Russian Aerospace Forces

Combined air and space forces of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation

Russian Aerospace Forces

Воздушно-космические силы

Emblem of the Russian Aerospace Forces

Founded| 1 August 2015; 9 years ago (2015-08-01)
Country| Russia
Type| Air and space force
Role|

* Aerial warfare
* Space warfare
* Missile defense

Size| 165,000 personnel (2020)[1]
Part of|  Russian Armed Forces
Headquarters| Arbat District, Moscow
Colors|

*   Light Blue
*   Dark Blue
*   Gold
*   Silver

March| "Air March" (Russian: "Авиамарш") (official march-past of the Air Force)
"14 Minutes Until Launch" (Russian: "14 минут до старта") (official march of the Space Forces)
Anniversaries| Air Force Day
(12 August)
Engagements|

* Intervention in the Syrian Civil War
* Russo-Ukrainian War

Website| eng.mil.ru/forces/aerospace
Commanders
Supreme Commander-in-Chief| President Vladimir Putin
Minister of Defense| Andrey Belousov
Commander-in-Chief| Colonel General Viktor Afzalov
Chief of the Main Staff| Lieutenant General Aleksandr Maksimtsev
Insignia
Flag|
Roundel|
Patch|
Middle emblem|
Insignia|

Military unit

Russian Armed Forces

* Ministry of Defence

Staff

* General Staff of the Armed Forces

Services (vid)

* Russian Ground Forces
* Russian Aerospace Forces
* Russian Navy

Independent troops (rod)

* Strategic Rocket Forces
* Russian Airborne Forces

Special operations force (sof)

* Special Operations Forces

Other troops

* Logistical Support

Military districts

* Leningrad Military District
* Moscow Military District
* Southern Military District
* Central Military District
* Eastern Military District

History of the Russian military

* Military history of Russia
* History of Russian military ranks
* Military ranks of the Soviet Union

* v
* t
* e

President Putin presenting the banner of the Aerospace Forces to Viktor Bondarev

The Russian Aerospace Forces[2][a] or Russian Air and Space Forces[3] (VKS[b]) comprise the aerial, space warfare, and missile defence branches of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. It was established on 1 August 2015 with the merging of the Russian Air Force (VVS) and the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces (VVKO), as recommended by the Ministry of Defence to improve efficiency and logistical support.[4] The VKS is headquartered in Moscow.[5]

## Organisation

[edit]

### Branches

[edit]

With the merging of the Russian Air Force and the Russian Aerospace Defense Forces, the Russian Aerospace Forces is a unified command consisting of the following branches:[6][7]

* Air Force
* Air and Missile Defense Forces
* Space Forces

Main Command of the Aerospace Forces (Главное командование Воздушно-космическими силами) Command Staff

Commander-in-Chief Aerospace Forces
(Главнокомандующий Воздушно-космическими силами)  | Army general / Colonel general
Chief of the Main Staff - First Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces
(Начальник Главного штаба — первый заместитель Главнокомандующего Воздушно-космическими силами)  | Colonel general / Lieutenant general
Deputy Commander-in-Chief Aerospace Forces
(Заместитель Главнокомандующего Воздушно-космическими силами)  | Colonel general / Lieutenant general
Chiefs of branches, deputy commanders:
Commander of the Air Force, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Aerospace Forces

(Командующий Военно-воздушными силами — заместитель Главнокомандующего Воздушно-космическими силами)

Colonel general / Lieutenant general

| Commander of the Aerospace and Missile Defense Forces, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Aerospace Forces

(Командующий Войсками противовоздушной и противоракетной обороны — заместитель Главнокомандующего Воздушно-космическими силами)

Colonel general / Lieutenant general

| Commander of the Space Forces, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Aerospace Forces

(Командующий Космическими войсками — заместитель Главнокомандующего Воздушно-космическими силами)

Colonel general / Lieutenant general

Functional deputy commanders:
Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Aerospace Forces for Military-Political Work (Заместитель Главнокомандующего Воздушно-космическими силами по военно-политической работе)

Major general

| Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Aerospace Forces for Logistics (Заместитель Главнокомандующего Воздушно-космическими силами по материально-техническому обеспечению)

Major general

| Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Aerospace Forces for Armaments (Заместитель Главнокомандующего Воздушно-космическими силами по вооружению)

Major general

### Leadership

[edit]

