Russian air defense: from the beginning to the present day
Although man’s first flights date from 1783 to the year when the Marquis of Darland took to the air in a balloon, the process of creating aircraft was given the greatest acceleration only in the 19 century.
It was in World War I that airplanes, balloons and airships were used for military purposes. With the help of aircraft, not only actions against troops on the battlefield, but also the destruction of objects in the rear of the enemy were carried out.
Therefore, simultaneously with the development of aeronautics, it was necessary to create technical means of protection against the attack of enemy aircraft. This process did not leave Russia aside. Thus, the first anti-aircraft gun was launched at the Putilov factory in 1914. And in order to defend Petrograd from air raids over the period 1914-1917, more than 200 aircraft were built.
The first experience of air defense made it possible to work out the basic principles for constructing the defense of rear objects, which was based on the creation of a circular system strengthened in the most vulnerable areas.
During the Civil War, the Red Army had not only to fight back on the battlefields, but also to defend its large industrial centers from attacks aviation White Guards and interventionists (Baku, Moscow, Astrakhan, Petrograd, etc.). In Nizhny Novgorod in 1918, the first school was created to train the command staff of anti-aircraft artillery.
Soviet designers at the beginning of the 40-ies created unique models of aircraft to protect the airspace of the country - the I-15 and I-16 fighters. Also on the arsenal of the Soviet troops received anti-aircraft machine guns and guns, searchlight installation, powerful radio stations, cars.
The system of protecting the country from air attack was clearly planned - in the forties, it consisted of 13 zones (by the number of military districts).
But the first days of the battles with the Nazi invaders showed the flaws in the air defense of the USSR. Because of miscalculations in the organization of air defense in the first days of the war, German aircraft dominated the sky, which led to huge losses of the Red Army.
In his letter to US President T. Roosevelt, Stalin notes that the most courageous and selfless fighters become helpless if they are not protected from the air.
During the war, the fighter aircraft fleet was significantly improved - MiG-3, Yak-9 were put into operation. Also, fighter aviation units were replenished with Allied vehicles: for example, the Supermarine Spitfire MK-9 fighter.
During the war, Soviet means of air defense destroyed more than 7 thousand enemy aircraft.
At the same time, it must be said that, since the Versailles Treaty of Germany was forbidden to have weapon, but nothing was said about rocket armament in it, the Germans, starting from the 20-ies, began to create missiles. There was a strong opinion that the ability of missiles to deliver charges of great destructive power over long distances would bring Germany victory in the planned war. In addition, the missiles could not be intercepted by air defense, which at that time were in service with the likely adversaries of Germany.
The first work on the creation by the Germans of rocket vehicles (rockets placed on vehicles — road, rail, etc.) was financed by Fritz von Opel. Experiments on the development of new technology were very risky. Thus, in 1930, engineer Mac Walier died in the explosion of a laboratory, creating his own rocket vehicle on kerosene. Another amateur - engineer Rudolf Nebel, worked on a small MIRAK rocket. In the 1930 year, together with his peers, he created a missile test site not far from Berlin. 18-year-old Baron Von Braun also worked in this development team.
Together with talented engineers Dornberg and Karl-Emil Becker, in 1934, von Braun managed to launch missiles successfully. But these missiles had a short range.
Maneuvering between the military ministries of the air force and the ground forces, von Braun managed to beat out funding for the completion of the missiles and become the director of the landfill on the island of Usedom (Baltic Sea).
In March, 1939, the site visited Hitler. He was shown several missiles. Looking at the launch, Hitler left without expressing his attitude to what he saw. But soon, at one of the rallies, Hitler said that Germany would possess such weapons, which is not in any of the countries.
At that time, the anti-aircraft troops of the warring camps did not have the technical means to repel missile attacks. This is confirmed by the huge losses of Great Britain from the bombardment of London by German rockets in 1944. Then more than 4 thousand rockets fell on the capital of England. As a result, 13 thousand people died.
The outstanding Soviet commander G.K. Zhukov, as one of the outcome of the war, noted the fact that no country can resist if it is not able to repel an air strike.
After the war, the improvement of military aviation led to the emergence of aircraft capable of carrying a nuclear charge for vast distances (B-36 and B-50 bombers).
In the 1952 year, more than thirty times were reported cases of air violation of the borders of the USSR (in the districts of Leningrad, Minsk, Kiev and in the Moscow region). And only in three cases it was possible to damage the violating aircraft.
This led to the urgent need to improve the Soviet air defense, including the transition to aircraft with jet engines. In the middle of 50-60, the first supersonic aircraft MiG-19, high-altitude interceptors SU-9, SU-11, TU-128, YAK-28П, SU-15, anti-aircraft missile systems entered the Soviet army. A new infrastructure and air defense system controls were also created. As a result of the measures taken, the combat power of the Soviet air defense system has more than doubled.
