home Educational literature Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force. Russian Air Force. Prospects for the Russian Air Force

Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force. Russian Air Force. Prospects for the Russian Air Force

Designed to protect the centers, regions of the country (administrative, industrial and economic), groupings of troops and important objects from enemy strikes from air and space, ensuring the actions of the Ground Forces and, delivering strikes against the enemy’s aviation, land and sea groupings, its administrative-political and military and economic centers.

The main tasks of the Air Force in modern conditions are:

opening the beginning of an attack by an air enemy;
notification of the main headquarters of the Armed Forces, headquarters of military districts, fleets, civil defense agencies about the beginning of an enemy air attack;
gaining and maintaining air supremacy;
covering troops and rear facilities from aerial reconnaissance, air and space strikes;
air support for the Ground Forces and the Navy;
destruction of objects of the military-economic potential of the enemy;
military and government controlled enemy;
the destruction of nuclear missile, anti-aircraft and aviation groups of the enemy and his reserves, as well as air and sea landings;
defeat of enemy ship groupings in the sea, ocean, on naval bases, in ports and basing points;
dropping military equipment and landing troops;
transportation by air of troops and military equipment;
conducting strategic, operational and tactical air reconnaissance;
control over the use of airspace in the border zone.

In peacetime, the Air Force performs the tasks of protecting the state border of Russia in the airspace, notifying about the flights of foreign reconnaissance vehicles in the border zone.

The air force includes the air armies of the Supreme High Command strategic purpose and the Supreme High Command of Military Transport Aviation; Moscow Air Force and Air Defense District; armies of the Air Force and Air Defense: separate corps of the Air Force and Air Defense.

The Air Force includes the following types of troops (Fig. 1):

aviation (types of aviation - bomber, assault, fighter, air defense, reconnaissance, transport and special);
anti-aircraft missile troops;
radio engineering troops;
special troops;
units and institutions of the rear.

bomber aviation It is armed with long-range (strategic) and front-line (tactical) bombers of various types. It is designed to defeat groupings of troops, destroy important military, energy facilities and communications centers mainly in the strategic and operational depth of the enemy’s defense. The bomber can carry bombs of various calibers, both conventional and nuclear, as well as air-to-surface guided missiles.

Attack aircraft designed for aviation support of troops, defeating manpower and objects mainly at the forefront, in the tactical and immediate operational depth of the enemy, as well as commanding the fight against enemy aircraft in the air.

Rice. 1. Structure of the Air Force

One of the main requirements for an attack aircraft is the high accuracy of hitting ground targets. Armament: large-caliber guns, bombs, rockets.

Fighter aviation air defense is the main maneuvering force of the air defense system and is designed to cover the most important directions and objects from enemy air attacks. It is capable of destroying the enemy at maximum ranges from the defended objects.

Air defense aviation is armed with air defense fighter aircraft, combat helicopters, special and transport aircraft and helicopters.

reconnaissance aviation Designed to conduct aerial reconnaissance of the enemy, terrain and weather, can destroy enemy hidden objects.

Reconnaissance flights can also be carried out by bomber, fighter-bomber, attack and fighter aircraft. To do this, they are specially equipped with photographic equipment for day and night shooting at various scales, radio and radar stations with high resolution, heat direction finders, sound recording and television equipment, and magnetometers.

Reconnaissance aviation is subdivided into tactical, operational and strategic reconnaissance aviation.

Transport aviation designed to transport troops, military equipment, weapons, ammunition, fuel, food, airborne landings, evacuation of the wounded, sick, etc.

Special aviation designed for long-range radar detection and guidance, air-to-air refueling, electronic warfare, radiation, chemical and biological protection, control and communications, meteorological and technical support, rescue of crews in distress, evacuation of the wounded and sick.

Anti-aircraft missile troops designed to protect the country's most important facilities and groupings of troops from enemy air strikes.

They constitute the main firepower of the air defense system (AD) and are armed with anti-aircraft guns. missile systems and anti-aircraft missile systems for various purposes, which have great firepower and high accuracy in destroying enemy air attack weapons.

Radio engineering troops is the main source of information about air enemy and are designed to conduct its radar reconnaissance, control the flights of its aircraft and comply with the rules for the use of airspace by aircraft of all departments.

They issue information about the beginning of an air attack, combat information for anti-aircraft missile forces and air defense aviation, as well as information for controlling air defense formations, units and subunits.

Radio-technical troops are armed with radar stations and radar complexes capable of detecting not only air but also surface targets at any time of the year and day, regardless of meteorological conditions and interference.

Units and divisions of communications are intended for the deployment and operation of communication systems in order to ensure command and control of troops in all types of combat activities.

Units and subdivisions of electronic warfare designed to interfere with airborne radars, bomb sights, communications and radio navigation means of enemy air attack.

