service. Sukhoi won the latest PAK FA competition in 2002.
[edit] Breakup of the Soviet Union
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991 the aircraft and personnel of the Soviet VVS were divided among the newly independent states. Russia received the plurality of these forces, approximately 40% of the aircraft and 65% of the manpower, with these forming the basis for the new Russian Air Force.
[edit] Commanders-in-Chief
- Вершинин Константин Андреевич (1946-1949, 1957-1969)
- Жигарев Павел Федорович (1949-1957)
- Кутахов Павел Степанович (1969-1984)
- Ефимов Александр Николаевич (1984-1990)
- Шапошников Евгений Иванович (1990-1991)
- Дейнекин Пётр Степанович (1991-1998)
- Корнуков Анатолий Михайлович (1998-2002)
- Михайлов Владимир Сергеевич (2002-2007)
- Зелин Александр Николаевич (с 2007)(Aleksandr Zelin)
[edit] Soviet Air Force Inventory 1987
- 165 strategic bombers,
- 150 Tupolev Tu-95 Bear
- 15 Myasishchev M-4 Bison
- 550 medium bombers
- 155 Tupolev Tu-22M Backfire
- 260 Tupolev Tu-16 Badger
- 135 Tupolev Tu-22 Blinder
- 2780 fighters
- 490 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 Fishbed
- 1570 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 Flogger
- 105 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 Foxbat
- 260 Sukhoi Su-15 Flagon
- 20 Tupolev Tu-128 Fiddler
- 20 Yakovlev Yak-28 Firebar
- 275 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-29 Fulcrum
- 30 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-31 Foxhound
- 10 Sukhoi Su-27 Flanker
- 2835 attack aircraft
- 130 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 Fishbed
- 830 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-27 Flogger
- 895 Sukhoi Su-7 Fitter-Aand Sukhoi Su-17 Fitter-C
- 770 Sukhoi Su-24 Fencer
- 210 Sukhoi Su-25 Frogfoot
- 50 tankers
- 30 Myasishchev M-4 'Molot' Bison
- 20 Tupolev Tu-16 Badger
- 658 tactical reconnaissance and ECM aircraft
- 65 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 Fishbed
- 195 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 Foxbat
- 65 Sukhoi Su-24 Fencer
- 195 Yakovlev Yak-28 Brewer
- 260 strategic reconnaissance and ECM aircrafts
- 115 Tupolev Tu-16 Badger
- 15 Tupolev Tu-22 Blinder
- 4 Tupolev Tu-95 Bear
- 102 Yakovlev Yak-28 Brewer
- 24 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 Foxbat
3050 helicopters
1500 trainers and training helicopters
- 575 transport aircrafts
- 55 Antonov An-22 'Antey' Cock
- 210 Antonov An-12 Cub
- 310 Ilyushin Il-76 Candid
- 2,935 civilian and other transport aircraft, usually Aeroflot aircraft which were easily converted
[edit] Bibliography
- The History of Soviet Aircraft from 1918 by Vaclav Nemecek. Printed in English with many black and white, and colour photographic plates. Appendix includes statistics regarding Helicopters, Fighters, Autogiros, Training Aircraft, Transport Aircraft, Seaplanes, Experimental Aircraft and Bombers etc.[4]
- The Soviet Air Force: Since 1918 by Alexander Boyd. With section of black and white photographic plates, charts. maps and diagrams, together with index. [5]
[edit] References
- ^ "Why did Stalin rise to power?", Socialist Worker Online, 2003-08-01. Retrieved on 2007-03-29.
- ^ a b Buckley, John (1999). Air Power in the Age of Total War. Indiana University Press, p.134,143. ISBN 0-253-33557-4.
- ^ Ratley, III, Maj. Lonnie O. (March-April 1983). A Lesson of History: The Luftwaffe and Barbarossa. Air University Review.
- ^ Detail from a copy of The History of Soviet Aircraft published by Willow Books (London) in 1986 with an ISBN 0 00 218033 2
- ^ First published in The Soviet Air Force by Macdonald and Janes (UK) in 1977 and later published by Purnell Book Services as a Book Club Edition
id:Angkatan Udara Soviet it:Voenno-Vozdušnye Sily nl:Luchtmacht van de Sovjet-Unie vi:Không quân Xô viết zh:蘇聯空軍
