Main goals
Air and missile defense troops solve a wide range of tasks, the main of which are:
- repelling aggression in the aerospace sphere and protecting command posts of the highest echelons of state and military command, groupings of troops (forces), administrative and political centers, industrial and economic regions, the most important economic facilities and infrastructure of the country from attacks by enemy aerospace attacks;
- defeating the warheads of ballistic missiles of a potential enemy attacking important government facilities.
Air defense and missile defense troops carry out their missions by destroying enemy air attack weapons at distant and close approaches to defended objects independently or in cooperation with other branches of the Armed Forces.
Air defense and missile defense troops consist of military branches, special troops, units and logistics institutions. The main branches of the military are anti-aircraft missile forces, air defense aviation, and radio engineering troops.
Interesting Facts
At the end of the 19th century, the first training shooting at balloons took place in Russia, and in 1908-1909, experimental shooting at moving targets was carried out: balloons and balloons moved with the help of horses. The tests involved 76-mm guns (“three-inch”). The shooting showed both the possibility of hitting aerial targets with gunfire and the need to refine field guns—to create specialized anti-aircraft guns.
The crews of the S-75 Dvina air defense system showed high combat effectiveness during the Vietnam War (1965 - 1973). From their fire alone, American troops lost more than 1,300 planes and helicopters.
Air Defense Forces Day
Since 2015, the air defense troops have been officially called the air defense and missile defense troops (PVO-ABM troops), representing a separate branch of the military within the Aerospace Forces of the Russian Federation.
The Memorial Day of the Air Defense Forces was established on the basis of a decree of the Russian President of May 31, 2006. According to the published decree, the holiday falls on every second Sunday in April.
In the Soviet Union, since 1980, the holiday was also celebrated every second Sunday in April, but previously its date was fixed - April 11.