Units and divisions of communications and radio engineering support designed to provide control of aviation units and subunits, aircraft navigation, takeoff and landing of aircraft and helicopters.

Units and divisions of engineering troops, as well as units and divisions of radiation, chemical and biological protection are designed to perform the most complex tasks of engineering and chemical support, respectively.

The Air Force is armed with Tu-160 (Fig. 2), Tu-22MZ, Tu-95MS, Su-24, Su-34, MiG-29, MiG-27, MiG-31 aircraft of various modifications (Fig. 3), Su -25, Su-27, Su-39 (Fig. 4), MiG-25R, Su-24MP, A-50 (Fig. 5), An-12, An-22, An-26, An-124, Il -76, IL-78; helicopters Mi-8, Mi-24, Mi-17, Mi-26, Ka-31, Ka-52 (Fig. 6), Ka-62; anti-aircraft missile systems S-200, S-300, S-300PM (Fig. 7), S-400 "Triumph", radar stations and complexes "Opponent-G", "Nebo-U", "Gamma-DE" , "Gamma-C1", "Casta-2".

Rice. 2. Strategic supersonic bomber Tu-160: wingspan - 35.6 / 55.7 m; length - 54.1 m; height - 13.1 m; maximum takeoff weight - 275 tons; maximum combat load - 45 tons; cruising speed - 960 km / h; range - 7300 km; ceiling - 18000 m; weapons - missiles, bombs (including nuclear); crew - 4 people

Rice. 3. Multipurpose fighter MiG-31F / FZ: wingspan - 13.46 m; length - 22.67 m; height - 6.15 m; maximum takeoff weight - 50,000 kg; cruising speed - 2450 km / h; range - 3000 km; combat radius of action - 650 km; ceiling - 20,000 m; armament - 23-mm six-barreled gun (260 rounds, rate of fire - 8000 rounds / min); combat load - 9000 kg (UR, bombs); crew - 2 people

Rice. 4. Attack aircraft Su-39: wingspan - 14.52 m; length - 15.33 m; height - 5.2 m; maximum speed near the ground - 2450 km / h; range - 1850 km; ceiling - 18,000 m; armament - 30 mm cannon; combat load - 4500 kg (ATGM with ATGM. RCC, NUR, U R. bombs - conventional, induced, cluster, nuclear)

Rice. 5. A-50 long-range radar detection and control aircraft: wingspan - 50.5 m; length - 46.59 m; height - 14.8 m; normal takeoff weight - 190,000 kg; maximum cruising speed - 800 km / h; range - 7500 km; ceiling - 12000 m; target detection range: air - 240 km, surface - 380 km; crew - 5 people + 10 people tactical calculation

Rice. 6. Combat attack helicopter Ka-52 "Alligator": rotor diameter - 14.50 m; length with rotating screws - 15.90 m; maximum weight - 10,400 kg; ceiling - 5500 m; range - 520 km; armament - 30-mm cannon with 500 rounds of ammunition; combat load - 2000 kg on 4 hardpoints (ATGM, unified containers with machine-gun and cannon weapons, NUR, UR); crew - 2 people

Rice. 7. Anti-aircraft missile system S-300-PM: hit targets - aircraft, cruise and tactical missiles of all types; affected area - range 5-150 km, height 0.025-28 km; the number of simultaneously hit targets - up to 6; the number of simultaneously aimed missiles at the target - 12; readiness for combat work from the march - 5 minutes

Below is a list of the Commanders-in-Chief of the Air Forces of the USSR and the Russian Federation in the post-war period. List of Chiefs of the Air Force of the Red Army of the USSR from 1918 to 1946. To complete the picture, you can find out how it all began: lists and years civil war. To complete the picture, I also recommend material about.

Air Chief Marshal

Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force (04.1946 - 07.1949 and 01.1957 - 03.1969).

Soviet military figure, Air Chief Marshal (1959), Hero Soviet Union (19.08.1944).

In military service since 1919. He graduated from infantry command courses (1920), the Higher Tactical and Rifle School of the Red Army Command Staff (Shot courses, 1923), the Air Force Academy of the Red Army. prof. N.E. Zhukovsky (1932), Kachinsky military school pilots (external, 1935).

Member of the Civil War in Russia: Red Army soldier, commander of a marching company of a reserve regiment. After the war, he commanded a training company of the 12th Red Banner Infantry Courses of the Volga Military District (1923-1928), a rifle battalion (1928-1930). Since 1930, as part of the Air Force of the Red Army: head of the operational department of the headquarters of the aviation brigade (from 06.1932), assistant head of the tactical department of the Research Institute of the Air Force of the Red Army (from 06.1933), squadron commander of the higher tactical flight courses of the Red Army (from 02.1934) , assistant chief for flight training (from 1938), head of higher aviation courses for the improvement of the flight personnel of the Red Army (from 05.1941).