US reconnaissance aircraft at that time repeatedly provoked Soviet interceptor fighters into open clashes. In April 1950, these actions led to the death of the American PB4Y reconnaissance aircraft, which violated Soviet airspace near the naval base fleet Libava.
In July, the 1953 of the year, an American plane that departed from Yokota (Japan) at an altitude of 10 thousand meters was shot down near Vladivostok.
The Pentagon realized that the Soviet air defenses were ready for tough actions and shifted their emphasis to radio intelligence and the study of the work of Soviet radar stations.
According to reports, over the course of 10 years (from 1950 to 1960), Americans carried out up to 20 thousands of spy plane flights along the borders of the USSR.
The new system required the improvement of the structure of training officers. Personnel for fighter aircraft trained military schools of the air force. The Academy of Artillery Radar Station prepared specialists for working with radar technology. Two anti-aircraft artillery schools and a military radar school were also created.
But for the needs of air defense there were not enough professionals of military-technical specialties. Military schools of radio engineering orientation were established in Belarus and Kiev. And in 1956, the Academy of Air Defense of the country opened the doors.
The constant development of air attack required the creation of modern air defense equipment, adjusting the structure of air defense and command and control of troops.
Since the existing level of missile and nuclear weapons erased the distinction between the front and rear, the entire territory of the country could become the scene of military operations. This required the development of an optimal and effective construction of the entire air defense system and the organization of close interaction of air defense units with other branches of the military.
In 70, small-sized cruise missiles appeared, and the means of delivering them by new generation aircraft also improved. This required the creation of a fourth-generation interceptor fighter: MIG-31 and SU-27, with the ability to detect the enemy on the distant approaches to the borders, as well as accompany several targets simultaneously. They were armed with the latest class of air-to-air missiles, superior to foreign models.
Seventies entered history as a time of exacerbation of Soviet-Chinese relations. Beginning in the 50s, the claims of the two sides expressed mutual recriminations and accusations, but in the 60s they turned into direct military clashes.
The military command was forced to transfer several air divisions and air defense units to the border with China.
Almost constantly along the Soviet-Chinese border were flying Chinese fighters J-2 and J-15, bombers and helicopters. Sometimes they violated the airspace of the USSR, going deep into the territory, but fearing retaliation, the raids were short distances. Often sabotage and reconnaissance groups landed from helicopters on Soviet territory.
The violation of the airspace of the USSR by China’s aviation was widespread.
The difficulty in suppressing these actions was that there was little time to destroy the intruder - an uninvited “guest”, seeing a Soviet fighter on its tail, was quickly returning to its territory.
Nevertheless, according to the testimony of military experts, a sufficiently large number of Chinese aircraft failed to return to their places of deployment.
I must say that not only China massively violated the air borders of the USSR. The Americans are also far from them. So, at night 1 September 1983 several American aircraft crossed the airspace of the USSR in the Sakhalin region. The group included reconnaissance aircraft, electronic warfare, spy planes and flying tankers. The invasion operation was undertaken with the aim of probing the Soviet air defense system on the eastern frontiers. The secondary task was to familiarize with the new model of the newest Soviet fighter MiG-31. A diversion was the passage of a supposedly lost Korean airliner over the territory of the USSR. American intelligence agencies monitored the operation with the help of a military satellite "Ferret-D".
But the forces of the aviation units, located in close proximity to the site of the intruders' intrusion, and with the aid of the flying A-50 radar, the American air reconnaissance group was completely defeated.
According to the available information from open sources, in this air battle nine American planes were shot down.
In the following years, samples of new equipment for the air defense of the country were created, approaches and the concept of protecting air borders changed. Thus, to create an effective air defense system in 2006, the concept of the aerospace defense (WKO) of the country was formulated. It included not only the air defense system, but also units of the rocket and space troops, as well as electronic warfare. At the beginning of hostilities, anti-aircraft and air defense forces can be involved in the fight against an air enemy.
Great prospects have plans for combining air defense systems of Russia and Kazakhstan - this will strengthen the protection of the southern borders of the country. To this end, it is planned to conduct joint exercises to work out the interaction of the air defense units of the two countries.
Summing up, it should be noted that from the moment of creation and up to the present, the main task of air defense was and remains not only the protection of the country's airspace from any means of the aggressor, but also the complete destruction of the enemy. Therefore, the continuous improvement of the entire system and structure of the country's air defense is of paramount importance for ensuring the security and independence of Russia.
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