| Unit Name: | 4th Guards Army of Air Forces and Air Defence Forces Army (1998–2009; reformed 1 August 2015) 4th Air Army (1942–1998) |
| Dates: |
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| Country: | (until 1991) |
| Branch: | (until 1991) |
| Size: | World War II: several air divisions 2000s: ~ 10–15 air regiments |
| Garrison: | Rostov on Don |
| Battles: | Battle of the Caucasus Kerch–Eltigen operation East Prussian offensive Battle of Berlin 2008 South Ossetia war 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine |
| Decorations: | |
| Commander1: | Lieutenant General Nikolai Vasilyevich Gostev |
| Commander1 Label: | Commanding Officer |
The 4th Guards Air and Air Defence Forces Army is an air army of the Russian Aerospace Forces, part of the Southern Military District and headquartered in Rostov-on-Don.
The 4th Air Army (4 Vozdushnaya Armiya) was a Soviet Air Force formation and from 1992 to 2009 was part of the Russian Air Force. From 1998 the army was designated the 4th Air and Air Defence Forces Army. It was first established on 22 May 1942 from the Air Forces of the Soviet Southern Front, and fought on the Eastern Front until 1945. In 1949 it was redesignated the 37th Air Army.[1] It was reformed on 4 April 1968 in Poland, and was active there with the Northern Group of Forces for over twenty years, shifting to the North Caucasus Military District in August 1992. The arrival of the Sukhoi Su-24 drastically changed its tasking in the 1980s.
It became the 4th Air and Air Defence Forces Command in 2009 but was reestablished from the command in 2015.
Upon its establishment in May 1942 it had 208 aircraft and 437 crews and consisted of:[2]
In June 1942 one more regiment was added, the 588th Light Night Bomber Regiment (commander Ye.D. Bershanskaya), that became the first women's unit in the Soviet Air Force. In February 1943 it was reorganized into 46th Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment and in October 1943 it became the 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment.[3] In 1943, the Army supported the Kerch-Eltigen Operation and assisted in the battle for air superiority over the Kuban.[4] Two regiments that formed part of the Army, the 57th GIAP and 821st IAP, flew lend-lease Supermarine Spitfires in 1943 for a period.[5] Alexander Pokryshkin was one of its members, and one of the most successful aces of WW2, as well as having the distinction of being awarded the Hero of Soviet Union three times.
On 17 July 1943 the 216 SAD/IAD was redesignated the 9th Guards Fighter Aviation Division. It was commanded by Colonel Alexander Pokryshkin from April 1944 to May 1945.
In summer 1944 the Army covered the Separate Coastal Army during the Battle of the Crimea (1944). It was then reassigned to the 2nd Belorussian Front and participated in Operation Bagration, the East Prussian Offensive, the East Pomeranian Offensive, and the Battle of Berlin. Overall during the war it flew about 300,000 sorties.[4] In July 1945 the army included the 8th Fighter Aviation Corps (Legnica, Poland), the 4th Assault Aviation Corpsthe 5th Bomber Aviation Corps, the 164th independent Guards Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment (Brzeg, Poland) with Pe-2R, and the 844th Transport Aviation Regiment (Swidnica, Poland) equipped with the Li-2.[6]
After World War II the 4th Air Army remained in Poland, and was renumbered as the 37th Air Army in 1949. The 37th Air Army was reorganized as the Air Forces of the Northern Group of Forces (VVS SGF) in 1964. On 22 February 1968, in accordance with a decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR the unit was awarded the Order of the Red Banner. On 4 April 1968 the VVS SGF was redesignated again into the 4th Air Army which had been the army's designation during the Second World War. The 4th Air Army was redesignated as the 4th Air Army of the Supreme High Command (VGK) in 1980 and became part of Long-Range Aviation.[7] [8] This reorganization was part of General Nikolai Ogarkov's reforms after the Sukhoi Su-24s started arriving in the army, and as a result it became an independent army with operative designation, subordinate to the HQ of Western Direction. The 24th Air Army of the South-Western Direction shared that status. Those were the only air force armies with Su-27 fighters, tasked with escorting the Su-24s.
