Soviet military academies

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There were a number of military academies in the Soviet Union of different specialties.

Unlike Western military academies such as West Point), Soviet, now Russian, military and police institutions referred to as "academy" (Russian: академия, akademiya) are post-graduate professional schools for experienced commissioned officers who already have a Bachelor's degree. Upon graduation, these officers receive an equivalent of Master's degree and, if trained in military leadership, get appointed as battalion commanders or higher (from Lt. Colonel and up). Graduates having non-commanding profile are appointed to various staff positions that are normally equivalent in rank to Major or Lt. Colonel.

Also, military academies prepare commissioned officers on the Kandidat Nauk (Russian: кандидат наук) level, which is an equivalent of Ph.D. degree. This advanced research-oriented degree is required for filling faculty positions in military schools and defense research institutes. Carefully selected experienced researchers in military academies hold limited-term positions as senior scholars leading to the prestigious post-doctoral Doktor Nauk (Russian: доктор наук) degree which has no direct equivalent in the Western countries. This degree is normally a prerequisite for filling full professor positions in the institutions of higher learning.

Contents

[edit] Voroshilov Military Academy of the USSR Army General Staff

Main article: General Staff Academy (Soviet)

The General Staff Academy was founded 1936 in Moscow by Leonid Govorov. It has been the senior Soviet and now Russian professional school for officers. The "best and the brightest" senior commissioned officers of all the Soviet Armed Forces were selected to attend this top-standing and most prestigious of all the Soviet military academies. Students were, and probably still are, admitted to the Academy in the ranks of lieutenant colonel, colonel, and Major General (one star). Most were colonels or newly promoted generals. Normally officers are admitted in their late 30s.

[edit] Frunze Military Academy

Frunze Military Academy (Russian: Военная академия им. М. В. Фрунзе) was founded in 1918 as the academy of the General Staff. In 1921, it was transformed into the RKKA Military Academy. It is named after Mikhail Frunze who was the USSR Minister of Defence in mid-1920s and is located in Moscow. It is roughly the equivalent of the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, KS or the British Army's Staff College, Camberley. Officers usually enter when they are between late twenties and thirty-two years old with the rank of Captain or Major, depending on whether they pass the competitive entry examinations.

In the 1930s, Higher Academic Courses were added to the Frunze curriculum, as an advanced training program for earlier graduates. Later on, this program became the basis for the Voroshilov Academy. Following the creation of the Voroshilov General Staff Academy, the Frunze Academy refocused upon combined arms ground warfare training at the tactical level.

Scott and Scott (1979) noted that ..within the Academy are 'chairs of operational-tactical disciplines, Marxism-Leninism, history of the CPSU and Party-political work, history of war and military art, foreign languages, and other subjects and scientific research sections'[1] In the late 1970s the Scotts noted the Frunze library had about two million volumes.

The Frunze Academy and the Malinovsky Academy were amalgamated in September 1998 into the Combined Arms Academy of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (Russian: Общевойсковая академия Вооруженных сил Российской Федерации ), on the site of the former Frunze Academy.[2]

Since the turn of the century the Combined Arms Academy has been the site of a number of Russian-Western joint military activities, including an IISS conference in February 2001, and U.S./Russian exercises.

After graduation from this academy, every graduate officer used to receive a diploma and a silver romb-shaped badge on his uniform or civil suit which had to be worn on the right side of the chest above all other military or civil decorations or ribbon bars.

The Commandant, as of 2004, was Colonel General Vladimir I. Popov.[3]

[edit] Malinovsky Military Academy of Armored Forces

Malinovsky Military Academy of Armored Forces (Военная академия бронетанковых войск им. Р. Я. Малиновского) was established in 1932 in Moscow as the Stalin Academy of Mechanization and Motorization of the Red Army. It was named after Rodion Malinovsky in 1967.

This military academy had the mission of training Soviet and Warsaw Pact commanders, staff officers, and engineers for armored and mechanized units. The best-qualified graduates were also selected for the centralized operations division of the General Staff. Students entered as captains and majors (with some lieutenant colonels), indicating it was about on an intermediate level with the Army's Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and the Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell AFB, Alabama. The program of instruction was three years for commanding and staff officers and four years for engineers.

As noted above, it was merged with the Frunze Academy in 1998 as the Combined Arms Academy.

[edit] Dzerzhinsky Military Academy of Rocket Force

Dzerzhinsky Military Academy (Russian: Военная академия им. Ф. Э. Дзержинского) was created in 1932 in Leningrad as F.E. Dzershinsky Artillery Academy (Артиллерийская академия имени Ф. Э. Дзержинского) of the Red Army from the Artillery Department and the Powder and Explosives section of the Chemistry Department of the Military Technical Academy that was disbanded at the time. The Military Technical Academy itself was a descendant of Mikhaylovskaya Artillery Academy (Михайловская артиллерийская академия) of Imperial Russia created in 1820 in St. Petersburg.

