Formed in November 1942 as the 16th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division, it fought in the Battle of Kursk and became a Guards unit in September 1943.

The 16th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division RVGK was formed in November 1942 at Yefremov on the Bryansk Front with the 728th, 1283rd, 1285th, and 1286th Air Defense Regiments.

[3][1] In October, it covered 65th Army during its crossing of the Dnieper and capture and expansion of a bridgehead on the right bank near Loyew.

During the operation, the 3rd Guards, in cooperation with other anti-aircraft artillery units and the fighters of the 16th Air Army, provided air defense for the 65th Army in its breakthrough of the German lines in the Bobruysk Offensive, the advance on Baranovichi, and the continued pursuit of retreating German forces.

According to Soviet reports, Battery telephone operator Yefreytor Mikhail Abrosimov led his unit in repulsing the infantry attack but was killed in the pursuit.

The 3rd Guards covered the army in the Tarnow, Wygoda, and Ostrow area of the Magnuszew bridgehead and the crossing of the Vistula.

In 1961, the brigade was withdrawn to the Leningrad Military District, stationed in eastern Estonia at Narva and Kohtla-Järve.

In 1970, an S-75 battalion from the brigade under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Nikolay Kutyntsev was deployed to provide air defense for Egypt during the War of Attrition, part of the 18th Special Anti-Aircraft Rocket Division, under Operation Kavkaz.

[8] Kutyntsev was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union in recognition of his battalion being credited with downing an Israeli F-4 Phantom.

The commanders of three battalions from the brigade reported that they were tracking the aircraft and were ready to launch missiles, but they were not given permission to fire, and Rust slipped through the air defense system.

[12] The brigade was not rearmed with newer missiles in the late 1980s, and in 1994 it was reorganized into the 1491st Guards Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment.

[9] In 2008, these battalions were reported by Kommersant as the 196th Guards Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment at Kingisepp with the 54th Air Defense Corps, equipped with the S-300P.