Before the 1998, the air defense forces of the Russian Federation are an independent branch of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation (RF Armed Forces). From 1998, the Air Defense Forces of the country are combined with the Air Force in a new form of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation - the Air Force of the Russian Federation. In 2011, air defense units of the Russian Air Force became part of a new type of Russian Armed Forces - Aerospace Defense Forces. In 2015, the Russian Air Force was merged with the Air and Space Defense Forces of the Russian Federation in a new form of the Russian Armed Forces - Air and Space Forces of the Russian Federation.