Editing Soviet Air Defence Forces (section)

==History==

===Service during Second World War===
Preparations for creation of the air defence forces started in 1932, and by the beginning of [[Operation Barbarossa]], June 1941, there were 13 PVO zones within the [[military district]]s. At the outbreak of war, air defence forces were in the midst of rearmament. Anti-aircraft artillery teams had few of the latest 37&nbsp;mm automatic and 85&nbsp;mm guns. Moreover, the troops were deficient in Yak-1s and MiG-3s; 46 percent of the fleet were obsolete aircraft. Increased rates of production were initiated to provide the troops with new equipment. In July 1941, the National Defence Committee took several measures to strengthen the forces guarding Moscow and Leningrad, Yaroslavl and Gorky industrial areas, and strategic bridges across the Volga. To this end, the formation of parts of the IA, IN, anti-aircraft machine gun and searchlight units were accelerated.

A classic example of a major political organization of defence and industrial center was the defence of Moscow. It was carried out by the [[1st Air Defence Corps]] and the [[6th Fighter Aviation Corps PVO]]. As part of these formations at the beginning of German air raids had more than 600 fighters; more than 1,000 guns of small and medium calibers; 350 machine guns; 124 fixed anti-aircraft barrage balloons; 612 stations and 600 anti-aircraft searchlights.{{citation needed|date=December 2012}} The presence of such large forces and their skilful management foiled enemy attempts to inflict massive air strikes. Only 2.6 percent of the total number of Axis aircraft flew in the outskirts of Moscow as a result of their efforts. Air defence forces defending Moscow destroyed 738 enemy aircraft.{{citation needed|date=December 2012}} Assaults by the 6th Fighter Aviation Corps inflicted heavy blows, destroying 567 enemy aircraft on the ground. The Air Defence Forces destroyed 1,305 aircraft and in combat with the armies of Nazi Germany and its allies, alongside the Air Force, destroyed 450 tanks and 5,000 military vehicles.{{citation needed|date=December 2012}}

On November&nbsp;9, 1941, the post of the Commander of the Air Defence Forces was created and [[Major General]] [[:ru:Громадин, Михаил Степанович|Mikhail Gromadin]] was appointed.<ref>[http://www.onairpower.org/docs/Gromadin%2C_Mikhail_Stepanovich] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130521172537/http://www.onairpower.org/docs/Gromadin%2C_Mikhail_Stepanovich|date=May 21, 2013}}</ref> In January 1942, to improve the interaction of forces and air defence systems, the fighter aircraft and crews manning them were ordered to be subordinated to the Air Defence Command. In April 1942, the [[Moscow Air Defense Front|Moscow Air Defence Front]] was founded, and the [[Leningrad Air Defence Army|Leningrad]] and [[Baku Air Defence Army|Baku Air Defence Armies]] were later raised. These were the first operational formations of the Air Defence Forces.

In June 1943, the Office of the Commander of Air Defence Forces of the country was disbanded. Following the reorganization in April 1944 that created the [[Western Air Defense Front|Western]] and [[Eastern Air Defence Front]]s, and caused the division of the Transcaucasian Air Defence Area, which this year have been reorganized as the North, the South and the Transcaucasian Air Defence Fronts, air defence forces in the vicinity of Moscow were renamed the [[Special Moscow Air Defense Army|Moscow Air Defence Army]]. In the Far East in March 1945, three air defence armies were established: Maritime, Amur and Baikal.

During the Second World War, the Air Defence Forces provided defensive cover to defense industry complexes and vital communication elements, and successfully minimized aerial damage to Soviet industrial and transportation capacity. In the course of the war, the PVO destroyed 7,313 German aircraft, of which 4,168 and 3,145 were targeted by the IA antiaircraft artillery, machine guns and barrage balloons.{{citation needed|date=December 2012}} More than 80,000 soldiers, sergeants, officers and generals of the Country Air Defence Forces were awarded state orders and medals, and 92 soldiers were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union and one was twice awarded the Gold Star Medal in service with the PVO.

