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Soviet Union [USSR] Air Defense Forces
The National Air Defense Forces became a separate armed service
in 1948 and were given the mission of defending the Soviet
industrial, military, and administrative centers and the armed
forces against strategic bombing. After Air Defense of Ground
Forces was formed in 1958, the National Air Defense Forces focused
on strategic aerospace and theater air defense. Around 1980 the
National Air Defense Forces yielded responsibility for theater
antiaircraft systems to Air Defense of Ground Forces and was
renamed the Air Defense Forces. In 1989 the Air Defense Forces had
more than 500,000 personnel and operated the world's most extensive
strategic air defense network.
Antiaircraft Rocket Troops and Air Defense Aviation
In 1989 the Antiaircraft Rocket Troops manned 12,000 strategic
surface-to-air missile launchers at 1,400 sites inside the Soviet
Union. These forces were organized into brigades of launch
battalions. Soviet SA-3 and SA-5 antiaircraft missiles, first
produced in the 1960s, together with older SA-1 and SA-2 missiles,
constituted over 90 percent of the Soviet surface-to-air missile
inventory. In the late 1980s, the new SA-10 was entering service to
replace SA-1 and SA-2 missiles. The Soviet Union also had another
antiaircraft missile, the SA-12, under development. Western
authorities believed the SA-10 and SA-12 had improved capabilities
to destroy aircraft and missiles at low altitudes. In support of
the Air Defense Forces, the Radiotechnical Troops operated 10,000
ground-based air surveillance radars for surface-to-air missile
operations. In addition, the air defense systems of the Warsaw Pact
countries were highly integrated into the Soviet network,
effectively extending the range of Soviet early warning
capabilities.
The other combat arm of the Air Defense Forces, Air Defense
Aviation, had the mission of preventing aircraft and cruise
missiles from entering Soviet airspace. In wartime it would strive
to establish air superiority and provide air cover for Frontal
Aviation's deep strike and ground attack aircraft. In 1989 Air
Defense Aviation had 2,000 fighter-interceptor aircraft organized
into air regiments. The Su-15, MiG-23, and MiG-25, first produced
in the late 1960s and early 1970s, constituted 80 percent of Air
Defense Aviation's inventory. The Soviet Union's newest
interceptors, the MiG-31 and Su-27, deployed in the early 1980s,
represented 10 percent of the force in 1989. The MiG-29, which
first appeared in 1984, may also eventually be deployed with Air
Defense Aviation. These new fighter-interceptors had "look-down,
shoot-down" radars for engaging aircraft and cruise missiles
penetrating Soviet airspace at low altitudes. Since the mid-1980s,
the Soviet Union has built four new airborne warning and control
system (AWACS) aircraft on an Il-76 airframe. These AWACS aircraft
have improved Air Defense Aviation's ability to direct interceptors
against enemy bombers, fighters, and cruise missiles in aerial
combat.
Although equipped with numerous modern weapons systems, the Air
Defense Forces have made operational errors that have raised
serious questions about their command, control, and communications
systems and training. In September 1983, Soviet interceptors shot
down a South Korean passenger jet that strayed into Soviet airspace
over Sakhalin. In May 1987, Mathias Rust, a citizen of the Federal
Republic of Germany (West Germany), flew his private airplane into
Soviet airspace and landed in Red Square in Moscow. As a result,
the commander in chief of the Air Defense Forces, a former fighter
pilot, was fired and replaced with a high-ranking Ground Forces
officer who had extensive combined arms experience.
Data as of May 1989
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