6th Air and Air Defence Forces Army

The 6th Red Banner Leningrad Army of Air and Air Defence Forces (6-я Краснознамённая Ленинградская армия Военно-воздушных сил и противовоздушной обороны ) is an Air Army of the Russian Air Force.

The army was first active from 1998 to 2009, and was reformed in 2015. After the war, the Soviet Air Defence Forces' main command in the Leningrad area from 1960 was the 6th Independent Air Defence Army.

6th Independent Air Defence Army
From March 1960, the 6th Independent Army of the PVO (6-я отдельная армия ПВО) was active as an air defence formation. It was composed of 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 Mikoyan MiG-31 interceptors), and to protect the deployment of nuclear submarines stationed in the Kola Peninsula (using Su-27 fighters). The air army was disbanded on 15 March 1980 but reactivated in April 1986 from the 18th Corps of PVO. From 1986, the 6th Army, headquartered at St Petersburg, consisted of the 27th Air Defence Corps at Riga, 54th Air Defence Corps at  Khvoyny, the 14th Air Defence Division at Tallinn, and the 498th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Training Brigade.

In turn, the 27th Corps of the PVO consisted in 1988 of the:
 * 54th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment PVO (Vainode, Latvian SSR) (38 Sukhoi Su-27P / UB)
 * 689th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment PVO (Nivenskoye, Kaliningrad Oblast) (36 Sukhoi Su-27P / UB)
 * 77th Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade (Ventspils, Latvian SSR)
 * 85th Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade (Kaunas, Lithuanian SSR)
 * 158th Guards Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade (Liepaya, Latvian SSR)
 * 169th Guards Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade (Neman, Kaliningrad Oblast)
 * 183rd Guards Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade (Gvardeysk, Kaliningrad Oblast)
 * 205th Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade (Riga, Latvian SSR)
 * 529th Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment (Ukmerge, Lithuanian SSR)
 * 466th Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment (Vilnius, Lithuanian SSR)
 * 80th Radio-Technical Brigade (Tukums, Latvian SSR)
 * 81st Radio-Technical Brigade (Pereslavskoye, Kaliningrad Oblast)
 * 5th Radio-Technical Regiment (Paplaka, Latvian SSR)

54th Air Defence Corps included:
 * 177th Fighter Aviation Regiment PVO (Lodeynoye Pole, Leningrad Oblast) (38 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23P / UB)
 * 180th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment PVO at Gromovo-Sakkola, Leningrad Oblast) (31 Mikoyan MiG-31)
 * 82nd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade (Lomonosov, Leningrad Oblast)
 * 83rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade (Zelenogorsk, Leningrad Oblast)
 * 84th Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade (Vaganovo, Leningrad Oblast)
 * 86th Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade (Tosno-2, Leningrad Oblast)
 * 204th Guards Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade (Kerstovo, Leningrad Oblast)
 * 169th Guards Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment (Kornevo, Leningrad Oblast)
 * 219th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment (Pervomayskoye-1)
 * 341st Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment (Lopukhinka-2)
 * 555th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment (Ostrov-2)
 * 967th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment (Tikhvin)
 * 46th Radio-Technical Brigade (Khvoyny)

Russian Air Force
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 Air Defence Army, both headquartered in Saint Petersburg. Its new title was the 6th Army of Air Forces and Air Defence. The 6th Army had responsibility for the Leningrad Military District. General Lieutenant Gennadiy A. Torbov was appointed commander of the army by a presidential decree of 6 April 2000. He replaced Lt-Gen Anatoliy Basov, who retired due to age. Its commanding officer was General Lieutenant Vladimir Sviridov from June 2005 until at least 2007.

Economic stringency and the reduction of the threat led to drastic cuts in the formation, as previously the 6th and 10th Independent Air Defence Armies, which covered the area, had twelve fighter regiments between them. 10th Independent Air Defence Army appears to have disbanded on 1 December 1994. The 518th Fighter Aviation Regiment at Talagi Airport disbanded in 1998. The 174th and 470th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiments, at Monchegorsk and Afrikanda air base, both disbanded on September 1, 2001. There was also formerly the 72nd Fighter Regiment at Amderma and the 641st Fighter Aviation Regiment at Rogachevo (Sukhoi Su-27s).

From 2001 to 2009, the Kilpyavr airfield was home to the 9th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment, created on the basis of 941st Fighter Aviation Regiment, which had received all the regalia of the 470th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment. In 2009, 9th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment was transferred from Karelia to the Besovets airbase, where it was merged with the 159th and 177th Fighter Regiment airfields Besovets and Lodeynoye Pole, respectively.

In 2009 the army was disestablished and reorganised as the 1st Air and Air Defence Forces Command.

On 1 August 2015 the army was reformed from the 1st Air and Air Defence Forces Command as the 6th Leningrad Air and Air Defence Forces Army.

Structure 2007

 * Headquarters, 6th Army of Air Forces and Air Defence - Saint Petersburg
 * 21st Air Defence Corps - Severomorsk
 * 9th 'Vienna' Fighter Aviation Regiment - HQ at Kilp-Yavr (Poliarnyi) - Su-27; (see ru:Гвардейский Виленский ордена Кутузова III степени истребительный авиационный полк)
 * 458th Interceptor Aviation Regiment - HQ at Savatiya (Kotlas) - MiG-25U, MiG-31;
 * 531st Nevel-Berlin Guards Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment
 * ?th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment — Severodvinsk
 * 583rd Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment — Olenegorsk, Murmansk Oblast
 * 145th Radiotechnical Brigade — Arkhangelsk
 * 5th Radiotechnical Brigade — Dalny Zelentsy, Severomorsk
 * 54th Air Defence Corps - HQ at Taytsy
 * 177th Fighter Aviation Regiment - HQ at Lodeynoye Pole (air base) - Su-27;
 * 159th Fighter Aviation Regiment - HQ at Besovets Airport - Su-27;
 * 196th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment
 * ?th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment
 * 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;
 * 87th Aviation Base - HQ at Levashevo - An-12, An-26, Mi-8, Tu-134; (ex 138th Independent Composite Air Regiment)
 * 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.
 * 1080th Mixed Aviation Base (смешанная авиационная база) — Gromovo, Priozersky District, Leningrad Oblast - An-72, An-30, An-26, Mi-8,
 * 714th Base for Reserve Helicopters — Kasimovo — Mi-8, Mi-24
 * 396th Centre for Special and Physical Preparations — St Petersburg

Structure 1st Air and Air Defence Forces Command 2009-2015
The 1st Air and Air Defence Forces Command was only active from 2009 to 2015.
 * 1st Air and Space Defence Brigade (with S-300PM, S-300PS) — Severomorsk
 * 2nd Air and Space Defence Brigade (with S-300PM) — Хвойный
 * 6961st Airbase (Su-27, Su-27UB) — Besovets (Бесовец)
 * 6964th Guards Vitula Red Banner Order of Kutuzov Air Base (with Su-24M, Su-24MP)— Monchegorsk (Мончегорск)
 * 6965th Airbase (with Mi-8, Mi-24) — Vyazma (Вязьма)
 * 7000th Guards Borisov-Pomerania Twice Red Banner Order of Suvorov Air Base (with SU-24M, Su-24MP, Su-34) — Voronezh

References and further reading

 * Air Forces Monthly, July & August 2007 issues.
 * http://samsv.narod.ru/Arm/av06/arm.html - Russian language source on World War 2 history
 * Historical detail from Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation.