Formations operating supersonic Tu-22M3 bombers were transferred to the Russian Air Force's Long Range Aviation in 2011.

[3] The relatively small fleets, the Baltic and Black Sea, currently have only tactical Su-24 bombers and ASW helicopters in service.

[citation needed] The beginning of the World War I found the Russian Naval Aviation at the stage of organizational formation.

It was planned to deploy air detachments in the Pacific Ocean only by the summer of 1915, but this was not implemented due to the outbreak of the war.

[citation needed] At the beginning of March 1915, the Naval Aviation already had 77 aircraft, including 47 in the Baltic, and 30 seaplanes in the Black Sea.

At the same time, the first assault aviation units appeared in the Navy's Air Force: a squadron of the 57th BAP in the Baltic and the 46th OSHAE in the Black Sea Fleet.

To attack surface ships at long ranges, the Soviet Navy was unique in deploying large numbers of bombers in a maritime role for use by Naval Aviation.

[4] Land-based aircraft such as the Tupolev Tu-16 "Badger" and Tu-22M "Backfire" bombers were deployed with high-speed anti-ship missiles.

Previously believed to be interceptors of NATO supply convoys traveling the sea lines of communication across the North Atlantic Ocean between Europe and North America, the primary role of these aircraft was to protect the Soviet mainland from attacks by U.S. carrier task forces.

[citation needed] On 15 November 2016, Admiral Kuznetsov, took part in "a large-scale operation against the positions of terrorist groups Islamic State and Al-Nusra, in the provinces of Idlib and Homs" in Syria by launching Su-33 fighter strikes.

Russian Defence Ministry later reported that at least 30 militants had been killed as a result of those strikes, including 3 field commanders, among them Abul Baha al-Asfari, leader of Al-Nusra reserves in the provinces of Homs and Aleppo.

[7] During her deployment off Syria, aircraft from Admiral Kuznetsov carried out 420 combat missions, hitting 1,252 hostile targets.

[8] On 11 January 2017, Admiral Kuznetsov was conducting live-fire training exercises in the Mediterranean off the coast of Libya.

[12] The 100th Shipborne Fighter Aviation Regiment (Military Unit Number 45782) was formed at Saki in the Crimea on 10 March 1986.

This is the structure of the Russian Naval Aviation, as reproduced from the August 2007 issue of the Air Forces Monthly.

The planned transfer of Naval Aviation assets (Su-24, Su-27, Tu-22M3, MiG-31) to the Air Force has been delayed[21] due to their importance to the service, but was finally implemented by the end of 2011.

[22] Buying brand new multirole Sukhoi Su-30SM for the Black Sea Fleet to replace Su-24 was in the planning stages and it has been completed as of December 2016.

A major divergence from the practice in the NATO member states and the countries, which follow US air force traditions is that the Soviet Union, its Warsaw Pact and other Socialist allies (such as Vietnam, North Korea, Cuba etc.)

The only exceptions were Mixed Aviation Regiments, (which performed liaison and transport tasks for armies, military districts etc.

and had a fleet of An-24/ An-26 planes and Mi-8/ Mi-9 helicopters) or rarely air regiments, which flew one single type in different variants and tasks (for example a Tu-22 naval missile-carrying aviation regiment flying 1-2 missile-carrying aviation squadrons and a squadron of reconnaissance or EW variants).

[citation needed] The 2008 Russian military reform planned during the term of Anatoly Serdyukov changed that.

Naval High Command (Главное командование Военно-Морского Флота) — Saint Petersburg The Northern Fleet was subordinated to the Western Military District, but with the re-vitalization of Russia's interests in the High Arctic it was decided to make it part of the core of a new, fifth, military district - the Northern Fleet Joint Strategic Command.

Northern Fleet Joint Strategic Command (Объединённое стратегическое командование «Северный флот») — Severomorsk Order of Lenin Leningrad Military District (Ленингра́дский вое́нный о́круг (ЛВО)) — Saint Petersburg Red Banner and Order of Suvorov Southern Military District (Краснознамённый ордена Суворова Южный военный округ (ЮВО)) – Rostov-on-Don Red Banner and Order of Suvorov Southern Military District (Краснознамённый ордена Суворова Южный военный округ (ЮВО)) – Rostov-on-Don Order of Lenin, Twice [awarded the] Red Banner and Order of Suvorov Eastern Military District (Ордена Ленина, дважды Краснознамённый, ордена Суворова Восточный военный округ) – Khabarovsk The Russian Naval Aviation maintains a large and varied fleet of fixed-wing and rotary aircraft, the most numerous of which is the Kamov Ka-27 anti-submarine helicopter that operates from various surface ships.