===Structure during Second World War===
During the war PVO formations were organised as Air Defence Fronts and Air Defence Armies. PVO Fronts normally covered airspace over several ground [[Front (Soviet Army)|Army Fronts]]; these should not be confused with each other. The Air Defence Fronts ({{langx|ru|Фронты ПВО}}) had the following service history:<ref>[http://velikvoy.narod.ru/voyska/voyskacccp/oper_strateg/front_pvo.htm] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081024220012/http://velikvoy.narod.ru/voyska/voyskacccp/oper_strateg/front_pvo.htm|date=October 24, 2008}}</ref>
* Western Air Defence Front
** 1st formation 29 June 1943 – 20 April 1944 renamed to Headquarters, Northern PVO Front
** Northern Front PVO 21 April 1944 – 23 December 1944 formed from Headquarters, Western PVO Front (1st formation); re-flagged as Headquarters, Western PVO Front (2nd formation)
** 2nd formation 24 December 1944 – 9 May 1945 formed from Headquarters, Northern PVO Front
* Moscow Front PVO 6 April 1942 – 10 July 1943 formed from Headquarters, Moscow PVO Corps Region; re-flagged as Headquarters, Special Moscow PVO Army
* Southern Front PVO 21 April 1944 – 24 December 1944 formed from Headquarters, Eastern PVO Front; re-flagged as Headquarters, Southwestern PVO Front
* Southwestern Front PVO 24 December 1944 – 9 May 1945 formed from Headquarters, Southern PVO Front

===Cold War===
All the possible air components were divided (as of 1945, before the 1949 reforms of the [[Soviet Armed Forces]]) into:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://pvo.guns.ru/people/zarojdenie.htm |title=Вестник ПВО |publisher=Pvo.guns.ru |date=2005-04-27 |access-date=2013-10-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005004816/http://pvo.guns.ru/people/zarojdenie.htm |archive-date=2013-10-05 |url-status=live }}</ref>
* Active army ({{langx|ru|действующая армия}}, ''deystvuyuschaya armiya'') – air forces assigned to fighting fronts, known as [[:ru:Фронтовая авиация (СССР)|frontal aviation]]
* PVO Territorial Defence Forces ({{langx|ru|войска ПВО территории страны}}, ''voiska PVO territorii strany'')
* PVO Territorial Armies ({{langx|ru|армия ПВО территории страны}}, ''armiya PVO territorii strany'')
* Reserve forces of the Stavka High Command ({{langx|ru|резерв Ставки ВГК}}, ''rezerv Stavki VGK'')
* PVO of military districts ({{langx|ru|ПВО военных округов}}, ''PVO voennyh okrugov'')
* PVO of inactive fronts ({{langx|ru|ПВО недействующих фронтов}}, ''PVO nedeystvuyuschih frontov'')

The PVO Strany was separated from the other [[Soviet Armed Forces]] services in 1949. In June 1949, the [[15th Guards Fighter Aviation Division]] and [[180th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment PVO]], among its regiments, were transferred to the PVO Strany, becoming part of the [[20th Fighter Air Defence Army]] at [[Oryol]]. There, the regiment became one of the first equipped with the [[Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-9]], the first of a series of [[Mikoyan-and-Gurevich Design Bureau]] jet fighters. In April 1950, the regiment received its first [[Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15]]s.

In May 1954, the PVO Strany was raised to a status equal to the other service branches of the Soviet Armed Forces, receiving its first commander-in-chief: Marshal of the Soviet Union [[Leonid Govorov]].<ref>{{cite web|title=History Of Strategic Air and Ballistic Missile Defense (Vol. 1, Pt. 2) 1945–1955|url=http://www.whs.mil/library/Dig/History%20Of%20Strategic%20Air%20and%20Ballistic%20Missile%20Defense%20%28Vol.%201,%20Pt.%202%29%201945%20-%201955%29.pdf|access-date=8 March 2011|page=151|quote="the formation of PVO (Strany) as a co-equal with other services of the Soviet armed forces in May of 1954"|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722213931/http://www.whs.mil/library/Dig/History%20Of%20Strategic%20Air%20and%20Ballistic%20Missile%20Defense%20(Vol.%201,%20Pt.%202)%201945%20-%201955).pdf|archive-date=22 July 2011|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

The PVO's principal role was to shoot down [[United States]] [[Strategic Air Command]] [[bomber]]s if they penetrated Soviet airspace. Secondary target were U.S. [[air reconnaissance]] aircraft. There were a number of such aircraft shot down while operating around the Soviet borders,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://myplace.frontier.com/~anneled/ColdWar.html |title=Intrusions, Overflights, Shootdowns and Defections During the Cold War and Thereafter |publisher=Myplace.frontier.com |access-date=2013-10-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514025909/http://myplace.frontier.com/~anneled/ColdWar.html |archive-date=2013-05-14 |url-status=live }}</ref> including MiG-17s downing a US reconnaissance [[Lockheed C-130 Hercules]] over Armenia, with 17 casualties in 1958.<ref name="nsagov2009">[http://www.nsa.gov/about/cryptologic_heritage/vigilance_park/shootdown_flight60528.shtml "The Shootdown of Flight 60528."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140601044753/http://www.nsa.gov/about/cryptologic_heritage/vigilance_park/shootdown_flight60528.shtml |date=2014-06-01 }} ''National Vigilance Park- NSA/CSS'' via ''nsa.gov,'' 15 January 2009. Retrieved: 15 September 2012.</ref> The PVO gained an important victory on May 1, 1960, when a [[S-75 Dvina]] missile downed [[Gary Powers]]'s [[Lockheed U-2|U-2]], causing the short [[U-2 crisis of 1960]]. (See [[Strategic Air Command#Strategic Reconnaissance]])

[[File:Soviet surface-to-air missiles.JPEG|thumb|Soviet Air Defence Forces surface-to-air missiles]]

The PVO had its own chain of command, schools, radar and sound director sites. 