During the Great Patriotic War: Commander of the Air Force of the Southern Front (09-1941-05.1942), 4th Air Army (05-09.1942; 05.1943-1945), Air Force of the Transcaucasian Front (09.1942-04.1943). He was distinguished by deep knowledge in the field of operational art, constant search for new things, and a creative approach to solving assigned problems. This allowed him to skillfully organize the interaction of the Air Force formations with the ground forces, to provide effective assistance to the combined arms and tank armies.

In the post-war period: Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force (1946-1949), at the same time Deputy Minister of the Armed Forces of the USSR. He made a great contribution to the re-equipment of military aviation with jet aircraft. Since 1950, he again commands the air army, and from September 1951 he headed the air defense troops of the border line created as part of the Air Force. After the unification of these troops with the air defense forces in June 1953, the commander of the Air Defense Forces of the country, in May 1954, was transferred to the post of commander of the Baku Air Defense Region. From April 1956, Konstantin Andreevich Vershinin was Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, in January 1957 he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force - Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR.

Since March 1969, in the group of inspectors general of the USSR Ministry of Defense.

Awards: 6 Orders of Lenin, Gold Star medal; order October revolution, 3 Orders of the Red Banner, 3 Orders of Suvorov 1st class, Order of Suvorov 2nd class, Order of the Patriotic War 1st class; medals of the USSR; foreign orders and medals.

Air Chief Marshal ZHIGAREV Pavel Fyodorovich

, Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force (09-1949 - 01.1957).

Soviet military leader, Air Chief Marshal (1955).

He has been in military service since 1919. He graduated from the 4th Tver Cavalry School (1922), the Leningrad Military Observer Pilot School (1927), the Air Force Academy of the Red Army. prof. N.E. Zhukovsky (1932), postgraduate course with her (1933), Kachinskaya military aviation school (1934).

During the Civil War in Russia, he served in a reserve cavalry regiment in Tver (1919-1920). After the war, he successively held the following positions: commander of a cavalry platoon, pilot-observer, instructor and teacher of the pilot school, chief of staff of the Kachinskaya military aviation school (1933-1934). In 1934-1936. commanded aviation units, from a separate squadron to an air brigade.

In 1937-1938. was in . From September 1938 he was the head of the combat training department of the Red Army Air Force, from January 1939 he was the commander of the Air Force of the 2nd Separate Far Eastern Red Banner Army, from December 1940 he was the first deputy, from April 1941 he was the head of the Main Directorate of the Red Army Air Force.

During the Great Patriotic War: Commander of the Air Force of the Red Army (from 06/29/1941). He initiated the creation of mobile aviation reserves of the Civil Code at the beginning of the war, was directly involved in planning and directing the combat operations of Soviet aviation in the Battle of Moscow (12.1941-04.1942). From April 1942, commander of the Air Force of the Far Eastern Front.

During the Soviet-Japanese War (1945) commander of the 10th Air Army of the 2nd Far Eastern Front. First Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force (04.1946-1948), Commander of Long-Range Aviation - Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force (1948-08.1949).

From September 1949 to January 1957, Pavel Fedorovich Zhigarev was the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, from April 1953 he was simultaneously Deputy (from March 1955 - First Deputy) Minister of Defense of the USSR. Head of the Main Directorate of the Civil Air Fleet. (01.1957-11.1959), head of the Air Defense Military Command Academy (11.1959-1963).

Awards: 2 orders of Lenin, 3 orders of the Red Banner, orders of Kutuzov 1st class, Red Star; USSR medals.

Air Chief Marshal VERSHININ Konstantin Andreevich

Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force (01.1957 - 03.1969).

Air Chief Marshal KUTAKHOV Pavel Stepanovich

Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force (03.1969 - 12.1984).

Soviet military figure, Chief Air Marshal (1972), twice Hero of the Soviet Union (05/1/1943, 08/15/1984), Honored Military Pilot of the USSR (1966).

He has been in military service since 1935. He graduated from the Stalingrad Military Pilot School (1938, with honors), the Higher Officer Flight Technical Courses (1949), the Higher Military Academy (1957). Since 1938 he was a flight commander of the 7th Fighter Aviation Regiment of the Air Force of the Leningrad Military District. Participated in (1939). He made 131 sorties.

During the Great Patriotic War: on the Leningrad, then Karelian fronts, deputy commander and commander of an air squadron. From July 1943, assistant, then deputy commander of the 19th Fighter Aviation Regiment, from September 1944 - commander of the 20th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment. In total, during the war he made 367 sorties, conducted 79 air battles, personally shot down 14 enemy aircraft and 28 in group battles.

