Everything about 6th Air Army totally explained
The
6th Red Banner Leningrad Army of Military-Air Forces and Air Defence is an Air Army of the
Russian Air Force, which traces its history to the prewar PVO command in the Leningrad area, which later became
13th Air Army of the
Leningrad Front.
The 6th Air Army was first formed in 1942 from the Air Forces of the
North-Western Front, and its first commander was General Major of Aviation D.F. Kondratyk, who held command to August 1943. Initially the Army included the 2nd Corps of Air Defence and the 7th Fighter Aviation Corps, serving over Leningrad during the
Siege of Leningrad. During its World War II service, the 6th Air Army included for a time the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, the all-female '
Night Witches'.
It was assigned initially to the
North-Western Front until February 1944, and after that to the
1st and
2nd Belorussian Fronts.
During the
Cold War period, the 6th Army of the PVO was an extremely strong and important one, as regards its air defence component, regiments of
interceptors and anti-aircraft missiles. It had two major tasks: to protect the most industrialized European part of the
Soviet Union against possible
U.S. cruise missile attack from the north via the
North Pole (using
MiG-31 interceptors), and to protect the deployment of
nuclear submarines stationed in the
Kola Peninsula (using
Su-27 fighters).
The Army was reformed within the
Russian Air Force on June 1, 1998, from the 76th Air Army of the VVS and the 6th Independent Army of the
Voyska PVO, both headquartered in
Sankt Petersburg. The 6th Army has responsibility for the
Leningrad Military District and its commanding officer is, since June 2005,
Major-General Vladimir Sviridov.
The previous tasks of cruise missile defence and protection of submarines have now lost their importance, which has led to drastic cuts in the army. However, it still has three regiments of Su-27 fighters and a regiment of MiG-31 interceptors in service (note the absence of
MiG-29 fighters and
Su-25 attack aircraft).
Structure
- Headquarters, 6th Air Army - Sankt Petersburg
- 21st Air Defence Corps - Severomorsk
- 9th Fighter Aviation Regiment - HQ at Kilp-Yavr (Poliarnyi) - Su-27;
- 458th Interceptor Aviation Regiment - HQ at Savatiya (Kotlas) - MiG-25U, MiG-31;
- 54th Air Defence Corps - HQ at Taytsy
- 149th Composite Aviation Division
- 67th Bomber Aviation Regiment - HQ at Siverskiy-2 - Su-24;
- 722nd Bomber Aviation Regiment - HQ at Smuravyevo (Gdov) - Su-24;
- 98th Guards Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment - HQ at Monchegorsk (air base) - MiG-25RB/U, Su-24MR;
- 138th Independent Composite Air Regiment - HQ at Levashevo - An-12, An-26, Mi-8, Tu-134;
- Army Aviation Component
- 147th Independent Helicopter Squadron of Electronic Warfare - HQ at Pushkin - Mi-8PPA;
- 332nd Independent Helicopter Regiment for Battle Control - HQ at Pribylovo - Mi-8, Mi-24;
- 85th Independent Helicopter Squadron - HQ at Alakurtti - Mi-8, Mi-24.
References and further reading
Air Forces Monthly, July & August 2007 issues.
http://samsv.narod.ru/Arm/av06/arm.html - Russian language source on WW 2 history
Historical detail (External Link
) from Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation.
Further Information
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