Soviet Air Force
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
|
|||||||||||||
| Air Forces of Russia |
|---|
|
Air Force (1909 to 1917)
Red Air Force (1918 to 1991) Naval Aviation (1918 to 1991) Air Defense (1948 to 1991) Strategic Rocket Forces (1959 to 1991)
Naval Aviation (1991 to present) Strategic Rocket Forces (1991 to present) |
The Soviet Air Force, also known under the abbreviation VVS, transliterated from Russian: ВВС, Военно-воздушные силы (Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily), formed the official designation of the air force of the Soviet Union.
[edit] History
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 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.
[edit] World War Two
At the outbreak of World War II, the Russian military was not yet at a level of readiness suitable for winning a war: Stalin had said in 1931 that Russian industry was "50 to 100 years behind" [citation needed] the Western powers. By the end of the war, Russian aircraft production outstripped that of Germany- Russian aircraft production is estimated to have risen to an impressive 4,700 aircraft at this time.
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 main reason of the great number of aircraft lost was the lack of modern tactics, but time to improve them was short, because the German offensive of 1941 (Operation Barbarossa) pushed the air force into a defensive position, while being confronted with more modern German aircraft.[citation needed] In the early days of Operation Barbarossa the Luftwaffe destroyed some 2000 Soviet aircraft against a German loss of only 35 planes (of which 15 were non-combat-related).[1]
As with many allied countries in the Second World War the Soviet Union received western aircraft by lend-lease.
[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: Strategic 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. A list of units and bases can be found here.
- On September 1, 1983 the Soviet Air Force 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 Airlines had once crossed into Kamchatka airspace, and had to make a emergency landing when a Air Force MiG fired on it.
Soviet government officials finally admitted their mistake much to the anger of the South Korean and the United States governments.
The Russian Navy has its own independent air arm as well, Naval Aviation (Aviatsiya Voenno Morskogo Flota or 'AV-MF').
[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 majority 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] Inventory 1987
[edit] Soviet Air Force
- 2780 fighters
- 490 MiG-21 Fishbed
- 1570 MiG-23 Flogger
- 105 MiG-25 Foxbat
- 260 Su-15 Flagon
- 20 Tu-128 Fiddler
- 20 Yak-28 (Yak-28) Firebar
- 275 MiG-29 Fulcrum
- 30 MiG-31 Foxhound
- 10 Su-27 Flanker
- 2835 attack aircraft
- 130 MiG-21 Fishbed
- 830 MiG-27 Flogger
- 895 Su-7/Su-17 Fitter
- 770 Su-24 Fencer
- 210 Su-25 Frogfoot
- 658 tactical reconnaissance and ECM aircraft
- 65 MiG-21 Fishbed
- 195 MiG-25 Foxbat
- 165 Su-17 Fitter
- 65 Su-24 Fencer
- 195 Yak-28 Brewer
- 260 strategic reconnaissance and ECM aircraft
- 115 Tu-16 Badger
- 15 Tu-22 Blinder
- 4 Tu-95 Bear
- 102 Yak-28 Brewer
- 24 MiG-25 Foxbat
3050 helicopters
1500 trainers and training helicopters
- 576 transport aircraft
- 55 An-22 Cock
- 210 An-12 Cub
- 310 Il-76 Candid
- 2935 civilian and other transport aircraft, usually Aeroflot aircraft which were easily converted
[edit] See Also
[edit] References and notes
- ^ Ratley, III, Maj. Lonnie O. (March-April 1983). A Lesson of History: The Luftwaffe and Barbarossa. Air University Review.
