Every year on December 23, Russia celebrates Long-Range Aviation Day - a professional holiday for all servicemen directly related to long-range aviation of the Russian Air Force. This is a relatively young holiday, which was established only in 1999 by order of the Commander-in-Chief of the country's Air Force Anatoly Kornukov.
The holiday date was not chosen by chance, it has a historical basis. It was on December 23, 1913 that the four-engine heavy bomber "Ilya Muromets" (the world's first serial multi-engine bomber) of the aircraft designer Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky, the "great-grandfather" of all modern strategic bombers of the Russian Aerospace Forces, made its first test flight. Exactly one year later, on December 23, 1914, an imperial decree of Nicholas II in Russia approved the resolution of the Military Council on the formation of the Ilya Muromets bomber squadron. This event became the starting point in the history of heavy bomber aviation not only in our country, but throughout the world. In 2018, long-range aviation of Russia celebrates its 104th birthday.
During the First World War, the crews of the Ilya Muromets bomber squadron made about 400 sorties. In 1917, the squadron consisted of 20 four-engine bombers. After the October Revolution in March 1918, the formation of the Northern Group of Aircraft (SGVK) began, the Ilya Muromets aircraft of this group were to be used for polar expeditions and reconnaissance of the Northern Sea Route. However, the tense situation and fierce battles on the fountains of the civil war in Russia did not allow this project to be realized. In November 1918, the SGVK was renamed the Air Group, and in 1919 it received the official name - Aircraft Division.
The further development of long-range aviation in our country was associated with the adoption in the 1930s of the heavy bomber TB-3, which was designed by the famous aircraft designer Andrei Nikolaevich Tupolev. Also in 1936, new DB-3 bombers began to arrive in the Red Army Air Force, and then DB-3F, designed at the Sergey Ilyushin Design Bureau.
In 1936-1938, aviation brigades and corps of heavy bombers were consolidated into three separate air special forces. All three armies were directly subordinate to the USSR People's Commissar of Defense. In 1940, units and formations of heavy bombers entered the formed long-range bomber aviation of the main command of the Red Army (DBA GK). By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War on June 22, 1941, the DBA GK consisted of 5 air corps, 3 separate air divisions and one separate air regiment (a total of about 1,500 aircraft and almost 1,000 trained crews on full combat readiness).
Soviet long-range bombers made their first sorties on June 22, 1941. During the war, long-range aviation crews took part in all major battles of the Red Army, and also carried out special assignments of the Soviet command.
Already during the war, in March 1942, long-range bomber aviation was reorganized into long-range aviation, and in December 1944 - into the 18th Air Force. In 1946, on the basis of this army, the Long-Range Aviation of the USSR Armed Forces was formed. In total, during the years of the Great Patriotic War, the flight crew of long-range bombers carried out about 220 thousand sorties, dropping more than two million air bombs of various calibers on enemy positions and infrastructure.
Long-range bomber DB-3F (Il-4)
In the 1950s, after the adoption of jet technology - long-range bombers Tu-16 and strategic bombers Tu-95 and 3M - there was a real qualitative leap in the development of long-range aviation in the Soviet Union. In the same years, long-range aviation aircraft and crews began to explore the skies over the Arctic. In the 1970s-1980s, long-range aviation was supplemented by new aircraft systems: Tu-22M3, Tu-95MS and Tu-160, which received long-range cruise missiles.
After the forced lull and downtime, which was associated with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the difficult economic state of the country, the intensity of flights of long-range aviation crews began to grow again in the 2000s. So in 2001, Russian strategic bombers for the first time after a ten-year hiatus appeared in the area above the North Pole. In August 2007, Russian long-range aviation resumed flights to remote regions of the planet on an ongoing basis. Airspace patrolling is carried out in the regions of economic activity and active shipping in Russia. Aerial patrol flights are carried out in the water area over the neutral waters of the Arctic, Atlantic, Black Sea, Pacific Ocean both from base and from operational airfields on the territory of our country.
After the end of World War II, long-range aircraft took part in hostilities in Afghanistan in the 1980s, in the North Caucasus in the 1990s, as well as in the operation to force Georgia to peace in 2008. On November 17, 2015, Russian long-range and strategic bombers, which took off from airfields in Russia, launched massive strikes with new X-101 air-launched cruise missiles and air bombs at the targets of militants of the Islamic State terrorist organization (banned in Russia) in Syria. This operation was the first combat use of Russian strategists - Tu-160 and Tu-95 aircraft. In 2015-2017, long-range aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces were repeatedly involved in air strikes on positions and targets of terrorists in the Syrian Arab Republic.
Tu-22M3, photo: mil.ru
For 104 years of its existence, long-range aviation of Russia has come a long way from the first squadron of four-engine biplanes "Ilya Muromets" to a modern look. Today, the long-range aviation of the Russian Air Force is equipped with modern jet and turboprop aircraft. Upgraded long-range bombers Tu-22M3, supersonic strategic missile carriers with variable sweep wings Tu-160 and Tu-160M, four-engine turboprop strategic bombers Tu-95MS and Tu-95MSM, as well as Il-78 tanker aircraft and other types of aviation equipment. In 2018, long-range aviation was replenished with four modernized Tu-95MS missile-carrying bombers and one Tu-160 missile-carrying bomber.
The main armament of Russian long-range aviation aircraft are long-range aircraft cruise missiles, as well as operational-tactical missiles in conventional and nuclear warheads and aviation bombs of various purposes and caliber. At present, the long-range aviation of Russia includes a long-range aviation command department, two heavy bomber aviation divisions, a center for combat training and retraining of flight personnel, as well as various military communications, support and logistics units.
In 2018, the crews of Russian long-range aviation aircraft successfully fulfilled their plans for flight, combat training and combat use. The total flight time was more than 20 thousand hours. Over the past year, more than 40 tactical flight exercises and special tactical exercises were conducted in the country with subunits and support units under the direct supervision of the commander of long-range aviation, as well as commanders of formations and military units. Long-range aircraft and their crews took an active part in combat and operational training activities according to the plan of higher military command bodies, took part in large-scale maneuvers "Vostok-2018", the joint anti-terrorist exercise "Issyk-Kul-Antiterror-2018", the joint exercise of the armed forces of the SCO member countries “Peace Mission-2018” and many other events, including international ones.
Tu-160, photo: mil.ru
For the first time in 2018, Tu-160 supersonic strategic bombers flew at the Anadyr airfield. According to the press service of the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Anadyr Arctic airfield was used to conduct tactical flight exercises with an aviation regiment. The complexity of the task was that the landing at this aerodrome was carried out after a long flight in the Arctic latitudes at an aerodrome unfamiliar to the crews of strategic aviation with unstable meteorological conditions. Also in 2018, combat crews of Russian long-range aviation performed practical launches of new guided aircraft missiles at a sea range against a real sea target. These launches were recognized as regular, all the missiles fired hit the target, demonstrating the high efficiency of the new Russian aviation weapons systems.
In 2018, for the first time in five years, Russian long-range aircraft flew to Venezuela as part of a full-fledged aviation group, which consisted of a pair of Tu-160 strategic bombers and support units. After arriving in Venezuela and carrying out appropriate training, the Russian crews performed a special flight over the Caribbean Sea with takeoff and landing at the Maiketia airfield. Thanks to this, the crews gained valuable experience in flying in remote geographic regions of the planet, as well as in conditions of southern latitudes.
Tu-95MS, photo: mil.ru
On December 23, Voennoye Obozreniye congratulates all servicemen, both active and former, as well as veterans of the Great Patriotic War related to domestic long-range aviation, on their professional holiday!
