5th Air and Air Defence Forces Army

The 5th Air Army (5 Vozdushnaya Armiya) is currently Russian Air Force's smallest Air Army, with the headquarters located in Yekaterinburg, its zone of responsibility being the Volga-Ural Military District, on the border between Europe and Asia. The commanding officer of the 5th Air Army is, since May 2006, Lieutenant-General Vadim Volkovitskiy.

The 5th Army of the VVS and PVO was first created during World War II. During the Battle of Kursk it fought as part of the Steppe Front, and comprised the 7th Combined Air Corps, 8th Combined Air Corps, 3rd Fighter Corps, and the 7th Fighter Corps. Before the collapse of the Soviet Union the Army was serving in the Odessa Military District. The formation was later downgraded in status by the Ukrainian Air Force, which took the force over, to an Aviation Corps.

The 5th Air Army was re-created in 2001 from the 5th Independent Corps of VVS and PVO. The Air Army has no combat aircraft (except a small number of Su-25 attack aircraft located at Kant, Kyrgyzstan and only three regiments of anti-aircraft surface-to-air missiles (Yekaterinburg, Samara and Engels), but includes two helicopter regiments and some other auxiliary units. The 764th Interceptor Aviation Regiment, operating MiG-31 aircraft, stationed in Perm within the zone of the 5th Air Army, is subordinated directly to the Air Forces HQ. The Kant Air Base was commissioned in October 2003 and is also subordinated to the 5th Air Army, along with possibly another air base in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

Structure

• Headquarters, 5th Air Army - Yekaterinburg
  • 128th Independent Composite Air Squadron - HQ at Koltsovo near Yekaterinburg - An-26;
  • 320th Independent Transport Squadron of Search & Rescue Service - HQ at Uprun (Troitsk), near Chelyabinsk - Mi-8;
  • Unknown Air Base - HQ at Kant, Kyrgyzstan - L-39, Mi-8, Su-25;
  • 511th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment (Engels, Saratov Oblast)
  • ?th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment (former 57th SAM Brigade) (Березовский)
  • ?th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment (Samara) - До 1993- 134 Красн. зрбр
  • Army Aviation component;
    • 793rd Independent Helicopter Regiment - HQ at Kinel'-Cherkasy - Mi-8, Mi-26;
    • 237th Independent Helicopter Squadron - HQ at Bobrovka - Mi-8, Mi-24;

References

• Air Forces Monthly, July & August 2007 issues.