After the war, Pavel Stepanovich Kutakhov commanded a fighter aviation regiment, then deputy commander, from December 1950 - commander of a fighter aviation division. Deputy commander (11.1951 - 12.1953), commander of the fighter air corps (12.1953 - 12.1955). From December 1957 - Deputy Commander for Combat Training, then 1st Deputy, from August 1961 - Commander of the 48th Air Army. First Deputy (07.1967 - 03.1969), Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force - Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR (03.1969 - 12.1984). He actively introduced combat experience into flight practice, made a great contribution to the development of the first generations of jet aircraft, to the development of tactics and operational art of the Air Force.

Awards: 4 Orders of Lenin, 2 Gold Star medals, Order of the October Revolution, 5 Orders of the Red Banner; orders of Kutuzov 1st class, Alexander Nevsky, Patriotic War 1st class; 2 Orders of the Red Star, Order "For Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" 3rd class, medals of the USSR; foreign orders and medals.

Air Marshal EFIMOV Alexander Nikolaevich[R. 6.2.1923]

Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force (12.1984 - 07.1990).

Soviet military leader, air marshal (1975), twice Hero of the Soviet Union (10/26/1944, 08/18/1945), Honored Military Pilot of the USSR (1970), Doctor of Military Sciences, Professor, USSR State Prize Laureate (1984).

In military service since May 1941. Graduated from the Voroshilovgrad Military Aviation Pilot School (1942), the Air Force Academy (1951), military academy General Staff (1957).

During the Great Patriotic War: pilot of the 594th assault aviation regiment, flight commander, squadron of the 198th assault aviation regiment. In total, during the war years, he made 222 sorties on, during which, personally and as part of a group, 85 enemy aircraft were destroyed at airfields (which is highest achievement among Soviet pilots all branches of aviation) and 7 aircraft shot down in air battles, destroyed a large number of manpower and equipment of the enemy.

After the war, Alexander Nikolaevich Efimov continued to serve in aviation: the commander of an attack aviation regiment, an aviation division. Deputy, first deputy commander (1959-10.1964), from October 1964 - commander of the air army. First Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force (03.1969 - 12.1984), Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force - Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR (12.1984-07.1990). Chairman of the State Commission for the Use of Airspace and Air Traffic Control (1990-1993).

Since August 1993 - retired. Since 2006, Chairman of the Russian Committee of War Veterans and military service.

Awards: 3 Orders of Lenin, 2 Gold Star medals; Order of the October Revolution, 5 Orders of the Red Banner, Order of Alexander Nevsky, 2 Orders of the Patriotic War of the 1st class; Order of the Red Star, "For Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" 3rd class, "For Merit to the Fatherland" 4th, 3rd and 2nd class, Courage; medals of the USSR and the Russian Federation; foreign orders and medals.

Air Marshal SHAPOSHNIKOV Evgeny Ivanovich[R. 3.02.1942]

Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force (07.1990 - 08.1991).

State and military figure of the USSR and Russian Federation, Air Marshal (1991), Honored Military Pilot of the Russian Federation.

He has been in military service since 1959. He graduated from the Kharkov Higher Military School for Air Force Pilots (1963), the Air Force Academy (1969), the Military Academy of the General Staff (1984). In 1963-1966 pilot, senior pilot, flight commander of a fighter regiment, in the period 1969-1973. squadron commander, deputy air regiment commander for political affairs, commander of a fighter regiment. Since 1975, deputy commander, since 1976 - commander of a fighter air division, in 1979-1982. Deputy Commander of the Air Force of the Carpathian Military District for Combat Training - Head of the Combat Training Department. Deputy Commander (1984-03.1985), Commander of the Air Force of the Odessa Military District - Deputy Commander of the Troops of this District for Aviation (03.1985-06.1987), Commander of the Air Force of the Group Soviet troops in Germany (GSVG) - Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the GVSG for Aviation (06.1987-05.1988), Commander of the 1b Air Army of the GVSG (05-12.1988).

Since December 1988, Evgeny Ivanovich Shaposhnikov has been First Deputy Commander-in-Chief, since July 1990 - Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force - Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR. Minister of Defense of the USSR (08-12.1991), Commander-in-Chief of the Joint Armed Forces of the CIS (approved in office in February 1992). Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation (06-09.1993), since October - at the disposal of the President of the Russian Federation. In February 1994, he was appointed representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the state company for the export and import of weapons and military equipment"Rosvooruzhenie". Since November 1996, he was enlisted in the reserve of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation for joint-stock company(JSC) Aeroflot - Russian International Airlines, was the General Director of JSC. Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation for the development of space and aviation (03.1997-03.2004). Since 2004, Advisor to the General Director of OAO Sukhoi Aviation Holding Company. Chairman of the Board of the non-profit partnership "Safety of Flights".

Awards: Orders of the Red Star, "For Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" 2nd and 3rd class; medals of the USSR, Russia, orders of foreign states. He was awarded the international public order "Golden Falcon".

