Frontline Aviation (USSR)

In accordance with the combat missions carried out and the nature of the hostilities, Front-line aviation is divided by birth:

• fighter aircraft
• bomber aircraft
• fighter bomber aircraft
• attack aircraft
• reconnaissance aircraft
• transport aviation
• special aviation

Fighter Aviation ( IA ) - a kind of front-line aviation. Designed to destroy enemy aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles with the goal of gaining air supremacy, covering troops and rear facilities, and ensuring combat operations of other branches and types of aviation. It can also be used for actions on land (sea) objects (targets) and air reconnaissance.

Bomber aviation ( FBA , BA ) is a type of front-line aviation designed to destroy a group of enemy forces, its ground and sea targets in the operational depth of enemy defense with bombs and missiles, including with the use of nuclear weapons. FBA is also involved in aerial reconnaissance. Armed with front-line bomber aircraft. These include the Soviet (Russian) Yak-28B (Yakovlev Design Bureau), IL-28A (Ilyushin Design Bureau), Su-24, Su-34 (Sukhoi Design Bureau); American F-111 (General Dynamics); British Canberra B (English Electric).

Fighter-Bomber Aviation (ISA) is a type of front-line aviation designed to destroy ground (surface), including small and mobile, targets in the tactical and near operational depths of enemy defense using nuclear and conventional weapons. It can also be used to destroy an air adversary, conduct aerial reconnaissance and solve other tasks.

Assault aviation ( SHA ) - a kind of front-line aviation designed to engage small and extremely small heights of small-sized and mobile ground (surface) targets mainly in the tactical and near operational depth of enemy defense. The main objective of attack aircraft is the air support of ground forces and fleet forces over the battlefield.

Reconnaissance Aviation ( RA ) - A type of frontline aviation designed for aerial reconnaissance.

Transport aviation is a type of FA designed for the deployment of airborne assault forces, the transfer of troops by air, the delivery of weapons, fuel, food and other materiel, and the evacuation of the wounded and sick.

Special Aviation - a kind of FA performing special tasks. It includes aviation units and subunits that are armed with special-purpose aircraft and helicopters (radar patrol and guidance, target designation, electronic warfare, fueling in the air, communications, etc.).

It was born before and gained experience of combat use during the years of the 1st World War ( 1914 - 1918 ). Before the start of World War II, in a number of states it was represented mainly by reconnaissance, fighter and bomber aviation units. In the post-war period, it was widely used in local wars and conflicts, in the 70s of the 20th century it was further developed, its basis began to be composed of helicopters for various purposes, aircraft and UAVs.

Imperial period

Ballooning gradually took its place in the armed forces. In the second half of the XIX century. in service were balloons. At the end of the century, a separate aeronautical fleet operated at the disposal of the Aeronautics Commission, pigeon mail and watchtowers. On the maneuvers of 1902-1903 in Krasnoye Selo, Brest and Vilna, the methods of using balloons in artillery and for air reconnaissance (observation) were tested. Convinced of the appropriateness of using tethered balls, the War Ministry decided to create special units at the fortresses in Warsaw , Novgorod , Brest, Kovno , Osovets and the Far East, which included 65 balls. The manufacture of airships in Russia began in 1908 at the same time, the Engineering Department was incredulous about the idea of ​​using aircraft for military purposes. Only in 1909 did it suggest that the Training Aircraft-Swimming Park build 5 airplanes. Then the military department purchased from several foreign companies several Wright and Farman planes. Meanwhile, several private enterprises producing engines and aircraft appeared in Russia. Some of them were subsidiaries of French factories. From 1909 to 1917, more than 20 aviation enterprises appeared in Russia.

The Main Engineering Directorate was tasked with the creation and combat use of airplane detachments in the Russian Armed Forces. Engineering troops became the cradle of Russian aviation, which was born and gained experience of military use before and during the years of World War I as a new type of troops (forces) - the Imperial Air Force . Before the outbreak of World War I, in Russia it was represented mainly by reconnaissance, fighter and bomber aviation units, and in the navy - by the naval (reconnaissance, fighter and bomber) squadron.

