The 2nd Air Defense Division is an
air defence
Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface (Submarine#Armament, submarine-lau ...
military formation
Military organization ( AE) or military organisation ( BE) is the structuring of the armed forces of a state so as to offer such military capability as a national defense policy may require. Formal military organization tends to use hierarc ...
of the
Russian Aerospace Forces
The Russian Aerospace Forces or Russian Air and Space Forces (VKS) comprise the air force, aerial, space force, space warfare, and Missile defense, missile defence Military branch, branches of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. It was ...
. It was previously the 54th Air Defence Corps (), a
corps
Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was formally introduced March 1, 1800, when Napoleon ordered Gener ...
both of the
Soviet Air Defence Forces
The Soviet Air Defence Forces (; ) was the air defence branch of the Soviet Armed Forces.
Formed in 1941, it continued being a service branch of the Russian Armed Forces after 1991 until it was merged into the Air Force in 1998. Unlike Western ...
and later the
Russian Aerospace Forces
The Russian Aerospace Forces or Russian Air and Space Forces (VKS) comprise the air force, aerial, space force, space warfare, and Missile defense, missile defence Military branch, branches of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. It was ...
.
Formed in 1986, the corps served as part of the
6th Independent Air Defense Army and then the
6th Air and Air Defense Forces Army from 1998. It was headquartered near
Leningrad
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
and controlled both
interceptor
Interceptor may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Film and television
* ''The Interceptor'', a British drama series on BBC One
* Interceptor (game show), ''Interceptor'' (game show), a British television game show that ran during 1989
* Interc ...
and
surface-to-air missile
A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground or the sea to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-ai ...
units. It was reorganized into the 2nd Air Defense Brigade in 2009, the 2nd Aerospace Defense Brigade in 2013, and the 2nd Air Defense Division in 2014.
History
Cold War
The 54th Air Defense Corps was formed in the spring of 1986 after the
18th Air Defense Corps was expanded into the
6th Independent Air Defense Army in a return to the organizational system of the 1960s and 1970s. It was headquartered in the village of
Khvoyny near
Taytsy, the former headquarters of the 18th Corps. It included two interceptor fighter aviation regiments: the
MiG-31
The Mikoyan MiG-31 (; NATO reporting name: Foxhound) is a supersonic interceptor aircraft developed for the Soviet Air Forces by the Mikoyan design bureau as a replacement for the earlier MiG-25 "Foxbat"; the MiG-31 is based on and shares de ...
-equipped
180th Guards at
Gromovo
Gromovo (; ) is a settlement in Priozersky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, and a station of the Saint Petersburg-Kuznechnoye railway. Gromovo is situated on the northern shore of the Lake Sukhodolskoye, Karelian Isthmus, in the histor ...
, and the
MiG-23
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 (; NATO reporting name: Flogger) is a variable-geometry fighter aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau in the Soviet Union. It is a third-generation jet fighter, alongside similar Soviet aircra ...
-equipped
177th at
Lodeynoye Pole
Lodeynoye Pole (, lit. ''the field of boats'') is a town and the administrative center of Lodeynopolsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the left bank of the Svir River (Lake Ladoga's basin) northeast of St. Petersburg. ...
. The corps also included five
surface-to-air missile
A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground or the sea to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-ai ...
-armed anti-aircraft rocket brigades: the
83rd 83rd may refer to:
*83rd Academy Awards, a ceremony that honored the best films of 2010 in the United States and took place on February 27, 2011
*83rd Grey Cup, the 1995 Canadian Football League championship game
*83rd meridian east, a line of lon ...
at
Zelenogorsk-4, the
82nd at
Gostilitsy
Gostilitsy () is a village and the administrative center of Gostilitskoye Rural Settlement in Lomonosovsky District, Leningrad Oblast, Lomonosovsky District, Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located several kilometers west of the town of Petergof. Gostil ...
near
Lomonosov
Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov (; , ; – ) was a Russian polymath, scientist and writer, who made important contributions to literature, education, and science. Among his discoveries were the atmosphere of Venus and the law of conservation of ...
, the
84th at
Vaganovo, the
86th at
Stekelyanny near
Ulyanovka (
Sablino), and the
204th Guards at
Korstovo,
Kingiseppsky District
Kingiseppsky District (, ) is an administrativeOblast Law #32-oz and municipalLaw #81-oz district (raion), one of the administrative divisions of Leningrad Oblast, seventeen in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It is located in the southwest of the oblast ...