Army General Deinekin Petr Stepanovich[R. 12/14/1937]

Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force (08.1991 - 01.1998).

Military leader of the USSR and the Russian Federation, Army General (1996), Hero of Russia (1997), Honored Military Pilot of the USSR, Doctor of Military Sciences, Professor.

In military service since 1955. He graduated from the Kharkov Special School of the Air Force (1955), the Balashov Military Aviation School for Pilots (1957), the Air Force Academy. Yu.A. Gagarin (1969), Military Academy of the General Staff (1982).

He served in the following positions: pilot of the Center for the combat use of aviation (1957-1962), commander of the crew of a strategic bomber (1962-1964). Deputy squadron commander (1969-05.1970), squadron commander (05.1970-08.1971), deputy regiment commander for flight training (08.1971-01.1973), commander of a separate special-purpose guards aviation regiment (01.1973-11.1975). From November 1975 - deputy, then commander of the 13th Guards Dnepropetrovsk-Budapest Order of Suvorov, 2nd degree, heavy bomber aviation division, from 1982 - deputy, from 1984 - first deputy, from August 1985 - commander air army VGK. Commander of Long-Range Aviation (05.1988-10.1990). From October 1990 - First Deputy, from August 1991 - Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force - Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR. Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) - Commander of the Air Force (12.1991-08.1992).

Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force of the Russian Federation (09.1992-01.1998). He made a great contribution to the preservation of the air component of the Armed Forces and the formation of the Russian Air Force.

Since January 1998 in reserve, since December 2002 Pyotr Stepanovich Deinekin - retired. Head of the Department of the President of the Russian Federation for Cossacks (09.1998-02.2003). In subsequent years, he was vice-president of ZAO Avikos, chairman of the Board of Directors of OAO SO Afes.

Awards: medal "Gold Star"; orders "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" 2nd and 3rd class, "For Military Merit"; medals of the USSR and the Russian Federation.

Air Colonel General KORNUKOV Anatoly Mikhailovich

Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force (01 - 02.1998).

Military figure of the Russian Federation, army general (2000), candidate of military sciences, laureate of the State Prize.

He has been in military service since 1959. He graduated from the Chernihiv Higher Military Aviation School for Pilots (1964, with honors), the Military Air Defense Command Academy (1980, in absentia) and the Military Academy of the General Staff (1988). He began his military service in October 1964 in the Baltic states as a senior pilot of an air defense fighter regiment. Since 1968, the deputy squadron commander for political affairs was a senior pilot of the 54th Guards Air Defense Fighter Aviation Regiment. Since 1970 on Far East. In 1971-1972. squadron commander, in 1972-1974. - Deputy commander of the air regiment, from January 1974 - commander of the air regiment of the air defense division. In September 1976 - February 1978, he was deputy commander of the air defense corps for aviation - chief of aviation of the corps. Deputy Chief of Aviation of the 11th Separate Air Defense Army (02.1978-06.1980), commander of the 40th Fighter Aviation Division of the Air Force of the Far Eastern Military District (06.1980-01.1985).

Since January 1985, in the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, the commander of the 71st Fighter Air Corps of the Air Force (01.1985-07.1988). From July 1988 he was the first deputy chief of aviation of the Air Defense Forces. Since June 1989, First Deputy Commander, then Commander of the 11th Separate Air Defense Army - Deputy Commander of the Far Eastern Military District (FMD) for Air Defense, member of the Military Council of the Far Eastern Military District (07.1990-09.1991). Since September 1991, commander of the troops of the Moscow Air Defense District.

Since January 1998, he has been Commander-in-Chief of the RF Air Force, since March 1998, Commander-in-Chief of a new branch of the RF Armed Forces - the Air Force. He made a great contribution to the formation of a new type of Armed Forces and the further development of the Joint Air Defense System of the CIS member states.

Since January 2002, Anatoly Mikhailovich Kornukov has been in reserve. Advisor CEO NPO "Almaz-Antey" on issues of military-technical policy (since 2002).

Awards: orders "For Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" 2nd and 3rd class, "For Military Merit", "For Merit to the Fatherland" 3rd and 4th class; medals of the USSR and the Russian Federation.

The Air Force is a new branch of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation since March 1998.

The Decree of the President of the Russian Federation (RF) dated July 16, 1997 determined the formation of a new type of Armed Forces (AF) on the basis of the existing Air Defense Forces (Air Defense) and the Air Force (Air Force). By March 1, 1998, on the basis of the control bodies of the Air Defense Forces and the Air Force, the Office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force and the Main Headquarters of the Air Force were formed, and the Air Defense Forces and the Air Force were merged into the new kind Armed Forces of the Russian Federation - Air Force.

Army General KORNUKOV Anatoly Mikhailovich[R. 01/10/1942]

Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force (03.1998 - 01.2002).

