Russian Air Force Revolution

摘要

IT CAME as a shock to many when - on October 14, 2008 - the Russian Minister of Defence Anatoly Serdyukov announced plans to reform the country's armed forces. Within four years, the armed forces will be reduced from 1.13 million personnel to 1 million. The Russian Air Force (Voyenno-Vozdushniye Slly -VVS) which numbers 160,000 people will be reduced by 36,000 and there will be significant organisational changes. The VVS currently has approximately 3,750 aircraft and helicopters based on 85 airfields. According to some observers only a third of these aircraft are airworthy; the others need to be repaired or scrapped. After reorganisation, 55 air bases will remain with a far smaller number of aircraft.rnThe WS is now structured into eight Air Armies. Two of them have specific functions: the 37th Air Army operates the Tupolev TU-95MS Bear-H and Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bombers as well as the continental Tu-22M3 Backfire-C bomber, while the 61st Air Army uses heavy transport aircraft: the Ilyushin 11-76 Candid, Antonov An-124 Ruslan/Condor and An-22rnAntheus/Cocfc. The remaining six Air Force and Air Defence Armies (A VVS i PVO - see table on p26) are responsible for different geographical areas. In addition to aircraft, the A WS i PVO Air Armies have surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) assigned to them. Special Purpose Command is headquartered in Moscow, the 4th Air Army in Rostov-on-Don, the 5th in Yekaterinburg, the 6th at St Petersburg, the 1 lth in Khabarovsk and the 14th in Novosibirsk.