. Five anti-aircraft rocket regiments were also a part of the corps: the
169th Guards at
Kornevo near
Vsevolozhsk
Vsevolozhsk ( rus, Все́воложск, p=ˈfsʲevələʂsk; ) is a town and the administrative center of Vsevolozhsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on the Karelian Isthmus east of St. Petersburg. Population: The town's ...
, the
219th at
Pervomayskoye-1, the
341st at
Lopukhinka-2 near Gostilitsy, the
555th at
Ostrov-2 (Tishino), and the
967th at
Tikhvin
Tikhvin (; Veps: ) is a town and the administrative center of Tikhvinsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located on both banks of the Tikhvinka River in the east of the oblast, east of St. Petersburg. Tikhvin is also an industrial ...
. The
46th Radio-Technical Brigade at Khvoyny provided
radar
Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...
coverage for the corps.
On 28 May 1987, the forces of the corps were alerted when
Mathias Rust
Mathias Rust (born 1 June 1968) is a German aviator known for his flight that ended with a landing near Red Square in Moscow on 28 May 1987. Then a teenage amateur pilot, he flew from Helsinki, Finland, to Moscow, without authorization. Accordi ...
's aircraft appeared on Soviet radar. The commanders of three battalions from the 204th Brigade reported that they were tracking the aircraft and were ready to launch missiles, but they were not given permission to fire, and Rust slipped through the air defense system.
Russian service
The 219th, 341st, and 967th Regiments were disbanded in 1993. On 15 February of that year, the 169th Guards Regiment was disbanded and its lineage transferred to the 86th Brigade, which briefly became the 157th Guards Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade and in 1994 was redesignated the 1490th Guards Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment. In 1994, the 204th Brigade was reorganized as the 1491st Guards Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment, and after it was disbanded in 1998 its lineage transferred to the 1489th Regiment, the former 84th Brigade, which became the 1489th Guards.
Also in 1994, the 83rd Brigade became the 1488th Regiment, and around the same time the 82nd Brigade combined with the 158th Guards Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade, relocated from Latvia, to become the
500th Guards Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment.
On 1 June 1998, the 6th Independent Air Defense Army merged with the
76th Air Army
The 76th Air Army was a unit of the Soviet Air Forces from 1949 to 1980, and again from 1988 to 1998. As the 13th Air Army, it was originally formed on 25 November 1942 and based on air units of the Leningrad Front.
13th Air Army's initial compone ...
to form the
6th Air and Air Defense Forces Army. The corps became part of the combined unit. The
159th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment at
Besovets
Besovets (; , ; ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, rural locality (a village#Russia, village) in Prionezhsky District of the Republic of Karelia, Russia. Subdivisions of Russia#Municipal divisions, Municipally, it is a part of the Shuy ...
joined the corps by 2000. On 1 July 2002, the 180th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment was disbanded. In 2006, the 141st Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade at
Nenimyaki was transferred from the Ground Forces to the corps and became the 1544th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment, subsequently relocated to
Vladimirsky Lager.
In 2008, the 170th Radio-Technical Brigade at
Petrozavodsk
Petrozavodsk (, ; Karelian language, Karelian, Veps language, Vepsian and ) is the capital city of the Republic of Karelia, Russia, which stretches along the western shore of Lake Onega for some . The population of the city is 280,890 as of 2022.
...
, previously transferred to the corps, was reorganized as the
334th Radio-Technical Regiment.
In 2009, the corps was converted into the 2nd Air Defense Brigade as part of the reform of the Russian Air Forces, and became part of the
1st Air and Air Defense Forces Command. At the same time, the 46th Brigade was converted into the 333rd Radio-Technical Regiment. The 159th Guards and the 177th Fighter Aviation Regiments were disbanded as part of the reforms, leaving the new brigade with no interceptor units. The air defense brigade became the 2nd Aerospace Defense Brigade in 2013 and was reorganized as the 2nd Red Banner Air Defense Division in 2014.
In 2015 it became part of the 6th Air and Air Defense Forces Army when the latter was reformed.
References
Citations
Bibliography
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{{Russian divisions
Air defence units and formations of Russia
Divisions of Russia
Military units and formations established in 2014
Units and formations of the Russian Aerospace Forces