Army General MIKHAILOV Vladimir Sergeevich[R. 10/6/1943]

Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force (01.2002 - 05.2007).

Military figure of the Russian Federation, Army General (2004), Hero of Russia (06/13/1996), Honored Military Pilot of the USSR, laureate of the Prize. G.K. Zhukova (2002).

In military service since September 1962. He graduated from the Yeisk Higher Military Aviation School for Pilots (1966, with a gold medal), the Air Force Academy. Yu.A. Gagarin (1975), Military Academy of the General Staff (1991). Since 1966, he served in the following positions: pilot instructor, senior pilot instructor, flight commander, squadron. Since 1974, deputy commander and commander of an aviation regiment. Deputy head of the Yeisk Higher Military Aviation Pilot School for combat training (1977-1980), head of the Borisoglebsk Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots (1980-1985). In 1985-1988 in various positions in combat training of aviation units and formations of the Moscow Military District. Since 1988 he has been deputy and first deputy commander of the district air force for combat training and military educational institutions, since 1991 he has been commander of the air force of the North Caucasian military district, since 1992 he has been commander of the air army. Active participant in the armed conflict on the territory Chechen Republic (1994-1996).

From April 1998 he was First Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, from January 2002 to May 2007 - Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force of the Russian Federation. Honorary citizen of the city of Borisoglebsk (2000). Laureate of the Marshal of the Soviet Union G.K. Zhukov Prize (2002). During his service, he mastered about 20 types of aircraft, the total flight time was about 6 thousand hours.

Since May 2007 in reserve.

Awards: medal "Gold Star"; orders "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" 3rd class, "For Personal Courage", "For Military Merit"; medals of the USSR and the Russian Federation.

Colonel General ZELIN Alexander Nikolaevich[R. May 6, 1953]

Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force (05.2007 - 04.2012).

Military leader of the Russian Federation, Colonel General, Honored Military Pilot of the Russian Federation, Candidate of Military Sciences.

He graduated from the Kharkov Higher Military Aviation School for Pilots (1976, with honors), the Air Force Academy. Yu.A. Gagarin (1988), Military Academy of the General Staff (1997). He served in the following positions: pilot of the 787th Fighter Aviation Regiment, deputy commander, commander of the 115th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment. First Deputy Commander of the 23rd Air Force and Air Defense Army, Commander of the 16th Guards Fighter Aviation Division of the North Caucasian Military District, 50th Air Force and Air Defense Corps, Commander of the 14th (2000-2001) and 4th (2001- 2002) by the Air Force and Air Defense armies.

Since August 2002 - Head of the Aviation Department of the Air Force - Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force for Aviation. Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force of the Russian Federation (05/09/2007-04/26/2012). Managed the transition to a new image of the Russian Air Force.

Mastered more than 10 types of aircraft, including Su-34, Yak-130.

Awards: Orders of the Red Star, "For Military Merit", "For Merit to the Fatherland" 4th class; St. George 2nd class; medals of the USSR and the Russian Federation.

Colonel General BONDAREV Viktor Nikolaevich[R. 12/7/1959]

Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force (since May 6, 2012), Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces (since August 1, 2015)

Military figure of the Russian Federation, Colonel-General, Hero of Russia (04/21/2000).

In military service since 1977. Graduated from the Borisoglebsk Higher Military Aviation School for Pilots (1981), Air Force Academy. Yu.A. Gagarin (1992), Military Academy of the General Staff (2004).

He served in the following positions: instructor-pilot, flight commander at the Barnaul Higher Military Aviation Pilot School, senior navigator, squadron commander at the Flight Personnel Training Center, deputy commander of an assault aviation regiment.

Member of the fighting in Afghanistan as part of a limited contingent of Soviet troops. Commander of the 899th Guards Assault Orsha Aviation Regiment, twice Red Banner Order of Suvorov, III degree (09.1996-10.2000). Participant of the armed conflict on the territory of the Chechen Republic (1994-1996, 1999-2003).

Since October 2000, he has been deputy commander, since 2004 - commander of the 105th mixed aviation division, since 2006 - deputy commander, since June 2008 - commander of the 14th Air Force and Air Defense Army. Chief of the Air Force Main Staff (07.2011-6.05.2012). Since May 6, 2012 - Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force of the Russian Federation.

Since August 2015 - Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces of the Russian Federation.

Awards: medal "Gold Star"; Order "For Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR", Courage; medals of the USSR and the Russian Federation.

Major General Kobylash Sergey Ivanovich

Chief of Aviation of the Russian Air Force (since November 13, 2013).

Sergey Kobylash was born on April 1, 1965 in Odessa. He graduated from the Yeisk Higher Military Aviation School named after V.M. Komarov in 1987, the Air Force Academy. Yu.A. Gagarin in 1994, the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in 2012.

