Soviet Air Force
The
Soviet Air Force, also known under the abbreviation
VVS, transliterated from
Russian:
''С, 'оенно-воздушные силы (
Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily), formed the official designation of the
airforce of the
Soviet Union.
The VVS was founded as the "Workers' and Peasants' Air Fleet" in
1918. After being placed under control of the
Red Army, with the official denomination VVS in
1930, its influence on aircraft design became greater.
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.
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.
As with many allied countries in the
Second World War the
Soviet Union received western aircraft by
lend-lease.
During the
Cold War the VVS was divided into three segments:
Dal'naya Aviatsiya (Strategic Aviation), or DA, focused on long-range
bombers;
Frontovaya Aviatsiya (Frontal Aviation), or FA, focused on
battlefield air defense,
close air support, and interdiction; and the
Voenno-Transportnaya Aviatsiya (Military Transport Aviation), which controlled all transport aircraft. The
Voyska protivovozdushnoy oborony (Air Defense Forces), or
Voyska PVO, which focused on air defense and
interceptor aircraft, was then a separate and distinct service within the Soviet military organization.
:On
September 1,
1983 the Soviet Air Force shot down
Korean Air Flight 007 after they mistakenly believed that the civilian airliner had illegally crossed into restricted Soviet airspace and was a spy plane. 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, the
Aviatsiya Voenno Morskogo Flota (Naval Aviation), or AV-MF.
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 Federation Air Force.
Soviet Air Force
;165 strategic bombers, : 150
Tu-95 Bear :15
M-4 Bison
;550 medium
bombers : 155
Tu-22M Backfire:260
Tu-16 Badger :135
Tu-22 Blinder
;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
;50 tankers : 30
M-4 Bison:20
Tu-16 Badger
;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
