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'Voyska PVO' (Russian: Войска ПВО, or 'PVO Strany' until 1981) was the air defense branch of the Soviet military. PVO is short for ''Protivovozdushnaya Oborona'' or "'Air Defense'". It was separated from the Ground Forces in 1948, and had its first commander-in-chief, Marshal of the Soviet Union L.A. Govorov, designated in 1954. During the Soviet period it was generally ranked third in importance of the Soviet services, behind the Strategic Rocket Forces and the Ground Troops.
Unlike Western air defense forces, PVO Strany was a branch of the military unto itself, separate from the Soviet Air Force (VVS). During World War II its formations included the Baku Air Defence Army. Its principal role was designed to intercept United States Strategic Air Command bombers as they penetrated Soviet airspace in a Cold War scenario. It had its own chain of command, schools, radar and sound director sites. It was composed of three main branches; fighter interceptor units, radio technical troops, and surface to air missiles (or 'zenith rocket troops'). 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 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.
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.

Contents

Commanders-in-Chief

Structure

Inventory (1987/1990)

See also

References

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 K A Пгшпников (с 09 1991)

Structure

The PVO structure in the last years of the USSR included:

★ 2nd Air Army (Belarussian Military District)

★ 6th Air Army (Leningrad Military District)

★ 8th Air Army

★ 10th Air Army

★ 11th Air Army (Far East Military District)

★ 12th Air Army

★ 14th Air Army

★ 19th Air Army (Transcaucasus Military District)
It also contained three specialized branches: the Radiotechnical Troops (радиотехнические войска),
Surface-to-Air Missile Troops (зенитно-ракетные войска), and Fighter Aviation (истребительная авиация).

Inventory (1987/1990)

The PVO inventory of 1987 was:
;1210 interceptors : 420 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23
:305 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25
:240 Sukhoi Su-15
:5 Sukhoi Su-27
:80 Tupolev Tu-28
:65 Yakovlev Yak-28
:95 Mikoyan MiG-31
;AWACS aircraft : 7 Tupolev Tu-126
:1 Beriev A-50 Shmel
Surface to air missiles on strength in 1990 included:^[1]
:1400 S-25 Berkut (being replaced by the S-300)
:2400 S-75 Dvina
:1000 S-125 (300+ sites, 2 or 4 missile launchers/rails)
:1950 S-200 (130 sites)
:1700 S-300 (85 sites, 15 more building)

See also

★ List of Soviet Air Force bases

References

1. George M. Mellinger, Chapter IV, Soviet Deployments and Military Districts, 1990, in Soviet Armed Forces Review Annual 14:1990, Academic International Press


★ Scott and Scott, The Armed Forces of the USSR, Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, 1979

★ William E Odom, The Collapse of the Soviet Military, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 1998 (Rust affair)