Soviet_Air_Defence_Forces

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Soviet Air Defence Forces

Voyska PVO (Russian: Войска ПВО, or PVO Strany until 1981) was the air defense branch of the Soviet military. It continued being a service branch of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation from 1991 to 1998. PVO is short for ProtivoVozdushnaya Oborona or "Anti-Air Defense". Unlike Western air defense forces, PVO National Air Defence Troops was a branch of the military unto itself, separate from the Soviet Air Force (VVS). During the Soviet period it was generally ranked third in importance of the Soviet services, behind the Strategic Rocket Forces and the Ground Troops.

While the preparations for creation of the Air-Defence forces commenced in 1932, and by the start of WWII there were 13 PVO zones located within the military districts, the real growth of the Service was during the four years of the Second World War. During World War II its formations were organised as PVO Fronts, Air Armies of PVO and forces of the PVO of military district, such as the Baku Air Defence Army. The largest of these, the PVO Fronts (Фронты ПВО), had the following service history:

Western Front PVO

1st formation 29 June 1943 - 20 April 1944 renamed to Headquarters, Northern PVO Front
2nd formation 24 December 1944 - 9 May 1945 formed from Headquarters, Northern PVO Front

Moscow Front PVO 6 April 1942 - 10 July 1943 formed from Headquarters, Moscow PVO Corps Region; reflagged as Headquarters, Special Moscow PVO Army
Northern Front PVO 21 April 1944 - 23 December 1944 formed from Headquarters, Western PVO Front (1st formation); reflagged as Headquarters, Western PVO Front (2nd formation)
Southwestern Front PVO 24 December 1944 - 9 May 1945 formed from Headquarters, Southern PVO Front
Southern Front PVO 21 April 1944 - 24 December 1944 formed from Headquarters, Eastern PVO Front; reflagged as Headquarters, Southwestern PVO Front

These are not to be confused with their surface namesakes, and often covered airspace over several ground Fronts.

Until the 1949 reforms of the Soviet Armed Forces, the air component was divided (as of 1945) into:

Active army (Действующая армия) air forces assigned to fighting Fronts known as Frontal Aviation
Forces of PVO for territorial defence (voiska PVO teritorii Strany) (Войска ПВО территории страны)
Army of PVO on the sovereign territory (армия ПВО территории страны)
Reserve of the STAVKA of the Forces of High Command (Резерв Ставки ВГК)
PVO of the Military Districts (Военные округа)
PVO of inactive Fronts (недействующие фронты)

The Service's first commander-in-chief was Marshal of the Soviet Union Leonid Govorov, appointed in 1954.

From the 1950s the PVO's principal role was to be ready to intercept United States Strategic Air Command bombers and reconnaissance aircraft if they penetrated Soviet airspace. There were a number of U.S. aircraft shot down while operating around the Soviet borders, but the PVO gained an important victory on May 1, 1960, when a S-75 Dvina missile downed Gary Powers' U-2, causing the short U-2 crisis of 1960. The PVO had its own chain of command, schools, radar and sound director sites. From the mid 1960s however, PRO, anti-rocket defence, and PKO, anti-space defence, troops began gaining strength, eventually forming the basis for now-Russian Space Forces. Organisationally there were two main PVO districts for most of the USSR's postwar history, Moscow and Baku, and the rest of the country was divided into PVO regions.

In a 1981 reorganization, Voyska PVO was stripped of many command and control and training assets, which were given to the Air Force.

On September 1, 1983 the PVO shot down Korean Air Flight 007 after they correctly believed that the civilian airliner had illegally crossed into restricted Soviet airspace but mistook it for a spy plane. Previously Korean Air Flight 902 had once crossed into Murmansk airspace, and had to make an emergency landing when a Soviet Air Force Su-15 fired on it. Soviet government officials finally admitted their mistake much to the anger of the South Korean and the United States governments.

Mathias Rust's flight to Moscow in May 1987 caused a massive shakeup within the PVO. It seems that after the KAL 007 shootdown of 1983, no one was willing to give an order to bring Rust's tiny Cessna down, and modernisation programmes within the PVO had led to the installation of radar and communications systems at the state border that could not effectively pass tracking data to systems closer to Moscow. PVO Commander-in-Chief General A.I. Koldunov was only among the first to be removed. Over 150 officers, mostly from the PVO, were tried in court and removed from their posts. A large-scale changeover of senior officers more generally followed as well.

In 1998, the force groupings and headquarters of the PVO that had remained within Russia were merged with the Russian Air Force. The Day of Troops of Country Air Defense (Den' Voysk PVO Strany) was celebrated on 10 April in the USSR.

Commanders-in-Chief

Marshal of the Soviet Union Leonid Govorov 1954-1955
Marshal of the Soviet Union Sergei Biriuzov 1955-1962
Marshal of Aviation V.A. Sudets 1962-1966
Marshal of the Soviet Union Pavel Batitsky 1966-1978
Marshal of Aviation A.I. Koldunov 1978-May 1987
General of the Army I.M. Тretyak 31 May 1987-24 August 1991
General Viktor A Prudinkov (ПРУДНИКОВ) с 09/1991-December 1997
General Colonel Viktor P Sinitsin (СИНИЦИН Виктор Павлович) Dec 1997 - Feb 1998

The post was then disestablished with the merger of the PVO and VVS.

Structure

The PVO structure during the Cold War and in Russia until 1998 consisted of three specialized branches: the Radiotechnical Troops (радиотехнические войска), Surface-to-Air Missile Troops (зенитно-ракетные войска), and Fighter Aviation (истребительная авиация). Armies, corps, and divisions of the PVO were made up of units from all three branches.