In 2006, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree "On the establishment of professional holidays and memorable days in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation." According to this Decree, Air Defense Day is annually celebrated on the second Sunday of April. This year it is April 9th.
This is some modification of the date that was set as a holiday in 1975. Then, by a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, April 11 was chosen as a holiday date. And after five years, the very modification that we are talking about was introduced - the holiday of the USSR Air Defense Forces began to be celebrated on the second Sunday of the second spring month.
Air defense forces were created to prevent the enemy from delivering air strikes, and are called upon to protect especially important objects, political centers, industrial areas from an air attack. The air defense troops of the ground forces cover the territory of military facilities with military equipment and personnel deployed on it.
The country's air defense forces consist of several segments, including anti-aircraft missile formations.
The appearance of air defense troops is directly related to the beginning of the use of aircraft in military affairs. As soon as aircraft began to be used for reconnaissance and attack targets from the air, the need for effective countermeasures immediately arose. And the first truly massive combat use of air defense weapons took place during the First World War.
The development and improvement of their "functional" air defense troops received during the Great Patriotic War. At the beginning, there were 13 air defense districts on the territory of the USSR, but at that time the troops did not have their own aircraft. Soon, fighters began to enter the armament of the air defense: I-15, I-16, I-153, which made it possible to more effectively protect the cities of the Soviet Union from enemy air attacks. Then the air defense forces received interceptor fighters: MiG-3, Yak-1, Yak-3, Yak-9, as well as foreign-made fighters.
Anti-aircraft artillery continued to develop during the war. By the beginning of 1945, on all fronts, there were already 61 anti-aircraft artillery divisions of the RVGK (Reserve of the Supreme High Command), 192 small-caliber anti-aircraft artillery regiments, 97 separate divisions of the RVGK.
The Great Patriotic War became a real test and a real baptism of fire for the Soviet air defense forces. The subunits showed their high combat qualities when defending Moscow and Leningrad from enemy air strikes. Dozens of formations and units took part in repelling massive enemy air raids on Soviet cities.
Part of the air defense forces was involved in solving tasks in the interests of the advancing fronts. Together with the Air Force, they carried out an air blockade of enemy groupings (Stalingrad, Demyansk, Breslau), participated in breaking through the enemy's defenses (near Leningrad, on the Kola Peninsula, in the Berlin direction).
The results of the actions of the air defense forces can hardly be overestimated. Throughout the war, Soviet air defense forces were used not only to attack air targets, but also in ground confrontation.
The statistics speaks for itself: during the battles, more than 7, 5 thousand enemy aircraft, more than 1 thousand tanks, 1.5 thousand guns were destroyed.
For military exploits during the war 80 thousand.fighters from the air defense forces were awarded orders and medals, of which 92 people were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
In Stalingrad (Volgograd), the feat of servicemen representing the air defense forces is immortalized, including in the form of the name of the street Zenitchikov.
The number of air defense troops during the war years increased almost 2 times, which is at the same time a confirmation of their effectiveness and says a lot about their contribution to the Great Victory.
The experience of the Great Patriotic War has confirmed that air defense has become one of the main components of maintaining combined arms combat. Currently, the country's air defense forces are capable of striking all modern air attack weapons in any weather conditions and time of day.
Thanks to the talent of domestic designers, they acquired such properties as high maneuverability, the ability to intercept and destroy air attack weapons at long distances from defended objects. Today, the military-industrial enterprises of our country develop and produce effective military equipment, weapons and ammunition for this kind of weapons - anti-missile and air defense systems.
Now these are the S-400 "Triumph", "Pantsir-S1" anti-aircraft missile systems, which have become widely known in the world, and not only.
Until the end of the current state rearmament program - 2020 - it plans to receive the latest S-500 Prometheus anti-aircraft missile systems. The characteristics of this complex will make it possible to combat hypersonic aerodynamic and ballistic targets, and it is not surprising that interest in them is already high, and not only in Russia itself.
Additional air defense systems, according to recent reports by the official representative of the Russian Defense Ministry, Major General Konashenkov, will also be supplied for the needs of the Syrian army, which not only fights against manifestations of international terrorism, but also becomes a target for direct military aggression by the United States. First of all, we are talking about a missile attack on the SAR Air Force base in the province of Homs. It is not reported which air defense-missile defense systems will be supplied to Syria by the Russian Federation.
Returning to the date, it is worth noting that despite the holiday of the air defense forces of the ground forces, the military personnel are now on a combat watch.
Voennoye Obozreniye congratulates all air defense troops and service veterans on their professional holiday!
