The 5th Army of VVS and PVO (''5-я Краснознамённая армия военно-воздушных сил и противовоздушной обороны'') was the

Russian Air Force The Russian Air Force () is a branch of the Russian Aerospace Forces, the latter being formed on 1 August 2015 with the merging of the Russian Air Force and the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the reb ...

's smallest Air Army, with the headquarters located in

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg (, ; ), alternatively Romanization of Russian, romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( ; 1924–1991), is a city and the administrative centre of Sverdlovsk Oblast and the Ural Federal District, Russia. The ci ...

. Its zone of responsibility was the Volga-Ural Military District, on the border between

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. The army shared its numerical numbering, but little history/lineage, with the

Soviet Air Forces The Soviet Air Forces (, VVS SSSR; literally "Military Air Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics"; initialism VVS, sometimes referred to as the "Red Air Force") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Sovie ...

5th Air Army The 5th Air Army (''5 Vozdushnaya Armiya'') was an air army of the Soviet Air Forces and later the Ukrainian Air Force. First formed in 1942 during World War II, the army provided air support to Soviet forces through the rest of the war, and was re ...

of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

History

After the fall of the Soviet Union, the

4th Independent Air Defence Army The 4th Independent Air Defence Army (Russian: 4-я отдельная армия ПВО) was an army of the Soviet Air Defence Forces. It was formed on 10 April 1960 from the Uralskaya Air Defence Army at Sverdlovsk, Sverdlovsk Oblast. It carried ...

of the former

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 ...

remained operating with its headquarters at

. Either on 10 June 1994 or in December 1994 the army became the 5th Independent Air Defence Corps. On 1 May 1998 this brought in air forces formations (as listed a

an

and became the 5th Independent Corps of VVS and PVO. On 1 January 2001 (Holm, date of the directive?) or 1 June 2001 (Ivlev, note 1) the formation became the 5th Army of the VVS and PVO. Until October 2003 and the creation of the Russian airbase at Kant (air base), Kant, Kyrgyzstan in Kyrgyzstan where a small number of

Sukhoi Su-25 The Sukhoi Su-25 ''Grach'' ( ('' rook''); NATO reporting name: Frogfoot) is a subsonic, single-seat, twin-engine jet aircraft developed in the Soviet Union by Sukhoi. It was designed to provide close air support for Soviet Ground Forces. Th ...

attack aircraft were located, the Air Army had no combat aircraft. It had only three regiments of

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 ...

s (

Samara Samara, formerly known as Kuybyshev (1935–1991), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast in Russia. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara (Volga), Samara rivers, with a population of over 1.14 ...

and

Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''

Chelyabinsk Higher Military Aviation School of Navigators. The

764th Fighter Aviation Regiment The 764th Fighter Aviation Regiment (Military Unit Number 88503) is a regiment of the Russian Aerospace Forces, based at Bolshoye Savino Airport near Perm. History The 764th Regiment was activated on 15 June 1952 at Bolshoye Savino Airport at P ...

, operating

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 ...

aircraft, which was stationed at

Bolshoye Savino Airport Perm International Airport () is an international airport located at Bolshoye Savino, southwest of the city of Perm, Russia. It is the only airport in Perm Krai with scheduled commercial flights, and serves as Perm's main civilian airport, wi ...

16 km southwest of

Perm Perm or PERM may refer to: Places * Perm, Russia, a city in Russia **Permsky District, the district **Perm Krai, a federal subject of Russia since 2005 **Perm Oblast, a former federal subject of Russia 1938–2005 ** Perm Governorate, an administr ...

, within the 5th Air Army's zone, was subordinated directly to the Air Forces HQ in Moscow. In addition to the Kant airbase established in 2003, possibly another air base in

Dushanbe Dushanbe is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Tajikistan. , Dushanbe had a population of 1,564,700, with this population being largely Tajiks, Tajik. Until 1929, the city was known in Russian as Dyushambe, and from 1929 to 1961 as St ...

Tajikistan Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital city, capital and most populous city. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border, south, Uzbekistan to ...

, was subordinate to the 5th A VVS i PVO. From July 2007 to its disbandment, the commander of the 5th Army was Lieutenant General Mikhail Kucheryavy. In 2007, 12 Mi-24 and 12 Mi-8s of the Army took part in the joint Sino-Russian exercise

Peace Mission 2007 The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a Eurasian politics, political, economy, economic, international security and Defence (military), defence organization of ten member states. It was established in 2001 by the China, People's Republic ...

