List of regiments of the Russian Air Force

The Russian Air Force, like the Soviet Air Forces before them, has the aviation regiment as its basic organisational unit. This page will slowly attempt to list all the regiments in Russian Air Force service since May 7, 1992, the date on which Boris Yeltsin decreed the establishment of the Russian Ministry of Defence.

Primary initial source for this listing is Piotr Butowski, 'Force Report: Russian Air Force,' Air Forces Monthly, July and August 2007. Other sources included Jane's World Air Forces, Issue 0, March 1996.

Air Force
Listings of Guards titles cannot yet be considered definitive; there are no doubt errors and omissions in the table. A significant number of omitted regiments can be seen at http://www.ww2.dk/new/air%20force/regiment/regiments.htm.

Army aviation component
In December 2003 all aviation assets of the Russian Ground Forces were transferred to the Air Force.

Index of abbrevations
It should be noted that while the titles of the regiments are translated, the regiment type sort uses the transliterated Russian abbreviation:


 * IAP - Fighter Aviation Regiment
 * BAP - Bomber Aviation Regiment
 * RAP - Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment
 * (O)SAP - (Independent) Mixed Aviation Regiment (also sometimes translated as Composite Aviation Regiment)
 * UAP - Training Aviation Regiment
 * UVP - Training Helicopter Regiment
 * 'IAP-PVO' indicates the regiment was part of the Air Defence Forces before 1998, and is air defence dedicated. 'IAP-VVS' indicates that a regiment was part of the Air Force before 1998, and, in most cases, they are regiments tasked with attaining tactical air supremacy. Only a few regiments have a type suffix added yet.
 * TsBPiPLS - Centre for Combat Training and Flight Personnel Training
 * APIB - Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment
 * APON - Aviation Regiment for Special Purposes
 * IBAP - Instructor Bomber Aviation Regiment
 * IISAP - Research Instructor Composite Aviation Regiment
 * IVTAP - Instructor Military Transport Aviation Regiment
 * OAPSZ - Independent Air Regiment of Tanker Aircraft
 * OIAP - Independent Fighter Regiment
 * OTBVP - Independent Transport-Combat Helicopter Regiment
 * OSAP - Independent Composite Air Regiment
 * OTBVP - Independent Transport-Combat Helicopter Regiment
 * OVP - Independent Helicopter Regiment
 * OVP BU - Independent Helicopter Regiment for Battle Control
 * OVTAP - Independent Military Transport Air Regiment
 * TBAP - Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment
 * VTAP - Military Transport Aviation Regiment

Other acronyms include:
 * AB - Air base
 * ABON - Air base for Special purposes
 * ABSDRLO - Air Base of Long-range Radiolocation Detection Aircraft (Airborne early warning and control)
 * AG - Air group
 * BRS - Aircraft Reserve Base
 * BRV - Helicopter Reserve Base
 * CBPiBP - Centre for Combat Training and Combat Application
 * CBPiPLS - Centre for Combat Training and Flight Personnel Training
 * DPVO - Division of the PVO
 * HQ - Headquarters
 * KPVO - Corps of PVO (Air Defence Forces)
 * SAD - Composite Aviation Division
 * VVS - literally 'Military Air Forces,' the Russian term for the Russian Air Force
 * VTAD - Military Transport Aviation Division
 * UCBP - Training Center for Combat Application
 * VA - Air Army

The Russian word отдельный can be translated as either 'Independent,' 'Separate' or (rarely) 'Detached'; it designates a unit which is directly subordinate to a formation commander without an intermediate echelon, such as an Aviation Division.