By order of the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, the holiday of long-range aviation pilots appeared in the calendar of military holidays of the Russian Federation. This event happened in 1999, when not only Long-Range Aviation, but the entire Armed Forces of the country experienced enormous difficulties. The country itself experienced difficulties, over which a direct threat of loss of territorial integrity hung. As you know, it was in 1999 that the militants decided to strike at Dagestan, expanding their zone of influence in the North Caucasus. But it was in 1999 that what could well be called a turning point in the history of modern Russia happened - the people who in Dagestan decided to take up arms in Dagestan in order to give the terrorist scum in the teeth together with the power structures of the Russian Federation, took place against the terrorists.
Against this background, the appearance of a new military holiday in the calendar of holidays can be regarded as an additional incentive to consolidate society, to honor the glorious traditions of defending the Fatherland, including its defense at distant approaches. And who, if not the pilots of Long-Range Aviation, who are celebrating their professional holiday today, know what it means to protect the interests of Russia where there are hundreds or even thousands of kilometers to the borders of the country.
On December 23, Russian Long-Range Aviation celebrates its 103rd anniversary. The countdown begins from the moment when the first flight of the heavy 4-engine bomber "Ilya Muromets" took place in pre-revolutionary Russia - an aircraft created by the famous aircraft designer Igor Sikorsky. The fate was such that the company, named after this Russian engineer-inventor, today produces aviation equipment on behalf of a completely different power.
Long-range aviation received its development during the Great Patriotic War. Already on its first day - literally a few hours after the Nazi invaders crossed the Soviet borders, the pilots of long-range bombers entered combat with the enemy. Air strikes on June 22 were carried out on the accumulations of manpower and equipment of the Nazis in the areas of Prasnysh and Suwalki.
And already less than two months later, the heroic crews of long-range Soviet bombers in the strictest secrecy flew from carefully hidden airfields to bomb the Hitlerite capital. From August to September 1941, Soviet aircraft, overcoming hundreds of kilometers over the Baltic, dropped bombs on industrial and other strategically important quarters of Berlin. In total, 90 sorties were made during this time. Not everyone came back. And we remember this - about the heroism of the pilots who performed real feats in the sky scorched by the glow of war.
The very fact that Soviet military aviation could strike at Berlin in the summer of 1941 was a real shock both for the German "burghers" and for the German military command. Initially, the German press came out with materials that the strike was probably carried out by British aircraft. But British aviation, neither then nor now, takes such risks and feats. At the same time, the current British Prime Minister Theresa May, without blushing, calls British pilots, for example, the winners of ISIS (* banned in Russia) in Iraq and Syria. As if they won even then … Directly from their island, they "defeated fascism."
Soviet pilots did their daily work, causing colossal damage to the enemy, who ultimately suffered a crushing defeat.
Today's Russian pilots of Long-Range Aviation are the successors of the glorious combat traditions of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War. The Syrian campaign of long-range bombers of the Russian Aerospace Forces can rightfully be included in textbooks on modern principles of air strikes outside the country.
Rising from airfields in Russia, the Tu-160, Tu-95MS and Tu-22MZ planes, under the cover of our fighters, entered the airspace of the SAR, where they attacked training camps, ammunition depots, weapons factories, terrorist fortifications in a number of Syrian provinces: Homs, Hama, Aleppo, Deir ez-Zor. Both standard bombs and the latest air-launched cruise missiles were used. As a result, thousands of killed militants, a completely destroyed logistic system of the terrorist group, liquidated means to bring terrorists profit, huge damage in the form of destroyed military equipment. Plus to this - the improvement of the combat training of pilots, the development of theoretical foundations in real practice, the development of optimal actions when delivering air strikes with the subsequent return to the airfields in the non-stop flight mode, and the development of various flight modes.
Today, Russia's long-range aviation no longer strikes terrorists (in general, the operation has been completed), but the combat experience gained as part of the Syrian campaign is truly invaluable. In the end, the actions of our "long-distance workers" are also a big hello to the "partners", who watched with faces stretched out in amazement how one can achieve serious success with the use of a limited amount of resources.
Voennoye Obozreniye congratulates the active pilots and veterans of the Long-Range Aviation of Russia (USSR) on the holiday!