. On 7 May 2009 the Army was disbanded and its units incorporated within the new

2nd Air and Air Defence Forces Command The 14th Air and Air Defence Forces Army () is an air army of the Russian Aerospace Forces, part of the Central Military District and headquartered at Yekaterinburg. It was formed in 1998 from the 14th Independent Air Defence Army when the Russian ...

and the

4th Air and Air Defence Forces Command The 4th Air and Air Defence Forces Command was a formation of the Russian Air Force. It was formed on 1 December 2009 from the amalgamation of the 4th Air and Air Defence Forces Army and 5th Air and Air Defence Forces Army. The command's headqua ...

, along with the

4th Air and Air Defence Forces Army The 4th Guards Air and Air Defence Forces Army () is an Air army (Soviet Union), air army of the Russian Aerospace Forces, part of the Southern Military District and headquartered in Rostov-on-Don. The 4th Air Army (''4 Vozdushnaya Armiya'') was ...

Commanders

* General-Lieutenant Nikolay Petrovich Timofeev, 1990 - 1995 * General-Lieutenant Nikolay Ivanovich Makarchuk, 1995 - 1997 * General-Lieutenant Evgeniy Leonidovich Yurev, 1997 - 6.07 * General-Lieutenant , June 2007 - 2009

2007 Russian Structure

*Headquarters, 5th Air Army -

** 30th Aviation Base - HQ at Koltsovo near

An-26 The Antonov An-26 (NATO reporting name: Curl) is a twin-engined turboprop civilian and military transport aircraft, designed and produced in the Soviet Union from 1969 to 1986.Gordon, Yefim. Komissarov, Dmitry & Sergey. "Antonov's Turboprop Twins ...

(former 142nd Independent Composite Air Squadron); **303rd Independent Helicopter Squadron (

Hisor Hisor () or Hisar (, ''Gissar'') is a city in western Tajikistan, about 15 km west of Dushanbe. The city was the seat of the former Hisar District, and is part of the Districts of Republican Subordination. It lies at an altitude of 799–824 ...

) **320th Independent Transport Squadron of Search & Rescue Service - HQ at Uprun (Troitsk), near

Chelyabinsk Chelyabinsk; , is the administrative center and largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. It is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, seventh-largest city in Russia, with a population ...

Mi-8 The Mil Mi-8 (, NATO reporting name: Hip) is a medium twin-turbine helicopter, originally designed by the Soviet Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI) in the 1960s and introduced into the Soviet Air Force in 1968. Russian production of t ...

; **999th Air Base - HQ at

Kant, Kyrgyzstan Kant () is a town in the Chüy Valley of northern Kyrgyzstan, some east of Bishkek. It is the administrative center of the Ysyk-Ata District (formerly Kant District). Its population was 22,617 in 2021. Kant was established in 1928. The Kyrgyz ...

- L-39, Mi-8,

Su-25 The Sukhoi Su-25 ''Grach'' ( ('' rook''); NATO reporting name: Frogfoot) is a subsonic, single-seat, twin-engine jet aircraft developed in the Soviet Union by Sukhoi. It was designed to provide close air support for Soviet Ground Forces. The ...

; *76th Air Defence Division (Samara) **511th Guards Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment (Engels, Saratov Oblast) **185th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment (former 57th SAM Brigade) ( Beryozovsky/Берёзовский, Sverdlovsk Oblast) **568th(?) Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment (Samara) - in December 1993 renamed from 134th Red Banner Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade **One radiotechnical brigade, one radiotechnical regiment (radar) *Army Aviation component ***793rd Independent Helicopter Regiment - HQ at Kinel'-Cherkasy - Mi-8,

Mi-26 The Mil Mi-26 (, NATO reporting name: Halo) is a Soviet Union, Soviet/Russian heavy Military transport helicopter, transport helicopter. Its product code is ''Izdeliye 90''. Operated by both military and civilian operators, it is the largest ...

; ***237th Independent Helicopter Squadron - HQ at Bobrovka - Mi-8,

Mi-24 The Mil Mi-24 (; NATO reporting name: Hind) is a large helicopter gunship, attack helicopter and low-capacity transport helicopter, troop transport with room for eight passengers. It is produced by Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant and was introduced ...

;

References

* * *

Air Forces Monthly ''Air Forces Monthly'' (AFM) is a military aviation magazine published by Key Publishing Ltd, based at Stamford in the English county of Lincolnshire in the United Kingdom. Established in 1988, the magazine provides news and analysis on mi ...

, July & August 2007 issues. {{Russian Air Force 05 Military units and formations established in 2001 Military units and formations disestablished in 2009