Long-Range Aviation
Long-Range Aviation (Russian: Авиация Дальнего Действия, romanized: Aviatsiya dal'nego deystviya, literally Aviation of Distant Action and abbreviated DA,) is a sub-branch of the Russian Aerospace Forces responsible for delivering long-range nuclear or conventional strikes by aircraft (rather than missiles).
The crews of the DBA GK performed their first combat sorties on June 22, 1941, bombing enemy troop concentrations in the Suwałki and Przemyśl areas.
On June 23, long-range bombers together with Soviet naval aviation bombed Danzig, Königsberg, Warsaw, Kraków, and Bucharest.
In the difficult initial period of the war, the centralized control principal of the DBA GK was violated, large losses of aircraft and crews, and formations were constantly reorganised.
The state of affairs in the DBA GK, by the beginning of 1942, left much to be desired, therefore, in order to preserve the forces of the DBA GK, centralize their control, and ensure their massive use by the VGK, they decided and created Long-Range Aviation (ADD), as a separate branch of the Air Force, by the decree of the State Defence Committee, dated March 5, 1942[3] in order to carry out strategically important tasks: In addition, the ADD (including the Civil Air Fleet, GVF, which is part of it) was widely used to provide partisan movement both on occupied territory of the USSR, and in Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and Poland,[3] and performing special tasks, such as delivery of intelligences, reconnaissance and reconnaissance and sabotage groups, providing assistance to the Resistance in Axis-occupied Europe and many others.
Formations of the ADD were allocated from the Red Army Air Force directly subordinate to The Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief (SVGK).
This large and experienced transport force was widely used to support guerrillas deep in the occupied territory of the USSR.
Results of two Soviet air raids: 40% of the buildings in the city destroyed, 463 dead, 649 injured and about 20,000 left without shelter.
From 6 to 8 March 1944 the historical part of Narva was virtually wiped out; in the same month Tartu, Tapa and Jõhvi were also bombed.
[9] The composition of 18th Air Army included: After the Second World War, strategic bombers were regrouped within the Long-Range Aviation of the Armed Forces (DA VS) in April 1946.
The DA VS (Dal'naya Aviatsiya Vozdushnikh Syl - Long Range Aviation of Air Forces) consisted of: The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Air Armies had established a reputation during the Second World War, for their work of direct tactical support to the Red Army ground forces.
[14] As the 1940s closed and the Cold War dawned, the Soviet Union scrambled to develop an instrument that could strike the United States.
The outcome of this competition was the highly successful Tupolev Tu-95, which entered service in the 1955-1956 period, and remained the backbone of Soviet air power against NATO for many decades.
It surprisingly went on to serve an unexpected but vital role as the 3M aerial refueling tanker, which extended the reach of the strategic air fleet.
In January 1980, the DA was disbanded and the heavy bomber units divided between three air armies: In April 1987, the Tupolev Tu-160 entered operational service with the 184th Guards Heavy Bomber Regiment located at Pryluky Air Base, Ukrainian SSR.
Squadron deployments to Long Range Aviation began the same month, prior to the Tu-160's first public appearance in a parade in 1989.
In the event of a nuclear war with the United States, the Soviet Union would likely have committed its entire heavy bomber force to attacks against US targets.
[citation needed] However elements of all of the Soviet Union's strategic forces would have been available to participate in Warsaw Pact operations.
The CIA in 1975 estimated that 530 intermediate-range bombers west of the Urals, possibly augmented by Soviet Navy aircraft, were intended for European strikes in the NATO rear area that required large conventional or nuclear payloads.
High-Arctic bases such as Nagurskoye and Greem-Bell may have been available to smaller aircraft, and the staging airfields Sredniy Ostrov, Dresba, Chekurovka, and Tiksi North were probably never completed.
Bomber crews were trained to be proficient in all basic aspects of strategic operations, including navigation, inflight refueling, air-to-surface missile strike procedures, Arctic staging, penetration tactics, and electronic countermeasures.
[29] The 40th Mixed Aviation Regiment at the Olenya air base in the Northern Fleet operational area also flies the Backfire.
Backfire regiments operate in either the land- and/or maritime-strike roles, incorporating long-range stand-off supersonic and hypersonic cruise missiles.