From 1989 until the withdrawal from Poland the Army included the 164th Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment, 245th Mixed Aviation Squadron, 151 EW Regiment (Yak-28), 55th separate Sevastopol helicopter regiment (Mi-24, Mi-8), 19th Separate Signals and Automated Command and Control Systems Regiment (Legitza)[9] and other smaller units of direct Army HQ subordination, and the 239th Fighter Baranovichskaya Red Banner Air Division, headquartered at Kluczewo and consisting of the 159th, 582nd, and 871st Fighter Regiments (Kołobrzeg-Bagicz Airfield)) and the 149th Bomber Aviation Division (HQ Szprotawa) with the 3rd, 42nd Guards, and 89th Bomber Aviation Regiments (Su-24s) as its primary combat formations.[10] Over the border in the Kaliningrad Oblast, but still part of the Army, was the 132nd Bomber Sevastopol Red Banner Aviation Division at Chernyakhovsk.
On the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Poland, the 159th Fighter Regiment moved to Besovets air base and joined the 6th Air Army, and the 871st Fighter Regiment moved to Smolensk and eventually disbanded.[11] The 151st EW Regiment moved back to Shchuchyn in the Belorussian SSR in August 1989 and definitely disbanded in 1992, with its aircraft being broken up at the 558th Aircraft Repair Facility at Baranovichi.[12]
Following withdrawal from Poland from 1992 it became the aviation component of the North Caucasus Military District. On 22 August 1992, the headquarters of the 4th Red Banner Air Army (VGK) was relocated to the city of Rostov-on-Don and relieved from assignment from the VGK.[13] Headquarters 1st Guards Bomber Aviation Division arrived from Lida in Belarus in 1993 and headquarters 16th Guards Fighter Aviation Division was moved to Millerovo from Damgarten, DDR, on 30 October 1993, and became part of 4th Air Army that day.[14]
On 16 June 1997 the President of the Russian Federation signed the decree "About prime measures on reforming Armed forces of the Russian Federation and perfection of their structure". According to that decree, on the basis of the 4th Air Army and the 12th Independent Air Defence Corps of the Russian Air Defence Forces the 4th Army of the Air Forces and Air Defence was formed on 1 June 1998.
The 10th Bombardment Aviation Division, headquartered at Yeysk with up to 90 Su-24s in three regiments (296th BAP at Marinovka, 559th BAP and 959th BAP) was part of the army during the 1990s. At some point between January 2001 and September 2005 the division headquarters disbanded. Yeysk airfield, the previous home of a training aviation institute directing around three regiments of L-39s, was turned over to Russian Naval Aviation in September 2009.
In February 2004 regional command staff trainings took place in Kabardino-Balkaria. 02.2006 comd staff exercises jointly with the 58th Army of the North Caucasus Military District. Eight Su-25 took part in Peace Mission 2007 joint Russia-Sino exercises. The commanding officer of the 4th Air Army from February 2007 was Lieutenant General Igor Miroshnichenko. In August 2007 command and staff exercises were held. 11.2007 Caucasus-Rubezh −2007 command staff exercises. In March 2008 flight tactical training took place.[15]
In 2009 the Army was disestablished and Russian Air Forces units in the Caucasus grouped under the 4th Air and Air Defence Forces Command.
The Army was reformed on 1 August 2015. In January 2016, Lieutenant General Viktor Sevastyanov became its commander.
In addition to the above forces, Russian aviation forces in Armenia, probably within the ambit of 4th Air Army, comprise 18 MiG-29 fighters of the 426th Fighter Squadron [''426 Istrebitel’naya Aviatsionnaya Eskadril’ya (426 IAE)''][20] and the 700th Air Traffic Control Center, both at the 3624th Air Base [''3624 Aviatsionnaya Baza (3624 AB)''] at Erebuni Airport outside Yerevan.[21]
4th Air and Air Defence Forces Army (Rostov-on-Don)[22] [23] (Information updated to 2019/20 unless otherwise indicated)[23]
Air defense and support units of the 4th Air and Air Defence Army:[27]
Additional fighter, helicopter and other fixed-wing aviation elements are deployed as part of the 2nd Guards Naval Aviation Division (2-я гвардейская морская Севастопольская авиационная дивизия имени Н.А. Токарева) of Russian Naval Aviation of the Black Sea Fleet – HQ Sevastopol.[32] [33] [34] [35] The division was seemingly reestablished in 2019-2020. Previously it had been disbanded in 1994.