Dzerzhinsky Academy was moved from Leningrad to Moscow in 1958, the year before the Strategic Rocket Force (a counterpart of the USAF Strategic Air Commamnd ballistic missile branch) was formed. Now named Dzerzhinsky Rocket Force Academy, its main facility was located next to the Rossiya Hotel on the embankment near the Kremlin, in the historical building of the Moscow Orphanage. Officers in command positions in the Strategic Rocket Force would seek admission to this academy. All information about this academy was highly classified. Its two major faculties were "command" and "engineering."

The Academy was renamed after Peter the Great in 1997 (Военная Академия Ракетных Войск Стратегического Назначения имени Петра Великого), and its Commandant is now Colonel General (three star) Yuriy F. Kirillov.[4]

See also:

[edit] Budyonny Military Academy of Communications

Budyonny Military Academy of Communications (Военная академия связи им. С. М. Буденного) was created in 1932 in Leningrad. It is named after Semyon Budyonny.

[edit] Gagarin Military Air Academy

The Gagarin Military Air Academy is located at Monino, northeast of Moscow, in an area closed to foreigners. Almost all the senior officers in the Soviet Air Force will have attended this academy. It is charged with the preparation of "command cadres of various aviation specialties and is a research center for working out problems of operational art of the Air Force and tactics of branches and types of aviation." Part of the mandate involves developing new techniques in the operational use of the military aircraft.

[edit] Govorov Air Defense Radio Engineering Academy

The Marshal of the Soviet Union L.A. Govorov Air Defense Radio Engineering Academy (Russian: Военная инженерная радиотехническая академия им. Маршала Советского Союза Говорова Л.А.) was first established in Moscow in 1941 as a subsidiary of the Frunze Military Academy and then moved in Kharkov in 1946. As any tourist to the Soviet Union could note, the nation appeared blanketed with radars, aerospace defense and surface-to-air missile sites, and command and control and communications facilities. This graduate school was training commissioned officers of the Air Defense Force in these areas. Its gradutaes were granted an equivalent of the Master of Electrical or Systems Engineering degree. Also about 50 officers were annually graduating with a Kandidat Nauk degree (an equivalent of a Ph.D.). Of the total of some 300 faculty members, more than 10 per cent held the prestigious post-doctoral Doktor Nauk degree. Faculty members were highly engaged in applied research; their textbooks and research publications were known throughout the Soviet Union. This school was re-organized into the Kharkiv Military University of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in 1992, soon after the collapse of the USSR.

[edit] Grechko Naval Academy

The Grechko Naval Academy is the Soviet Navy's only senior service school. Its faculty included many more admirals than did the Frunze. The students are lieutenant commanders, commanders, and some captains, with ages 30–35 years. All naval officers (including naval aviation) holding commanding positions above the regiment (wing) level are graduates of this school. Some Soviet air force officers are appointed as faculty members, but no air force officers are permitted in the student body.

[edit] Kalinin Artillery Military Academy

Mikhailovskaya Artillery Military Academy (Russian: Михайловская военная артиллерийская академия) in Saint Petersburg dates back to 1698. It was given the name Mikhailovskaya in 1849 after Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich of Russia. Merged into the Red Army Military Technical Academy in 1925, it was restored in 1953 as Kalinin Artillery Military Academy (Военная артиллерийская академия им. М. И. Калинина) as a spin-off of the Dzerzhinsky Academy.

The Grand Duke's name for this academy was restored in 1995.

[edit] Kirov Military Medical Academy

The Kirov Military Medical Academy (Russian: Военно-медицинская академия им. С. М. Кирова) was established in 1798. Located in Leningrad, it trains senior medical staff for the Armed Forces and conducts research in the medical services area for the military. By contemporary standards, it is a full-scale medical school complete with a network of teaching and research clinics and hospitals affiliated to it. Upon graduation, its students are commissioned as officers with medical doctor credentials. The institution also provides advanced training for mid-career military medical doctors and trains graduate students on the Ph.D. level.

[edit] Kuybyshev Military Medical Academy

A Military medical academy in Kuybyshev was established in 1939.

[edit] Kuybyshev Military Academy of Engineer Troops

Located in Moscow, this military academy trained medium-rank commissioned officers for the Engineering Troops, a counterpart of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

[edit] Lenin Political-Military Academy

Russian: Военно-политическая академия имени В. И. Ленина.

Specialized in training political officers for the entire Soviet Armed Forces.

