In accordance with a 19 March 1956 Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union decree directing the strengthening of air defence in Siberia and the Urals, in addition to the interceptor air defence units, dozens of radio-technical and surface-to-air missile units were formed, and along the northern Arctic Ocean coast a network of long-range radar stations was created to detect enemy aviation.

[1] During the spring and summer of 1960, the headquarters of the corps was reorganized into that of the 14th Independent Air Defence Army (14-й Краснознамённая армия ПВО).

The army was expanded in 1969 by the creation of the 22nd Air Defence Division headquarters at Norilsk to take over control of the radar station network along the northern Arctic coast.

In spring 1980, the 33rd Air Defence Division headquarters was relocated to the Transbaikal Military District and the units formerly part of the division fell under the new 56th Air Defence Corps at Semipalatinsk, which became part of the Central Asian Military District.

[2] The 50th Guards Air Defence Corps at Atamanovka, responsible for Transbaikalia, became part of the army in early 1989 after the Soviet withdrawal from Mongolia.

Its zone of responsibility covered the huge area of the Siberian Military District, Air Forces Monthly (AFM) said, and its headquarters was located in Novosibirsk.

The 21st SAD appears to date from the establishment of the 21st Bomber Aviation Division (Military Unit Number 17954) as part of the 23rd Air Army in 1979 at Dzhida.

The new base (Military Unit Number 69806) was equipped with Sukhoi Su-24M bombers and Su-24MR reconnaissance aircraft and stationed at Chelyabinsk Shagol Airport.