5th Air and Air Defence Forces Army

The 5th Army of VVS and PVO (5-я Краснознамённая армия военно-воздушных сил и противовоздушной обороны) was the Russian Air Force's smallest Air Army, with the headquarters located in Yekaterinburg. Its zone of responsibility was 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.

History
After the fall of the Soviet Union, the 4th Independent Air Defence Army of the former Soviet Air Defence Forces remained operating with its headquarters at Yekaterinburg. In December 1994 the army became the 5th Independent Air Defence Corps. In 1998 this brought in air forces formations and became the 5th Independent Corps of VVS and PVO. On 1 January 2001 the formation became the 5th Army of the 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 included two helicopter regiments and some other auxiliary units. The 764th Fighter 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, was subordinated directly to the Air Forces HQ. The Kant Air Base was established in October 2003 and was also subordinated to the 5th Air Army, along with possibly another air base in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. From July 2007 to its disbandment, the commander of the 5th Army was Lieutenant General Mikhail Kucheryavy.

In 2007, 12 Mi-24 and 12 Mi-8 of the Army took part in the joint Sino-Russian exercise Peace Mission 2007.

On 7 May 2009 the Army was disbanded and incorporated within the new 4th Air and Air Defence Forces Command, along with the 4th Air and Air Defence Forces Army.

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)
 * 320th Independent Transport Squadron of Search & Rescue Service - HQ at Uprun (Troitsk), near Chelyabinsk - Mi-8;
 * 999th Air Base - HQ at Kant, Kyrgyzstan - L-39, Mi-8, Su-25;
 * 76th Air Defence Division (Samara)
 * 511th Guards Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment (Engels, Saratov Oblast)
 * 185th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment (former 57th SAM Brigade) (Beryozovsky/Берёзовский, Sverdlovsk Oblast)
 * 568th(?) Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment (Samara) - in December 1993 renamed from 134th Red Banner Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade
 * 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;