According to the Decree issued by the State Defense Committee of the Soviet Union, in April 1942 the 6th Leningrad Red Banner Air Defense Army was created. During the years of World War II, aviators and anti-aircraft gunners of this formation opposed Nazi troops on the outskirts of Leningrad. In 1986, it was combined with the 76th Red Banner Air Army. 2009 was the year of reforming the Russian Armed Forces, as a result of which the 1st command of the Air Force and Air Defense was created. In August 2015, the legendary 6th Air Force and Air Defense Army was revived in the Russian Federation. Information on its structure, functions and tasks can be found in the article.
Acquaintance
The idea of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation was to improve coordination between military units and the quality of interspecific interaction between aviation units and air defense with the Ground Forces and the Navy, since the Western Military District contains the Northern and Baltic Navy. The place for deployment of all military units of the 6th Air Force and Air Defense Army was the territory of the Western Military District (Western Military District). According to military experts, the new compound is responsible for airspace, whose area is 2 million km. sq. In addition, the formation provides security at the border, with a length of over 3,000 km. Headquarters of the 6th Air Force and Air Defense Army in the city of St. Petersburg.
History
The 6th Air Force and Air Defense Army has a heroic story. In the Great Patriotic War, the 6th separate Air Defense Army, the 16th and 76th units of the VA (Air Army) showed heroism and stamina in battles with the enemy. During the blockade, personnel carried out the defense of Leningrad. From the first days of the war, Soviet fighters and anti-aircraft gunners opened an account of destroyed enemy aircraft.
To protect the airspace above the city, the fighters used an air ram. Until this time, this battle technique for pilots of the Wehrmacht was unfamiliar. In 1941, on the Leningrad Front, the USSR Air Defense forces thwarted an attempt by German aviation to destroy ships deployed in the Baltic Fleet. The Soviet military command set the task of ensuring the protection of the Road of Life on the Leningrad Front. In 2005, for this feat of the 6th Air Force and Air Defense Army, Russian President Vladimir V. Putin was awarded the honorary title “Leningradskaya”. In addition, Belarus and Poland were liberated by this military formation together with the 76th and 16th air armies. The defense of Moscow and Kursk, the crossing of the Dnieper was also carried out with the participation of the 6th Air Force and Air Defense Army, which, fighting the enemy, entered Berlin. In the Great Patriotic War, these military formations destroyed fascist aircraft, numbering over 11 thousand units, tanks and armored vehicles - more than 5 thousand, artillery and anti-aircraft guns - about 5 thousand, railway trains - 1.5 thousand, officers and military personnel Wehrmacht - about 230 thousand people.
About the fleet
Today the 6th Army has the following aircraft:
- multifunctional fighter-bomber Su-34;
- front-line fighters Su-27;
- multifunction fighters Su-35S;
- heavy fighter aircraft Su-30SM;
- MiG-31 interceptors;
- reconnaissance aircraft Su-24MR;
- military transport An;
- passenger aircraft Tu-134;
- attack helicopters Mi-28N “Night Hunter” and Ka-52 “Alligator”;
- multipurpose helicopters Mi-35;
- military transport helicopters Mi-8MTV.
The places of deployment of the fighters were the airfields of Lodeynoye Pole, Besovets and Kilp-Yavr, the interceptors - Kotlas, the transport and special aircraft - Pushkin and Lukashchovo, the interceptors - Kotlas, the front-line bombers - Smuravyevo and Siversk, the reconnaissance aircraft - Monchegorsk, and the helicopters - Prilevotur.
About artillery weapons
Anti-aircraft missile and radio-technical troops use the following air defense systems:
- S-300 “Favorite”. This anti-aircraft missile system is designed for medium range.
- S-400 Triumph. This SAM is a long and medium radius.
- Buk-M1 self-propelled anti-aircraft missile systems.
- Ground-based self-propelled anti-aircraft missile-gun systems “Shell-C1”.
In addition, military personnel of the 6th Army of the Air Force and Air Defense have at their disposal various radar stations and other types of equipment.
Command staff
The command of the 6th Army Air Force and Air Defense was carried out by the following officers with the rank of lieutenant general of aviation:
- From 1998 to 2000 A.I. Basov.
- From 2004 to 2005 G.A. Torbov.
- From 2005 to 2009 V. G. Sviridov.
- Since 2015, Major General Alexander Duplinsky. Prior to being appointed commander of the 6th Air Force and Air Defense Army, the fifty-three-year-old cadre military had the opportunity to lead the 1st Leningrad Red Banner Air Force and Air Defense Command. Previously, his places of service were Belarus, the Far East and the Southern Military District in Russia.
Tasks
The 6th Air Force and Air Defense Army (St. Petersburg) of the Russian Federation has long-range, military transport and army aviation, anti-aircraft, missile and radio-technical troops. With their help, a military formation should perform the following actions:
- Notify the General Staff of the Armed Forces, military district, navy, civil defense in the event of an enemy attack from the air.
- To conquer and maintain dominance in the sky.
- Cover troops and strategically important objects.
- Support by air the Ground Forces and the Navy.
- To hit objects representing the military-economic potential of the enemy.
- Destroy nuclear missile, anti-air and aviation groups and their reserves, as well as enemy air and sea landing.
- Destroy ship groupings at any point in their location: sea, ocean, naval bases, ports, or any other locations.
- To carry out the landing of military equipment and personnel behind enemy lines.
- To transport military equipment and ground forces.
- Conduct strategic, operational and tactical aerial reconnaissance.
- To control airspace in the border zone.
About composition
In the 6th army, the Air Force and Air Defense were equipped with the following military units:
- 105th Guards Mixed Aviation Red Banner Division of the Order of Suvorov. Located in the city of Voronezh.
- 8th Aviation Red Banner Division. This special formation is based in the city of Schelkovo.
- 549th Aviation Red Banner Base. It is deployed in St. Petersburg, at the Pushkin airfield.
- 15th brigade. Army aviation is located in the city of Ostrov at the Veretye airport.
- 33rd separate transport mixed aviation regiment (Levashovo airfield).
- 32nd Air Defense Division in Rzhev.
- 2nd Red Banner Air Defense Division in the village of Khvoiny.
- 565 center responsible for security. It is deployed in the city of Voronezh.
- 378th air base at the airport Dvoevka in the city of Vyazma. The army aviation is located.
Military unit 17646
For reconnaissance radar measures, namely the collection and transmission of information about the enemy for air defense systems and air defense, the personnel of military unit No. 17646 are responsible. The 333rd radio technical regiment today guards the air borders of the state.
It belongs to the 6th Army of the Air Force and Air Defense. The address of the military unit: the village of Khvoiny, Krasnoselsky district in the Leningrad region. 2013 was the year of rearmament of the regiment. Today, soldiers have at their disposal all-altitude detectors and radar stations.