On March 30, 1967, a Directorate of the Chief of Anti-Missile and Anti-Space Defence (''Управление командующего войсками противоракетной и противокосмической'' (''УКВ ПРО и ПКО'')), under Lieutenant-General of Artillery Yuri Votintsev, was formed within the Air Defence Forces.<ref name="praz">{{cite web|url=http://www.prazdnuem.ru/calendar/cosmos/|title=4 октября – День военно-космических сил России|language=ru|trans-title=October 4 – Day of Military Space Forces in Russia|publisher=Prazdnuem|date=n.d.|access-date=October 5, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426001220/http://www.prazdnuem.ru/calendar/cosmos/|archive-date=April 26, 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> In February 1971 the 1st Division for Warning Against Missile Attack (1st Division WAMA, ''1-я Дивизия предупреждения о ракетном нападении'' (''1-я дПРН'')) was formed with HQ in Solnechnegorsk, the 57th Separate Radiotechnical Nod in Olenegorsk, Murmansk Oblast and the 129th Separate Radiotechnical Nod in Skrunda, Latvian SSR.

Organisationally, there were two main PVO districts for most of the USSR's postwar history, the [[Moscow Air Defence District]] (formed 1950) and [[Baku Air Defence District|Baku]] (formed 1954).<ref name="Suvorov"/> The rest of the country was initially divided into PVO regions covering Belarus, Ukraine, the Baltics and Central Asia. However, in 1960 it appears that most of the PVO regions/areas were reorganised into seven separate armies of the Air Defence Forces – the [[2nd Air Defence Army|2nd]], [[4th Independent Air Defence Army|4th]], [[6th Independent Air Defence Army|6th]], [[8th Air Defence Army|8th]], [[10th Independent Air Defence Army|10th]], [[11th Independent Air Defence Army|11th]], [[14th Independent Air Defence Army|14th]], and [[19th Air Defence Army]].<ref>See Vad777 and Michael Holm</ref> In 1963 the 30th independent Air Defence Corps in Tashkent became the [[12th Independent Air Defense Army|12th Independent Air Defence Army]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www8.brinkster.com/vad777/sssr-89-91/pvo/12-tyrk.htm |title=PVO |publisher=Brinkster.com |access-date=2013-10-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131004230824/http://www8.brinkster.com/vad777/sssr-89-91/pvo/12-tyrk.htm |archive-date=2013-10-04 }} and http://www.ww2.dk/new/pvo/pvo.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170604220540/http://www.ww2.dk/new/pvo/pvo.htm |date=2017-06-04 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ww2.dk/new/pvo/12oapvo.htm|title=12th independent Air Defence Army|website=ww2.dk|access-date=2017-05-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170726010307/http://www.ww2.dk/new/pvo/12oapvo.htm|archive-date=2017-07-26|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1977, the Air Forces and Air Defence Forces were re-organised in the Baltic states and the Leningrad Oblast (a trial run for the larger re-organisation in 1980 covering the whole country).<ref>{{cite web|author=Michael Holm|title=1st Guards Fighter Aviation Division|url=https://www.ww2.dk/new/air%20force/division/iad/1gviad.htm|date=2015-01-01}}.</ref> All fighter units in the PVO were transferred to the VVS, the PVO only retaining the anti-aircraft missile units and radar units – the 6th Independent Air Defence Army was disbanded, and the [[15th Air Army]] became the [[Air Forces of the Baltic Military District]]. By 1981, the now Voyska PVO had been stripped of many [[Command and Control (Military)|command and control]] and training assets, which were moved to the Air Force.

