The Soviet Air Force has a total of 9,800 combat aircraft organized into five component arms: The Army's Tactical Aviation includes fighter-interceptors, fighter-bombers and bombers for tactical ground support, and reconnaissance planes; Naval Aviation is now 770 aircraft, including 300 anti-shipping bombers and 100 anti- submarine helicopters.

Naval Aviation reached a peak of 3,500 aircraft in the late 1950s, but all of its fighters were reorganized under the Army and Air Defense Command in 1960; Long-Range Aviation (the equivalent of America's SAC) has 27 regiments of bombers and tankers. it includes 100 heavy 'Bear' and 100 'Bison' bombers (50 of the 'Bisons' are air tankers); Fighter Aviation has 30 regiments, one-half of all Soviet fighter aircraft. Air Defense Command includes the early warning and reporting system and anti- aircraft batteries of guns (23mm to 130mm), missiles, and ABMs.

Of the 3,200 total interceptors in the Soviet Air Force, most are MiG-19, MiG-21, and Su-9 types. Some old MiG-17 models are still in use, and the MiG-23, Su-11, and 'Fiddler' long-range interceptors are just coming into service; Air Transport Command has 1,700 long-, medium-, and short-range transports, and 1,500 helicopters to transport the Soviet Army's approximately four airborne divisions.

The Soviet Air Force is organized into Air Fleets of 2 or 3 Air Divisions. An Air Division is made up of 2 or 3 Air Regiments. A regiment of 25-30 planes is specialized as to the role of its aircraft: fighter regiment; bomber regiment; etc.

All Soviet aircraft have NATO code names. Two-syllable names are for jet engined aircraft, one-syllable names are for piston engined planes. The first letter of a name denotes the aircraft type:

F -- Fighter or fighter-bomber, including reconnaissance versions ('Fitter,' 'Fox bat,' etc.);
B -- Bomber, including tanker and reconnaissance versions ('Bison,' 'Bear;' etc.);
C--Cargo;
L -- Liaison;
M -- Miscellaneous;
H -- Helicopter.

The primary Soviet aircraft designers are:

Oleg K. Antonov (An)
Georgi Beriev (Be)
Sergei Il'yushin (Il)
Nikolai Kamov (Ka)
Mikhail L. Mil (Mi)
Mikoyan/Gurevich (MiG)
V.M. Miasishchev (Mya)
P. O. Sukhoi (Su)
Andrei N. Tupolev (Tu)

Their aircraft are designated by a system of even numbers for bombers and transports (Tu-20, Tu-22, etc.) and odd numbers for fighters (MiG 17, 19, 21, etc.)

More Soviet Air Force

Soviet Air Force
Soviet Air Force Organization
Soviet Aircraft and Specs (slow: 169K)
Soviet Air Force Missiles