It was originally formed in 1984 as a fighter-bomber aviation division.

The division became a bomber aviation division four years later and was based in Bolshoye Shiraki in the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic.

[1] In August 1984, the 36th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Division was activated in Bolshoye Shiraki, part of Transcaucasian Military District Aviation.

It included the 34th, 168th Guards and 976th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiments.

The 143rd Bomber Aviation Regiment became part of the division in 1989.