After a number of reorganization, it was in 1994 merged with the Military Institute of Foreign Languages into the Military University of the Ministry of Defense of Russian Federation (Военный университет Министерства обороны Российской Федерации).[5]

[edit] Makarov Military Academy of Rear Services and Transportation

Military Academy of Rear Services and Transportation (Военная академия тыла и транспорта) was created in 1918 in Leningrad.

[edit] Timoshenko Military Academy of Chemical Defense

Timoshenko Military Academy of Chemical Defense (Военная академия химической защиты им. С. К. Тимошенко) was established in 1932 in Moscow. It is named after Semyon Timoshenko.

[edit] Vasilevsky Military Academy of the Army Air Defense

The Vasilevsky Military Academy of the Army Air Defense (Военная академия войсковой противовоздушной обороны им. А. М. Василевского) was created in 1977 in Kiev as a spin-off of the Kalinin Artillery Military Academy.[6] It was named after Aleksandr Vasilevsky. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, this institution evolved into the General Staff Academy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

[edit] Zhukov Command Academy of Air Defense

The Zhukov Military Command Academy of Air Defense is located on the banks of the Volga River in Kalinin (now Tver), a city between Moscow and St. Petersburg. In addition to its educational and training mandate, this academy is a research center for studying problems of operational art and tactics, as well as command, communications, and control (C3) on air defense matters.

[edit] Zhukovsky Air Force Engineering Academy

The Zhukovskyi Air Force Engineering Academy (Военно-воздушная инженерная академия имени профессора Н. Е. Жуковского) named after Nikolai Yegorovich Zhukovsky was founded in Moscow in 1920 to train engineers for the Soviet Air Force as well as lecturers and scientists for military colleges and research intitutions. The main facility of this academy is located on the Leningrad Prospekt immediately across from the Moscow Central Airfield. Course of instruction length is five years. In addition to being an institution of higher learning, it also is a scientific center for working out problems in the areas of aviation technology, its maintenance, and combat utilization.

[edit] Military Aviation Combat Training Centers

Russian: ЦБПиПЛС - Центры боевого применения и переучивания личного состава // Tsentry boyevogo primenyeniya i pereuchivaniya lichnogo sostava

These centers do a big scientific and technical work in mastering of the new aircraft, equipment, and air combat tactics.

[edit] Military research institutes

Each branch of the USSR Armed Forces had its own research intitutions. Listed below are some institutions that existed in the Soviet Air Force; they specialized in applied research, aircraft and weapons systems testing, and training.

[edit] GLITs/NII VVS

The NII VVS (R&D Institute of the Air Force, Russian: ГЛИЦ, НИИ ВВС), Akhtubinsk.

[edit] The history

  • 21 September 1920: Scientific-experimental airfield at the Main Agency of Workers' and Peasants' Red Air Fleet (Научно-опытный аэродром (НОА) при ГУ РККВФ)
  • 6 October 1922 (24 October 1924): Scientific-experimental airfield of the Air Force of the USSR (Научно-опытный аэродром ВВС СССР)
  • 12 (26) October 1926: R&D Institute of the Air Force of Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (НИИ ВВС РККА)
  • 1 June 1944 (1 May 1944): The State Red-Banner R&D Institute of the Air Force (Государственный Краснознаменный (ГК) НИИ ВВС)
  • 1965: The State R&D Institute, Red-Banner awarded, of the Air Force (ГНИКИ ВВС)
  • 1967: The 8th State R&D Institute of the Air Force named after V.P.Chkalov (8 ГНИИ ВВС им.Чкалова)
  • 1990: The State Flight and Test Center of the Ministry of Defsnse of Russian Federation named after V.P.Chkalov (Государственный летно-испытательный центр (ГЛИЦ) МО РФ им. В.П.Чкалова)

[edit] Test ranges

  • 929 GLITs VVS, Akhtubinsk
  • Flight Test Center "Chkalovski"
  • Flight Test Center "Volsk"
  • Flight Test Center "Nalchik"
  • Naval Test Center "Gelendzhik" (under construction?)

[edit] NII BT

The NII BT (R&D Institute of the Armoured Forces, Russian: НИИ БТ), Kubinka.

[edit] References

  1. ^ A.I. Radziyevskiy, 'The Military Academy named after M.V. Frunze', Soviet Military Encyclopaedia, Vol. 2, p.175, Moscow, Voyenizdat, 1976, cited in Scott and Scott, Armed Forces of the USSR, ibid.
  2. ^ Scott and Scott, Russian Military Directory 2002, p.205
  3. ^ Scott and Scott, Russian Military Directory 2004, p.195
  4. ^ Scott and Scott, Russian Military Directory 2004, p.195
  5. ^ Military University - unofficial site
  6. ^ Scott and Scott, The Armed Forces of the USSR, Westview Press, Boulder, CO, 1979, p.367