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|

As of 2024:  Position  | Name  | Start date  | End date

|
|
|

Commander of the Aerospace Forces | Colonel General Viktor Bondarev | 1 August 2015  | 26 September 2017
Lieutenant General Pavel Kurachenko (acting)  | 26 September 2017  | 22 November 2017
Army General Sergei Surovikin | 22 November 2017  | 22 August 2023
Colonel General Viktor Afzalov | 20 August 2023 (acting)
20 October 2023
First Deputy Commander of the Aerospace Forces
(Chief of the Main Staff)  | Lieutenant General Pavel Kurachenko  | 1 September 2015  | July 2018
Lieutenant General Viktor Afzalov | August 2018  | August 2023
Lieutenant General Aleksandr Maksimtsev | 20 August 2023  |
Deputy Commander of the Aerospace Forces | Lieutenant General Sergey Dronov | 1 August 2015  | 2019
Lieutenant General Andrei Yudin | 2019  | 2023
Colonel General Vladimir Kravchenko | 2023  |
Deputy Commanders of the Aerospace Forces
Commander of the Air Force | Colonel General Andrei Yudin | 1 September 2015  | July 2019
Lieutenant General Sergey Dronov | July 2019  | 24 July 2024
Lieutenant General Sergey Kobylash | 24 July 2024  |
Commander of the Aerospace and Missile Defense Forces | Lieutenant General Viktor Gumyonny | 1 September 2015  | 2018
Lieutenant General Yury Grekhov | 2018  | 2021
Lieutenant General Andrey Dyomin | 2021  | May 2023
Lieutenant General Andrei Semyonov | May 2023  |
Commander of the Space Forces | Colonel General Aleksandr Golovko | 1 September 2015[6] |
Deputy Commander for Work with Personnel | Major General Andrei Kazakevich  | unknown  | unknown
Lieutenant General Aleksandr Maksimtsev  | 2019  | 2023
Deputy Commander for Logistics | Lieutenant General Vladimir Trishunkin  | unknown  | unknown
Lieutenant General Zabit Kheirbekov | unknown  |
Deputy Commander for Armaments | Colonel Andrei Medvedkov  | unknown  | unknown
Major General Sergei Meshcheryakov  | unknown  | 2021
Colonel General Yury Grekhov | 2021  |

### Order of battle

[edit]

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|

The Aerospace Forces are organised in air armies.

Air Forces High Command (Главное командование ВВС) (Moscow)

* Units directly subordinated to the High Command (Части центрального подчинения ВВС)
* operationally subordinated to the High Command:
* Military Transport Aviation Command (Командование военно-транспортной авиации) (Moscow)
* Long-Range Aviation Command (Командование дальней авиации) (Moscow)
* operationally subordinated to the Western Military District:
* 6th Leningrad Red Banner Army of Air Forces and Air Defence (6-я Ленинградская Краснознамённая армия ВВС и ПВО) (Saint Petersburg)
* operationally subordinated to the Southern Military District:
* 4th Red Banner Army of Air Forces and Air Defence (4-я Краснознамённая армия ВВС и ПВО) (Rostov-on-Don)
* operationally subordinated to the Central Military District:
* 14th Red Banner Army of Air Forces and Air Defence (14-я Краснознамённая армия ВВС и ПВО) (Yekaterinburg)
* operationally subordinated to the Eastern Military District:
* 11th Red Banner Army of Air Forces and Air Defence (11-я Краснознамённая армия ВВС и ПВО) (Khabarovsk)
* operationally subordinated to the Northern Fleet Joint Strategic Command:
* 45th Air and Air Defence Forces Army (45-я Армия ВВС и ПВО) (Severomorsk-2) - uniquely the aviation units of the 45th Army belong administratively to the Naval Aviation and the ground-based missile air defence units belong to the Air Forces air defence branch.

