- Military Transport Aviation
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Military Transport Aviation (Cold War - 1998/9)
61st Air Army (1998/9-2009)
Military Transport Aviation (2009-)Active 1949-?, 1998-2009, 2009- Country Soviet Union, Russian Federation Type military transport aviation Size 9 regiments Anniversaries 1 June Military Transport Aviation (Voenno-Transportnaya Aviatsiya or "VTA") was a major component of the former Soviet Air Forces, active from the Cold War period, through the dissolution of the Soviet Union, to 1998/9. From 1999-2009 it was reduced in status to the 61st Air Army of the Supreme High Command (61 Vozdushnaya Armiya VGK). The 61st Air Army itself was initially formed on 10 January 1949 by renaming the 3rd Air Army. In 2009 the 61st Air Army was renamed the Command of Military Transport Aviation.[1] Its headquarters is located in Moscow.
The VTA traces its history to the formation of the first transport aviation unit in the Leningrad Military District on 1 June 1931.[2] In 1988 the VTA included six separate regiments (194th Guards Bryanskiy Red Banner Military-Transport Aviation Regiment im. N.F. Gastello at Fergana, probably associated with the 105th Guards Vienna Airborne Division,[3] 334, 374 OVTAP at Klokovo, 566 VTAP, and unidenified regiments at Ulyanovsk and Kirovakan) and six divisions with a total of 18 military transport aviation regiments.[4] Holm and Feskov et al disagree on multiple regiments' identity and stationing.[5] The divisions were the 3rd Guards Military Transport Aviation Division (VTAD) at Vitebsk (103rd Guards, 110, 235, 239th Regiments), the 6th Military Transport Aviation Division at Krivoy Rog (37th, 338th Regiments), the 7th Division at Melitopol with the 25th Guards, 369th, and 708th Regiments, the 8th Division at Chkalovsky, Shchyolkovo, Moscow Oblast, (70th, 353rd, and 354th OSNAZ regiments),[6] the 12th Military Transport Aviation Division at Migalovo, which traced its heritage to the 12th Bomber Aviation Division of the World War II period, and had three regiments, including the 8th, 81st, and a regiment at Klin. The final division was the 18th Guards 'Taganrogskaya Red Banner Orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov' Military Transport Aviation Division at Shaulyai, which traced its history to the wartime 6th Guards Bomber Aviation Division, and had three regiments (117th, 128th Guards, 196th). Regiments of the 18th VTAD, according to Holm included the 128th Guards VTAP at Panevėžys_Air_Base, and the 600th VTAP at Kėdainiai in the Lithuanian SSR.
The main aircraft the 61st Air Army used was the Il-76 Candid (about 220) and An-22 Cock; or the medium transport An-12 Cub. The Russian Air Force began in 2002 to upgrade its Il-76MD transport aircraft, but this is a slow process, only two aircraft being modernized in 2005. According to the modernisation programme, 12 Il-76 aircraft are due to be modernised before 2010, to the Il-76MD-90 variant.
Structure 2007
A Russian IL-76 transport from the Tver Military Transportation Air Base touches down at Scott AFB, Ill. on 24 October 1995. The Russians were participating in Peacekeeper '95, the first time that Russian troops have trained on American soil.
- 61st Air Army - Moscow
- 610th Centre for Combat and Flight Personnel Training - HQs at Ivanovo Severny;
- Unknown Instructor Military Transport Air Squadron - Ivanovo - operates the Il-76;
- 12th Military Transport Air Division - Tver (Migalovo);
- 196th Military Transport Air Regiment - Tver - Il-76 in service;
- 566th Military Transport Air Regiment - Seshcha, Bryansk Oblast - Il-76, An-124;[7]
- 76th Independent Military Transport Air Squadron - Tver - An-22;
- 103rd Military Transport Air Regiment - Smolensk-North - Il-76;
- 110th Military Transport Air Regiment - Krechevitsy - Il-76; (regiment disbanded 2009)
- 117th Military Transport Air Regiment - Orenburg - Il-76, An-12;
- 334th Military Transport Air Regiment - Pskov - Il-76;
- 708th Military Transport Air Regiment - Taganrog - Il-76;
- 78th Independent Military Transport Air Squadron - Klin-5 - operates An-26, An-12 and Tu-134;
- 224th Air Detachment of Military Transport Aviation - Tver - An-124, Il-76MD;
- 610th Centre for Combat and Flight Personnel Training - HQs at Ivanovo Severny;
References
- ^ http://mdb.cast.ru/mdb/2-2010/item5/article1/
- ^ http://www.vesti.ru/doc.html?id=364698
- ^ Feskov and Holm agree on this regiment.
- ^ V.I. Feskov et al, The Soviet Army in the Period of the Cold War, 2004, p. 146
- ^ For Michael Holm's data, see http://www.ww2.dk/new/air%20force/regiment/tap/vtap.htm
- ^ It should be noted that Feskov et al say the 8th Division was at Omsk Chkalovsky airport near Omsk. This seems unlikely, and appears to be a mistake.
- ^ see also http://www.ww2.dk/new/air%20force/regiment/tap/566vtap.htm and ru:Сеща (аэродром)
- Piotr Butowsky. Force Report:Russian Air Force, Air Forces Monthly, July 2007.
Formations and units 
Equipment Personnel 
Soviet Air Force Air Armies and Air Defence ArmiesAir Armies 1942-1949 Additional Air Armies formed 1949-1992 - 23rd
- 24th
- 26th
- 30th
- 36th
- 37th
- 46th (Long Range)
- 61st
- 73rd
- 76th
Categories:- Military units and formations established in 1949
- Military units and formations of the Soviet and Russian Air Forces
- Soviet Military Transport Aviation
- 61st Air Army - Moscow
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