Combat pilot, served as a pilot, senior pilot, flight commander, deputy squadron commander, squadron commander, deputy regiment commander, regiment commander, base commander of the 1st category, head of the operational-tactical and army aviation department of the Air Force High Command, deputy chief of air force aviation . Participated in the operation to force Georgia to peace in the Georgian-Abkhazian war of 2008.

He is qualified as a sniper pilot. The total flight time is more than one and a half thousand hours. Mastered the following types of aircraft: L-29, Su-7, Su-17 and its modifications, Su-25.

Awards: Hero of the Russian Federation, Order of Courage, "For Military Merit", "For Military Merit", medal "For Courage" and other departmental medals.

Military Space Forces - a new branch of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation since August 2015

In August 2015, in accordance with the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation, on the basis of connections and military units The Air Force (Air Force) and the Aerospace Defense Forces (VKO) have formed a new type of the Russian Armed Forces - the Military Space Forces: Office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces and the Main Headquarters of the Aerospace Forces.

Colonel General was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces in accordance with Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 394 of August 1, 2015 Viktor Bondarev, Chief of Staff - Lieutenant General Pavel Kurachenko, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces - Commander of the Space Forces Lieutenant General Alexander Valentinovich Golovko, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces - Commander of the Air Force Lieutenant General Andrey Vyacheslavovich Yudin.

On November 22, 2017, Colonel General was appointed to the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces instead of Viktor Bondarev Sergei Vladimirovich Surovikin.

The current military districts remain unchanged, associations, formations and military units of the Air Force and the Troops of the East Kazakhstan region have been transformed into three types of troops of the Military Space Forces: air force, space troops, air defense and missile defense troops.

Bondarev Viktor Nikolaevich - commander of the 899th Guards Orsha twice Red Banner Order of Suvorov, 3rd degree assault aviation regiment named after F.E. Dzerzhinsky of the 105th mixed aviation division of the 16th Air Force and Air Defense Army, Colonel.
Born on December 7, 1959 in the village of Novobogoroditskoye, now the Petropavlovsk district of the Voronezh region. Russian. Graduated in 1977 high school in Novobogoroditsky.
Since August 1977 - in the Air Force of the USSR. In 1981 he graduated from the Borisoglebsk Higher Military Aviation School named after V.P. Chkalov. Since 1981 he served in the 44th aviation training regiment, which provided educational process Barnaul Higher Military Aviation School for Pilots (Kalmanka station Altai Territory): instructor pilot, senior pilot, flight commander. In 1989 he was sent to study at the academy.
In 1992 he graduated from the command faculty Air Force Academy named after Yu.A. Gagarin. Since 1992 he served in Borisoglebsk training center flight personnel training: senior navigator, squadron commander. Then he served as commander of an attack aviation squadron, deputy commander, and from September 1996 to October 2000 - commander of the 899th Guards Assault Aviation Regiment of the 105th mixed aviation division of the 16th Air Force and Air Defense Army stationed at the Buturlinovka military airfield in Voronezhskaya areas.
Participant of hostilities in the North Caucasus region during the first and second Chechen wars. In the first Chechen war he made over 100 sorties. In December 1994, during the attack on the positions of the Dudaevites near the village of Shatoy, the plane of one of the pilots of the regiment was shot down by fire from the ground. Then V.N. Bondarev suppressed the militants' anti-aircraft weapons and, before the rescue helicopter arrived, drove the militants away from the pilot's landing site with fire from the sky. During the second Chechen war made over 300 sorties against illegal armed gangs.
By Decree of the President of the Russian Federation No. 709dsp dated April 21, 2000, for courage and heroism shown in the performance of military duty in conditions involving a risk to life, to Colonel Bondarev Viktor Nikolaevich awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation.
From November 2000 to 2002 - Deputy Commander of the 105th Mixed Aviation Division of the 16th Air Force and Air Defense Army (Voronezh). In 2004 he graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. Since June 2004 - commander of the 105th mixed aviation division. Since May 2006 - Deputy Commander, and since June 2008 - Commander of the 14th Air Force and Air Defense Army (Novosibirsk).
From July 17, 2009 - Deputy Commander-in-Chief, from July 15, 2011 - Chief of the General Staff - First Deputy Commander-in-Chief, and from May 6, 2012 to August 1, 2015 - Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force of the Russian Federation. From August 1, 2015 to September 26, 2017 - Commander-in-Chief of the Aerospace Forces of the Russian Federation.
He mastered the aircraft L-29, MiG-21, Su-25 and others. Has a total flight time of over 3000 hours. He was allowed to fly day and night, in any weather conditions. On May 9, 2015, during the aviation part of the military parade in Moscow to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, he piloted a Tu-160 aircraft.
On September 26, 2017, he was relieved of his post and dismissed from military service. Prior to that, September 19, 2017 as a representative of the executive body state power Kirov region was appointed a member of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation. On September 27, 2017, he was approved as Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security.
Lives and works in Moscow.
Military ranks:
major general (2005);
lieutenant general (08/09/2012);
colonel general (08/11/2014).
He was awarded the Orders "For Merit to the Fatherland" 4th degree (2016), Courage (01/04/1995), "For Service to the Motherland in Armed Forces USSR "3rd degree (1984), medals, including the medal of the Order of Merit for the Fatherland" 2nd degree with swords (01/06/1995), as well as orders and medals of foreign states.
Honored Military Pilot of the Russian Federation (2010).
Candidate of Technical Sciences.