Air Defence and Anti-Missile Defence Forces Command (Командование войск ПВО-ПРО) (Moscow)

* 1st Order of Lenin Air and AntiRocket Defence Army (Special Purpose) (1-я ордена Ленина армия противовоздушной и противоракетной обороны (особого назначения)) (Balashikha, Moscow Oblast) - air cover of the Moscow area.
* 4th Air Defence Division "Hero of the Soviet Union Lt.-Gen. B. P. Kirpikov" (4-я дивизия ПВО имени Героя Советского Союза генерал-лейтенанта Б.П. Кирпикова) (Dolgoprudny, Moscow Oblast) (armed with the S-300PM/PS and the S-400 missile systems)
* 5th Air Defence Division (5-я дивизия ПВО) (Petrovskoe, Moscow Oblast) (armed with the S-300PM and the S-400 missile systems)
* 9th Anti-Ballistic Missile Defence Division (9-я дивизия ПРО) (Sofrino, Moscow Oblast) (armed with the A-135 anti-ballistic missile system)

Space Forces Command (Командование космических войск) (Krasnoznamensk, Moscow Oblast)

* 15th Aerospace Forces Army (Special Purpose) (15-я армия Воздушно-космических сил (особого назначения)) (Krasnoznamensk)
* 1st State Test Cosmodrome of the Russian Federation Ministry of Defence "Plesetsk" (1-й Государственный испытательный космодром Министерства обороны Российской Федерации «Плесецк»)
* Space Forces Arsenal (Арсенал космических войск) (Znamenka-1 village, Tambov Oblast)

## Ranks and rank insignia

[edit]

Main article: Aerospace Forces ranks and insignia of the Russian Federation

Officer ranks
Rank group  | General / flag officers  | Senior officers  | Junior officers

|
|
|

Russian Aerospace Forces[8]

* v
* t
* e

|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Генера́л а́рмии
Generál ármii | Генера́л-полко́вник
Generál-polkóvnik | Генера́л-лейтена́нт
Generál-leytenánt | Генера́л-майо́р
Generál-mayór | Полко́вник
Polkóvnik | Подполко́вник
Podpolkóvnik | Майо́р
Majór | Kапита́н
Kapitán | Старший лейтена́нт
Stárshiy leytenánt | Лейтенант
Leytenant | Mла́дший лейтена́нт
Mládshiy leytenánt

Other ranks
Rank group  | General / flag officers  | Senior officers  | Junior officers

|
|
|

Russian Aerospace Forces[8]

* v
* t
* e

|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |
Ста́рший пра́порщик
Stárshiy práporshchik | Пра́порщик
Práporshchyk | Старшина́
Starshyná | Ста́рший сержа́нт
Stárshiy serzhánt | Сержа́нт
Serzhánt | Мла́дший сержа́нт
Mládshiy serzhánt | Ефре́йтор
Efréĭtor | Рядово́й
Ryadovóy

## See also

[edit]

* Russian Naval Aviation
* Strategic Missile Forces
* United States Department of the Air Force
* United States Air Force
* United States Space Force
* List of Russian military bases

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Russian: Воздушно-космические силы, romanized: Vozdushno-kosmicheskiye sily
2. ^ Russian: ВКС

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Russian Armed Forces: Military Modernization and Reforms" (PDF). Washington, D.C.: Congressional Research Service. 20 July 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 April 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
2. ^ "Russia establishes Aerospace Forces as new armed service — Defense Minister". Archived from the original on 2017-03-21. Retrieved 2017-03-20.
3. ^ "6 Dead in Fire at Russian Aerospace Defense Research Institute – State Media". The Moscow Times. 21 April 2022.
4. ^ Compare: Russia establishes Aerospace Forces as new armed service — Defense Minister Archived 2016-05-13 at the Wayback Machine, tass.ru, 3 August 2015. - "'The formation of the Aerospace Forces by combining the Air Force and the Aerospace Defense Force is the optimal option for improving the system of the country's aerospace defense,' Shoigu said. [...] 'Now the single command unites aviation, air defense and anti-missile defense troops, space forces and means of the armed forces' [...]."
5. ^ Шойгу объявил о создании нового вида ВС - Воздушно-космических сил Archived 2015-08-05 at the Wayback Machine, ria.ru/defense, 3 August 2015
6. ^ a b Russia creates new Aerospace Force service branch Archived 2015-12-27 at the Wayback Machine, janes.com, 4 August 2015
7. ^ "Воздушно-космические силы". structure.mil.ru. Retrieved 2023-07-26.
8. ^ a b "Указ Президента Российской Федерации от 11 марта 2010 года № 293 "О военной форме одежды, знаках различия военнослужащих и ведомственных знаках отличия"". rg.ru (in Russian). Российской газеты. 12 March 2010. Retrieved 26 May 2021.

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Russian Aerospace Forces.