Soviet period

In the Soviet Armed Forces it began to form in 1918 , organizationally consisted of separate aviation units that were part of the district Air Fleet Directorates, which in September 1918 were reorganized into front and army field aviation and aeronautical directorates at the headquarters of the fronts and combined arms armies . In June 1920, the field offices were reorganized into the headquarters of the air fleets with direct subordination to the commander of the fronts and armies. After the Civil War of 1917-1923, the Air Force of the Fronts became part of the military districts . In 1924, the air forces of the military districts of the districts were reduced to homogeneous air squadrons (18–43 aircraft each), transformed in the late 1920s into aviation brigades . In 1938 - 1939, the aviation of military districts was transferred from a brigade to a regimental and divisional organization. The main tactical unit was the aviation regiment (60–63 aircraft). Aviation of the Red Army , based on the main property of aviation - the ability to deliver fast and powerful air strikes to the enemy over long distances, not available for other military branches. The combat means of aviation were aircraft armed with high-explosive, fragmentation and incendiary bombs, cannons and machine guns. At that time aviation had a high flight speed (400-500 or more kilometers per hour), the ability to easily overcome the enemy’s combat front and penetrate deep into its rear. Combat aircraft was used to destroy enemy manpower and technical equipment; in order to destroy its aircraft and destroy important objects: railway junctions, military industry enterprises, communications centers, roads, etc., reconnaissance aircraft had as their purpose air reconnaissance behind enemy lines. Auxiliary aviation was used to correct artillery fire, to communicate and monitor the battlefield, to transport sick and wounded to the rear requiring emergency medical assistance (medical aviation), and to urgently transport military cargo (transport aircraft). In addition, aviation was used to transport troops, weapons and other means of combat over long distances. The main aviation unit was an aviation regiment (aviation regiment). The regiment consisted of air squadrons (air squadrons). The air squadron consisted of links .

In the USSR , army aviation included close bombers , attack aircraft , fighters , reconnaissance and spotters . Army aviation was organizationally part of the Air Force of combined arms armies . Before the start of World War II, modern models of combat aircraft were being developed (by the beginning of the war, only 20% of the fleet of aircraft was made, the rest of the aircraft were outdated):

• Yak-1 , MiG-3 , LaGG-3 fighters ;
• attack aircraft Il-2 ;
• diving bomber Pe-2 ;

By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 , the aviation of military districts consisted of separate bomber, fighter, mixed (assault) aviation divisions and separate reconnaissance aviation regiments. In May - November 1942, army aviation was abolished. The tasks previously solved by it, began to perform the Air Army , army aviation began to be called ( military aviation ). On the basis of army and front-line aviation, air armies were created, which consisted of separate aviation divisions of fighter, bomber, and assault aircraft and separate aviation regiments of reconnaissance and auxiliary aviation, were subordinate to the commander of the fronts, and in a special respect to the commander of the Air Force of the Red Army. The creation of air armies ensured the massive use of aviation in the main line of action of troops of the fronts, army groups, and armies. In the fall of 1942, the aviation regiments of all types of aviation had 32 aircraft each, in the summer of 1943 the number of aircraft in the regiments of attack and fighter aircraft was increased to 40 aircraft. During the Great Patriotic War, military aviation, solving assigned tasks, spent 35% on the struggle for gaining air supremacy, 46.5% on supporting ground forces, 11% on conducting air reconnaissance and 7.5% on combat missions departures.

In 1966, Front-line aviation was armed with jet supersonic aircraft equipped with cannon, rocket, and bomber weapons and equipped with radio and radar instruments and systems. It was capable of operating in any weather conditions and time of day, intercepting and destroying high-speed (supersonic) air targets at distant approaches, covering its troops and rear facilities, assisting the ground forces in their operations - striking at enemy aviation, missile and land groups , search and destroy small-sized moving objects (targets), conduct aerial reconnaissance.

The USSR Air Force of the early 80s existed as a separate type of the USSR Armed Forces and included more than 10 associations (air armies), more than 30 formations (aviation divisions), and more than 100 aviation regiments.

