Headquartered at Komsomolsk-on-Amur, the division controls S-400 surface-to-air missile and radar units covering Khabarovsk Krai and Sakhalin.

The 168th had been renumbered in 1949 from the 250th Red Banner Fighter Aviation Division, formed in 1942 and decorated for its performance in the Soviet–Japanese War.

The Order of the Red Banner awarded to the 250th Fighter Aviation Division was transferred to the 8th Air Defence Corps on 3 May 1965.

By the end of the Cold War, in 1991, the three surface-to-air missile brigades and one regiment of the corps controlled between them thirteen S-75, ten S-125, six S-200, and four S-300 battalions.

[6] Under the Serdyukov reforms, the division was reorganized as the 11th Aerospace Defence Brigade in 2009, with the 23rd IAP becoming a component of an aviation base.

[12] The division has been commanded by Colonel (promoted to Major General 18 February 2021) Igor Valeryevich Nikitin since 2019.