Since 2015, the air defense forces have been officially referred to as the air defense and anti-missile defense forces (air defense-missile defense forces), representing a separate branch of the Russian Aerospace Forces. The Commemorative Day of the Air Defense Forces was established on the basis of the decree of the President of Russia dated May 31, 2006. According to the published decree, the holiday date falls on every second Sunday in April (in 2020 - April 12). In the Soviet Union, since 1980, the holiday has also been celebrated every second Sunday in April, but earlier its date was fixed - April 11.
The appearance of air defense troops in Russia
The first air defense units appeared in our country during the First World War, which in many ways changed the army and navy of the warring states. The development and widespread use of aviation in combat demanded an adequate response from all parties to the conflict. In Russia, the date of the formation of the air defense is considered to be December 8 (November 25, old style) in 1914, it was on this day that the air defense system of Petrograd was formed.
At the same time, work on the creation of means of combating air targets began in the Russian Empire even before the war. For example, since 1910, the country has been working on the creation of missile weapons, which were planned to be used against air targets. Such a project was proposed, in particular, by the military engineer N. V. Gerasimov. Even then, he understood that hitting a rocket directly on an airplane was an elusive task. That is why the engineer proposed to hit not the air target itself, but the space in which it is located. The very approach and understanding of the problem prove that Gerasimov was thinking in the right direction.
Also, even before the start of the war, in 1912, the empire managed to develop the first self-propelled anti-aircraft artillery mount on a truck chassis. A distinctive feature of the new combat vehicle was that it was also armored. The inventor, an officer of the permanent staff of the Officer Artillery School of the Guard, Staff Captain V. V. Tarnavsky, was responsible for the development of the first domestic ZSU. It was Tarnavsky who created an armored unit on a car chassis, in the body of which a 76, 2-mm cannon was placed on a pedestal unit. The production of such ZSUs was established at the famous Putilovsky plant, and the first order for the production of 12 units was issued in June 1914.
The best anti-aircraft weapons of the First World War in the Russian Imperial Army were 76, 2-mm cannon of the 1900 model of the year and a gun of the same caliber of the Schneider system (model of 1909). Often, the most common field guns were used to solve air defense problems, which were mounted on special anti-aircraft rotary frames. At the same time, during the First World War, a variety of air defense systems were developed in the country, including on the basis of a motorcycle with a sidecar, in which a 7.62-mm Maxim machine gun was installed on a special machine.
Despite the practical lack of experience in fighting air targets, with simple technical means that were not available in the troops in sufficient numbers, by the end of 1914, the Russian ground forces chalked up 19 destroyed enemy aircraft, as well as two enemy airships. It was possible to take 80 crew members prisoner, three more planes were chalked up by Russian pilots.
Air Defense Forces during the Great Patriotic War
By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the air defense forces had passed a serious path of development, becoming a formidable force. The armament of the Soviet air defense was not only modern anti-aircraft guns, including automatic and numerous machine-gun installations, but also such modern means as radar. So the first Soviet serial radar, designated RUS-1, was put into service back in 1939. A total of 45 such complexes were produced, which were used, among other things, in the air defense of Moscow and Leningrad.
Another important difference was the widespread use of air defense fighter aircraft. For example, the 6th Air Defense Fighter Corps was responsible for the defense of the capital of the Soviet Union, which was armed with about 600 fighters of various types. At the same time, 85-mm anti-aircraft guns were effectively used by Soviet troops as anti-tank weapons, playing a significant role in the defense of Moscow in the fall of 1941. Moscow's air defense fighters were often involved in reconnaissance flights and ground attacks.
We can highlight the fact that the war required the mobilization of all possible resources and forces. A large number of women were called up to the front, especially in units that did not fight on the front line. In the personnel of the air defense forces, they occupied a significant share, becoming radio operators, telephone operators, reconnaissance observers of anti-aircraft artillery units and VNOS posts, numbers of searchlight stations, anti-aircraft machine guns and guns, as well as barrage balloons. Only by the decree of the State Defense Committee of March 25, 1942, in the air defense unit, it was ordered to mobilize 100 thousand young girls aged 19-25, of which 45 thousand people were ordered to be included in anti-aircraft machine gun units, and another 40 thousand in the VNOS service.
In total, during the years of the Great Patriotic War, the Soviet air defense chalked up 7313 enemy aircraft, of which 3145 were anti-aircraft artillery, machine-gun fire and airborne balloons, another 4168 aircraft were channeled by fighter aircraft. All in all, air defense fighter aircraft during the war years made almost 270 thousand sorties and carried out 6,787 air battles.
The current state and tasks of the air defense-missile defense troops
At present, the formations and military units of the air defense-missile defense forces provide reliable protection of the air borders of our country. One of the main tasks is the air defense of the city of Moscow and the entire central industrial region of Russia. The air defense forces ensure reliable control of the airspace and protect high-level facilities of state and military administration, as well as key industrial and energy facilities, important transport communications and facilities, as well as groups of the RF Armed Forces from attacks that are carried out from aerospace.
In recent years, the fleet of equipment in the Air Defense Forces has been seriously updated. Russia has deployed 56 divisions of the S-400 Triumph air defense system, which is considered the best air defense system in the world and is in steady demand on the world arms market. Such complexes are already in service with the armies of China, India and Turkey. The Air Defense Forces have always been demanding of military personnel and specialists; today, with the development of equipment and technologies, the training of specialists is playing an increasingly important role. In Russia, several large higher military educational institutions are currently training personnel for the air defense-missile defense forces, among them: the Military Academy of the VKO them. Marshal Zhukov in Tver, the Yaroslavl Higher Military Air Defense School, the Anti-Aircraft Missile Forces Training Center located in Gatchina, and the Center for the Training of Radio Technical Troops Specialists in Vladimir.
Like other servicemen, on their professional holiday, fighters and commanders of the air defense unit go to service. Every day, about 1.5 thousand soldiers, officers and civilian personnel take up combat duty as part of the air defense-missile defense forces on duty. At the same time, even the calmest combat duty requires a great concentration of attention and responsibility. This is due to both the enormous length of the Russian borders and the size of the controlled airspace, as well as the intense air traffic. As noted in the Russian Ministry of Defense, in normal times, air defense-missile defense forces carry out radar surveillance and escort for about 800 air targets every day. Approximately 10 percent of such targets need to be monitored in continuous radar mode.
On this holiday, Voennoye Obozreniye congratulates all military personnel and civilian specialists involved in the air defense of our country, as well as veterans of the Air Defense Forces on their professional holiday!
