5th Air Army

The 5th Air Army (5 Vozdushnaya Armiya) was the Russian Air Force's smallest Air Army, with the headquarters located in Yekaterinburg, its zone of responsibility being the Volga-Ural Military District, on the border between Europe and Asia. The commanding officer of the 5th Air Army was from May 2006, Lieutenant-General Vadim Volkovitskiy.

The 5th Air Army was first created during World War II, formed from the Air Forces of the North Caucasus Front in June 1942, consisting of three fighter, one ground attack, and one bomber division.^[1] During the Battle of Kursk it fought as part of the Steppe Front, and comprised the 7th Combined Air Corps, 8th Combined Air Corps, 3rd Fighter Corps, and the 7th Fighter Corps. On 10 January 1949 it was redesignated the 48th Air Army.

5th Air Army appears to have been reformed in 1988 from the Air Forces of the Odessa Military District (VVS OdVO).^[2] The 119th 'Nevel' Order of Suvorov Fighter Aviation Division was part of the VVS OdVO, and the 5th Air Army VVS both before the VVS OdVO period and afterwards.^[3] The Army was still serving there when the Soviet Union dissolved, and consisted in 1991-92 of a single MiG-29 fighter regiment and a Su-17 reconnaissance regiment.^[4] Other elements included the 86th Guards Fighter Regiment with MiG-29s at ~Markuleshcht, across the border in Moldova, whose aircraft became part of the fledgling Moldovan Air Force. The formation was later downgraded in status by the Ukrainian Air Force, which took the force over, to an Aviation Corps.

The 5th Army of the VVS and PVO was re-created by Russia in 2001 from the 5th Independent Corps of VVS and PVO. The Air Army had no combat aircraft (except a small number of Su-25 attack aircraft located at Kant, Kyrgyzstan) and only three regiments of surface-to-air missiles (Yekaterinburg, Samara and Engels), but includes two helicopter regiments and some other auxiliary units. The 764th Interceptor Aviation Regiment, operating MiG-31 aircraft, which was stationed Bolshoye Savino Airport 16 km southwest of Perm, within the zone of the 5th Air Army, is subordinated directly to the Air Forces HQ. The Kant Air Base was commissioned in October 2003 and is also subordinated to the 5th Air Army, along with possibly another air base in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. Since July 2007, the commander of the 5th Air Army is General Lieutenant Mikhail Kucheryavy.^[5]

In 2007, 12 Mi-24 and 12 Mi-8 of the Army took part in the joint Russia-Sino exercise Peace Mission 2007. (Warfare.ru)

In 2009 the Army was disbanded and incorporated within the new 4th Command of Air Forces and Air Defence.

2007 Russian Structure

• Headquarters, 5th Air Army - Yekaterinburg
  • 30th Aviation Base - HQ at Koltsovo near Yekaterinburg - An-26 (former 128th Independent Composite Air Squadron);
  • 303rd Independent Helicopter Squadron (Hisor, Tajikistan)^[6]
  • 320th Independent Transport Squadron of Search & Rescue Service - HQ at Uprun (Troitsk), near Chelyabinsk - Mi-8;
  • 999th^[7] Air Base - HQ at Kant, Kyrgyzstan - L-39, Mi-8, Su-25;
• 76th Division of PVO (Samara)
  • 511th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment (Engels, Saratov Oblast)
  • 185th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment (former 57th SAM Brigade) (Beryozovsky/Березовский)
  • 568th(?) Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment (Samara) - До 1993- 134 Красн. зрбр
  • One radiotechnical brigade, one radiotechnical regiment (radar)
• Army Aviation component;
  • • 793rd Independent Helicopter Regiment - HQ at Kinel'-Cherkasy - Mi-8, Mi-26;
    • 237th Independent Helicopter Squadron - HQ at Bobrovka - Mi-8, Mi-24;

1988 Soviet Structure

• Headquarters - Odessa^[8]
• 29th Independent Training Regiment (Berdyansk) (Su-17)^[9]
• 90th Independent Assault Aviation Regiment (Artsyz) (Su-25) (disbanded 1989; directive issued 22.7.89, and all aircraft was transferred to Saki, Krymskaya Oblast.)^[10]
• 190th Independent Fighter-Bomber Regiment (Kanatovo, Kirovograd Oblast)(MiG-27)(former 866 IAP, World War II)
• 290th Independent Assault Aviation Regiment (Saki) (Su-25)
• 642nd Guards Independent Fighter-Bomber Regiment (Voznesensk, Nikolayev Oblast)
• 827th Independent Reconnaissance Regiment (Limanskoye)^[11]
• 119th Fighter Aviation Division (Military Unit No. 06846) (Tiraspol, Moldovian SSR)^[12]
  • 86th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment (Markuleshty, Moldovian SSR) (MiG-29)
  • 161st Fighter Aviation Regiment (Limanskoye, Odessa Oblast) with MiG-29 and MiG-23
  • 684th Guards Orshanskiy Red Banner Fighter Aviation Regiment (Tiraspol) (MiG-23MLD)(disbanded 1989, after a flying accident in 7.88, which killed several civilians in Tiraspol. Former 133 Guards IAP)^[13]

References

1. ^ Bonn/Glantz, Slaughterhouse, 2005, p.336
2. ^ Feskov et al 2004, p.135
3. ^ Michael Holm, [1], accessed August 2011
4. ^ Zaloga, 'Armed Forces in Ukraine,' Jane's Intelligence Review, March 1992, p.135
5. ^ 'Kucheryavy takes up post as Urals Air Force, Air Defense Army commander', AVN Military News Agency, MOSCOW. July 10, 2007 (Interfax-AVN)
6. ^ Source ru-wiki 5 VA page, accessed August 2009
7. ^ Kommersant, http://www.kommersant.ru/doc.aspx?DocsID=766827, May 2007
8. ^ Feskov et al 2004, p.142
9. ^ http://www.ww2.dk/new/air%20force/regiment/bap/29ibap.htm
10. ^ See http://www.ww2.dk/new/air%20force/regiment/shap/90oshap.htm
11. ^ http://www.ww2.dk/new/air%20force/regiment/orap/827orap.htm
12. ^ Michael Holm, ]119th Fighter Aviation Division, accessed September 2011
13. ^ Michael Holm, 684th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, accessed September 2011

• Air Forces Monthly, July & August 2007 issues.
• Order of Battle late 1980s (Russian)

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