During the 1980s, the PVO interceptor units were re-equipped with the [[Mikoyan MiG-31]] and [[Sukhoi Su-27|Sukhoi Su-27P]], while missile units received new [[electronic countermeasure]]s systems and the [[S-300 missile system|S-300 surface-to-air missile system]]. The modernization of the PVO prioritized units in the [[High North]] and the [[Soviet Far East|Far East]] due to the threat from American [[spyplane]] missions and [[United States Pacific Fleet]] carrier aircraft.{{Sfn|Gordon|Komissarov|2012|p=178}}

Shelton lists a total of 140 officer commissioning schools, drawn from a ''[[Krasnaya Zvezda]]'' list of 17 January 1980.<ref>Christina F. Shelton, [http://stinet.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA181964 "The Soviet Military Education System for Commissioning and Training Officers"]{{dead link|date=June 2022|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, a bibliographical description and a [https://web.archive.org/web/20110522022628/http://handle.dtic.mil/100.2/ADA181964 link to the document] in [[PDF]] format, Appendix.</ref> That total included 15 Air Defence Forces schools (four Fighter Aviation, five radio-electronics, and six Anti-Aircraft Rocket).

On 1 September 1983 the PVO shot down [[Korean Air Flight 007]] after the civilian airliner had crossed into restricted Soviet airspace and was mistaken for a spy plane. Previously [[Korean Air Flight 902]] had once crossed into [[Murmansk]] airspace,<ref name="ASN">{{cite web |url=http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19780420-1 |title=ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 707-321B HL7429 Korpijärvi Lake |publisher=Aviation-safety.net |date=1978-04-20 |access-date=2013-10-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110427091450/http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19780420-1 |archive-date=2011-04-27 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://nvo.ng.ru/history/2004-06-11/5_karelia.html |title=Рейс "KAL" # 902 по расписанию не прибыл / История / Независимая газета |publisher=Nvo.ng.ru |date=2004-06-11 |access-date=2013-10-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130904053741/http://nvo.ng.ru/history/2004-06-11/5_karelia.html |archive-date=2013-09-04 |url-status=live }}</ref> and had to make an emergency landing when a Soviet Air Force Su-15 fired on it. Soviet government officials finally admitted their mistake much to the anger of the [[South Korea]]n and the United States governments. It even resulted in the forced and sudden resignation of the then Armed Forces Chief of the General Staff, Marshal [[Nikolai Ogarkov]], in the following year by the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union (leader of the Soviet Union) [[Konstantin Chernenko]].

[[Mathias Rust]]'s flight to Moscow in May 1987 caused a massive shakeup within the PVO.<ref>[[William Eldridge Odom|William E Odom]], The Collapse of the Soviet Military, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1998, pp. 107–111</ref> It seems that after the KAL 007 shootdown of 1983, no one was willing to give an order to bring Rust's tiny [[Cessna 172]] down, and modernization programmes within the PVO had led to the installation of radar and communications systems at the state border that could not effectively pass tracking data to systems closer to Moscow. PVO Commander-in-Chief Marshal [[Alexander Ivanovich Koldunov|A. I. Koldunov]] was only among the first to be removed from his position. Over 150 officers, mostly from the PVO, were tried in court and removed from their posts. A large-scale changeover of senior officers of the force more generally followed as well.

===Under the Russian flag===
{{Air Forces of Russia and the Soviet Union}}
When the [[Dissolution of the Soviet Union|Soviet Union dissolved]], the air fleet of the PVO included roughly 2,200 fighters and interceptors. The personnel and equipment of many units were left in newly independent republics, although the impact of the loss was reduced by the relocation of some units back to Russia. The Russian Air Defence Forces ultimately inherited about 65% of final Soviet PVO assets.{{Sfn|Gordon|Komissarov|2012|p=185}} 

In December 1994, the [[4th Independent Air Defence Army]] at [[Ekaterinberg]] in the Urals was transformed into the 5th Independent Air Defence Corps, which in 1998 became the [[5th Air and Air Defence Forces Army]]. In accordance with a December 1994 directive, the 14th Independent Air Defence Army was reorganized as the  [[:ru:6-й_отдельный_корпус_ПВО|6th Independent Air Defence Corps]]{{Sfn|Lenskii|Tsybin|2014|pp=55–56}} with the 16th Guards, 20th, and 94th Mukden Air Defence Divisions). In 1998, the force groupings and headquarters of the PVO that had remained within [[Russia]] were merged with the [[Russian Air Force]] becoming part of the [[Moscow Air Defence District|Moscow District of Air and Air Defence Forces]], and the 4th, 5th, 6th, 11th, and 14th Armies of VVS and PVO.

The '''Day of Air Defence Forces''' (''Den' Voysk PVO'') was initially established in 1975, to be celebrated on April 11. In 1980 this was changed to the second Sunday of April.{{citation needed|date=December 2012}} It is still celebrated in the Russian Federation even after the 1998 merger of the Air Defence Forces with the Air Force. {{Langx|ru|Сами не летаем – другим не дадим|Sami ne letaem – drugim ne dadim|Don't fly, don't let others / If we can't fly, we won't let anyone else either|links=no|label=The unofficial motto of the PVO is}}.