From July to December, the air army provided support for the Soviet defense of the North Caucasus.

On 15 January 1974, the air army received the Order of the Red Banner for successfully mastering new aviation technology and strengthening the country's combat readiness.

[6] By the 1980s, in event of a war with NATO, plans were made to use the 119th Fighter Aviation Division to blockade the Bosporus and Dardanelles Straits.

86th Guards IAP aircraft were nuclear-capable, and according to a different plan, the regiment was to move to bases in Bulgaria and Romania in event of conflict and launch strikes on Turkish airfields with Tactical nuclear weapons from there.

[7] In summer 1988, a MiG-23UB aircraft of the 684th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment crashed: while landing at the Tiraspol airfield on the glide path, a bird hit the air intake.

The pilots steered the plane to the left of the city center and the beach and successfully ejected.

When the plane crashed, two children who were swimming away from the beach along the dam were severely burned; one died.

In December 1989, the entire 119th Division (including the 86th, which became part of the Moldovan Air Force upon the breakup of the Soviet Union) transferred to the VVS Black Sea Fleet,[5] leaving the army with only a few regiments.