11th Air Army

The 11th Air Army ("11 Vozdushnaya Armiya") of the Russian Air Force, is located in the Russian Far East and Pacific Coast area, and its zone of responsibility covers the Far East Military District.

It was first formed during the Second World War from the Air Forces of the 2nd Red Banner Army but re-created in 1998 from the Soviet Air Defence Forces' 11th Army units (except for a regiment of MiG-31 interceptors at Kamchatka Peninsula, handed over by the Naval Aviation) and the 1st Army of the VVS. The current commanding officer is Lieutenant General Valeriy Ivanov, former commander of the 1st Air Defence Corps.

History

The 11th Army includes two of Su-27 fighters regiments, one of MiG-31 interceptors, two of Su-24 tactical bombers, two of Su-25 attack aircraft and one reconnaissance regiment of Su-24MRs. The anti-aircraft component is much less powerful, including just three regiments of surface-to-air missiles, located in Khabarovsk, Komsomolsk and Vladivostok. The 23rd Fighter Aviation Regiment, located at Dzemgi (Komsomolsk-on-Amur), was the first Russian Air Force unit armed with the upgraded Su-27SM fighters.

The most notable unit of the 11th Army, is the 18th Vitebsk Normandie-Niemen Attack Air Regiment of Guards, stationed at Galenki, which has been twice awarded the Red Banner and the Suvorov order. In 1943, during World War II, the regiment included the Normandie squadron of French pilots, which later became the independent regiment known as Normandie-Niemen. In 1995, to commemorate these events, the 18th ShAP received the name Normandie-Niemen. Since March 1993, the unit operates the Sukhoi Su-25 attack aircraft.

In the late 1980s the 11th Army of the Voyska PVO, as it was then, controlled two Corps (23rd in Vladivostok & 8th in Komsomolsk) and three divisions (24th in Petropavlovsk, 29th in Blagoveshchenk and 6th in Okhotsk), 10 fighter aviation regiments (IAPs), 8 SAM brigades/regiments and 9 radio-technical (radar) brigades/regiments.

During the Soviet period, the 11th PVO Army gained headlines due to the defection of Viktor Belenko in September 1976, and the KAL 007 shootdown in 1982.

tructure

*11th Air Army - Khabarovsk
**23rd PVO Corps - HQ at Vladivostok;
***22nd Fighter Aviation Regiment - HQ at Centralnaya Uglovaya (Artem) - Su-27;
***530th Intercepto Aviation Regiment - HQ at Sokolovka - MiG-25PU, MiG-31;
**25th PVO Division - HQ at Komsomolsk na Amure
***23rd Fighter Aviation Regiment - HQ at Dzemgi - Su-27;
**303rd Composite Aviation Division - HQ at Ussuriysk
***277th Bomber Aviation Regiment - HQ at Khurba - Su-24;
***302nd Bomber Aviation Regiment - HQ at Verino - Su-24;
***18th Shturmovik (Assault) Air Regiment - HQ at Galenki - Su-25;
***187th Shturmovik Air Regiment - HQ at Chernigovka - Su-25;
***799th Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment - HQ at Varfolomeyevka - Su-24MR, MiG-25RB(?);
**257th Independent Composite Air Regiment - HQ at Khabarovsk-Bolshoy - An-12, An-26, Mi-8;
**Army Aviation component;
***Unknown Independent Helicopter Regiment - HQ at Dolinsk-Sokol (Dolinsk) - Mi-8;
***319th Independent Helicopter Regiment for Battle Control - HQ at Chernigovka - Mi-24;
***364th Independent Helicopter Regiment - HQ at Srednebelaya - Mi-8, Mi-24, Mi-26;
***825th Independent Helicopter Regiment - HQ at Garovka-2 - Mi-6, Mi-8, Mi-26;

References

*Air Forces Monthly, July & August 2007 issues.
*http://samsv.narod.ru/Arm/av11/arm.html - World War II history