The FA Air Force was armed with IL-76, An-12, An-24, An-26, MiG-21, MiG-23, MiG-27, MiG-29, Su-7, Su-17, Su-24 and Mi-6, Mi-10, Mi-8 (9), Mi-24 helicopters of various modifications. In the first half of the 80s, Su-25, Su-27P, MiG-29, Tu-160 aircraft began to arrive in combat units. A new cycle of generational change of aircraft was brewing, which was supposed to be completed by the middle of the 90s. The whole network of the Air Force Research Institute was engaged in maintaining the proper operation of equipment and adopting new models for service.

In the mid-80s, the withdrawal of single-engine aircraft from the air force began. The reason was a number of reasons, including the problem of accidents and catastrophes of airplanes and helicopters in the city, which could lead to the death of civilians. So, in the summer of 1988 in Tiraspol (Moldavian SSR) an accident occurred on the MiG-23UB plane that crashed on the outskirts of the city and caused the death of a student. After this disaster, an order was issued according to which single-engine aircraft had to be removed from the airfields located within the city limits.

In the same period, a political decision was made to reduce 800 aircraft in the FA of the USSR Air Force.

Some of the aircraft from the Air Force were transferred to the Navy (119 IADs (Tiraspol) were transferred to the Red Banner Black Sea Fleet). It was the decision to reduce single-engine aircraft in the Air Force that was the first and most severe blow that Soviet policy on the Air Force dealt. The decision to reduce was made directly to the CPSU Central Committee, and were ostentatious, and the opinion of the General Staff and the Air Force Commander-in-Chief was not taken into account.

By coincidence, the first to undergo a reduction were the units that passed Afghanistan and had experience in combat use. After all, it was they who were armed with the MiG-23ML (MLD), Su-17M2, M3, M4 aircraft, which were considered obsolete and very dangerous (one engine).

At that time, front-line aviation (FA) was an instrument of command on the theater of war and commanders of the troops of the fronts (military districts).

The ill-conceived Air Force reduction policy deprived the FA of a whole kind - fighter-bombing aircraft, and reconnaissance aircraft suffered so much that it could no longer be considered a kind of FA. Army aviation was also affected, having almost lost unmanned aircraft.

Under the withdrawal of single-engine aircraft from the air force, as already mentioned, were:

• all fighter-bomber aviation (IBA) with aircraft Su-17M2, M3, M4 and MiG-27, M, D, K
• almost all reconnaissance aircraft (RA) of front-line aviation (FA) Su-17M2R, M3R, M4R
• a significant part of fighter aviation (IA) - MiG-23M, ML, MLD.

Fighter-bomber aircraft was designed to solve the tasks of destroying troops, ground (sea), including small and moving enemy targets in tactical and operational depths.

As a result of the destruction of the ISA in the FA, only bomber aviation, consisting of the Su-24 and Su-24M in quantities clearly exceeding the necessary proportions in relation to other aircraft, remained as the main striking force. Front-line bomber aviation was the main aircraft of the main command on the theater of war and the commanders of the troops of the fronts. Its main purpose is the destruction of force groups and the destruction of its most important facilities. Using for solving the tasks that the IBA had previously performed, the Su-24 (M) front-line bomber, created to solve several other goals, is irrational. If you select the criterion of cost / effectiveness when solving combat missions in tactical depth, then the Su-24 (M) will be a clear loss before the Su-17M4 and MiG-27.

No less paradoxical situation has developed with the reduction of such a type of FA as reconnaissance aviation (RA). After this, the FA was virtually left without “eyes.” The use of light and relatively cheap Su-17M3R, M4R allowed reconnaissance at any time of the day on the contact line of troops and in tactical depth. The reconnaissance aircraft modifications created on the basis of fighter-bomber aircraft had a weapon kit similar to the basic models. Thus, reconnaissance aircraft were dual-use aircraft, performing reconnaissance and strike missions. Indeed, in the course of combat training of reconnaissance aircraft, bombing exercises were included. After the reduction in the RA Air Force, operational tactical reconnaissance assets remained - the MiG-25RB (various modifications) and the Su-24MR. Designed to operate in the deep tactical and operational depths, these aircraft were not designed to solve reconnaissance tasks in the immediate vicinity of the contact line of troops. Therefore, using them to perform these tasks is overly expensive. In addition, it must be said that preparing for the departure of such complex aircraft as the MiG-25RB and Su-24MR takes a significantly longer period of time.

• Frontline Aviation

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