* Russian Aerospace Forces official site (English)

* v
* t
* e

Russian Armed Forces

Leadership|

* President of Russia as Supreme Commander-in-Chief
* Minister of Defence
* Ministry of Defence
* Chief of the General Staff and First Deputy Minister of Defence
* General Staff
* Commander-in-Chief of the Ground Forces
* Commander-in-Chief of the Navy

| Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces|

* Commander of the Air Force
* Commander of the Missile Defence Forces
* Commander of the Space Forces

|

General|

| Military|

* History
* Doctrine
* Military deception
* Bases
* Bases abroad
* Budget
* Bands
* Banner
* Military reform
* 1997
* 2001
* 2008

|

* Weapons of mass destruction
* Awards and emblems
* General Staff Building
* Main Building of the Ministry of Defense
* Defense industry
* Military-Industrial Commission
* War crimes
* Uniforms
* EMR camouflage
* Conscription laws
* Women
* Culture
* Honorary weapons

Military districts|

| Previous|

* Volga–Ural (Volga
* Ural)
* Northern
* North Caucasus
* Siberian
* Far Eastern
* Kaliningrad Special Region
* Western

|

Current|

* Moscow
* HQ: Moscow
* Leningrad
* HQ: Saint Petersburg
* Southern
* HQ: Rostov-on-Don
* Central
* HQ: Yekaterinburg
* Eastern
* HQ: Khabarovsk

Fleets of the Navy|

* Baltic
* Black Sea
* Caspian
* Northern
* Arctic Ocean Flotilla
* Pacific
* Kamchatka Flotilla

Military ranks and insignia|

* Ground Forces
* Air Force
* Navy
* Armed Forces 1994–2010

Services|

| Ground Forces troops|

* Air Defence
* Missile Troops and Artillery‎
* Engineer
* Signal
* Tank
* NBC Protection
* Topographic

|

Navy|

* Ensign
* Coastal Troops
* Infantry
* Commando Frogmen
* Aviation
* Hydrography

|

Aerospace Forces|

* Air Force
* Long Range Aviation
* Air and Missile Defense Forces
* Space Forces
* Aerospace Defence Forces
* Radio-Technical Troops

|

Special Forces|

* Special Operations Forces
* Special Forces of the Main Directorate

|

* Reserve of the Supreme High Command
* BARS

Independent|

Airborne Forces (Commander)
* Strategic Rocket Forces (Commander)

| Logistical Support troops|

* Road
* Railway

|

Departments in the
Ministry of Defence
and General Staff|

| Main Directorate|

* Automobiles and Tanks
* Combat Training and Service of Troops
* General Staff (GRU)
* Military Medical
* Military Police
* Military-Political
* Missile and Artillery (GRAU)
* Operational
* Organizational-Mobilizational
* 12th
* Deep-Sea Research

|

* National Defense Management Center
* Military Band Service
* Military Representatives
* Krasnaya Zvezda
* Central Television and Radio Studio
* Rear of the Russian Armed Forces

Equipment|

* Ground Forces' equipment
* Air Forces' equipment
* Navy ships
* Future of the Russian Navy

Military education|

| Previous|

* Page Corps
* Cadet Corps
* Naval Cadet Corps
* Military academies in the Soviet Union
* Military departments of civilian universities

|

Current|

* Adjunctura
* Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces
* Military academies in Russia
* Military commissioning schools
* Military training centers of civilian universities
* Military-focused secondary schools
* Suvorov Military School
* Nakhimov Naval School

* v
* t
* e

List of space forces and space commands

Space forces|

* China
* Russia
* United States

Air and Space force|

* Colombia
* France
* Iran
* Russia
* Spain

Air forces with space units and formations|

* Australia
* Brazil
* Canada
* Germany
* Iran
* Israel
* Japan
* Netherlands
* New Zealand
* North Korea
* Pakistan
* South Korea
* Thailand
* Turkey
* United Kingdom
* Vietnam

Space commands|

* Australia
* Brazil
* France
* India
* Italy
* Japan
* NATO
* NORAD
* Peru
* Russia
* South Korea
* United Kingdom
* United States

Ranks and insignia of space forces

* v
* t
* e

Leadership of the Russian Aerospace Forces

Commander-in-Chief|

* Bondarev
* Kurachenko
* Surovikin
* Afzalov

Chief of the Main Staff and
First Deputy Commander-in-Chief|

* Kurachenko
* Afzalov
* Maksimtsev

Deputy Commander-in-Chief|

* Dronov
* Yudin
* Kravchenko

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