((direct))

The next day, June 8, 1941, a wave of arrests swept through the top echelons of the military leadership. Arrested Ya. by Air Force. An outstanding fighter pilot and commander, he fought in the skies of Spain and Khalkhin Gol, for exceptional courage and skill he was twice awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union (in the USSR, before the start of World War II, only five people received this title twice).

On June 9, 1941, A. D. Loktionov, born in 1893, staff captain of the old Russian army, member of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks since 1921, colonel general, was arrested. In 1937-1940 he was Commander-in-Chief of the Red Army Air Force, Deputy People's Commissar of Defense of the USSR, member of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, member of the Main Military Council. The last position before the arrest was the commander of the Baltic Special Military District (until February 1941, then “at the disposal of the NPO”). He was awarded two Orders of the Red Banner, the Order of the Red Star.

On June 17, 1941, K. M. Gusev, born in 1906, a member of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks since 1930, lieutenant general of aviation, commander of the Air Force of the Belarusian OVO, then the Air Force of the Far Eastern Front, was arrested.

On June 19, 1941, P. A. Alekseev, born in 1888, member of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks since 1920, lieutenant general of aviation, head of the Main Directorate of Aviation Supply of the Red Army, then assistant head of the Air Force of the Volga Military District, was arrested.

Destruction is nothing

At dawn on June 22, 1941, well-known events began, but they in no way stopped and did not even slow down the untwisted flywheel of repression.

“The results of the great work carried out by the Chekists in less than two months are amazing”

A few days after the start of the war (the exact date is still unknown), the Hero of the Soviet Union, Deputy People's Commissar of Defense for Combat Training of Troops (before that, Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army), General of the Army K. A. Meretskov, was arrested. On the evening of June 21, by decision of the Politburo, he was appointed representative of the High Command on the Northern Front, and on the morning of June 22 he left for Leningrad. On June 23, Meretskov was included in the list of "permanent advisers to the Headquarters of the High Command" along with such trusted people of Stalin as Molotov, Beria, Shaposhnikov, Zhdanov, Malenkov, Mekhlis. On the same day, June 23, 1941, Meretskov was suddenly summoned to Moscow and arrested (according to one version, right in Stalin's waiting room).

The story of the sudden arrest and even more mysterious release (at the beginning of September 1941) of Meretskov is one of the most "dark spots" in the annals of the war. To date, exactly two documents are known that are directly related to the "case" of Meretskov. Both of these documents were published in the Trud newspaper (No. 230 of December 14, 2001).

The first "document" has to be considered the message of the leadership of the Central Archive of the FSB that the investigation file of K. A. Meretskov was destroyed. That's right - not lost, not classified, but destroyed. Why? Was there no place in the closet for materials about the arrest of the Chief of the General Staff and the Deputy People's Commissar of Defense? The second document is a letter with which Meretskov himself turned to Stalin on August 28, 1941. This letter, which, according to sound logic, should have been destroyed along with the allegedly destroyed "case", miraculously was not destroyed ... Meretskov's arrest coincided in time with a wave of arrests of the leadership of the Soviet Air Force, but this coincidence may be quite accidental. In my book “June 25”, I expressed and tried (within the framework of the available, extremely scarce source base) to substantiate the hypothesis, according to which Meretskov fell victim to intrigues (possibly, operations of the German special services), which resulted in a massive Soviet air raid on Finland ( June 25, 1941) and the subsequent unleashing of the 2nd Soviet Finnish war.

On June 24, 1941, P. V. Rychagov, born in 1911, lieutenant general of aviation, was arrested. Rychagov became a fighter pilot at the age of 20. In October 1936, as part of the first group of Soviet pilots, he arrived in Spain, until February 1937, the I-15 biplane squadron, commanded by Rychagov, shot down (more precisely, declared shot down) 40 Nazi aircraft. On December 31, 1936, the brave pilot and talented commander was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. From Spain, Rychagov ends up in China, where, already in the position of commander of the entire Soviet air group, he fights against the Japanese invaders. On March 8, 1938, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner, and in April he was appointed commander of the aviation of the Primorsky Group of the Special Red Banner Far Eastern Army. For the successful leadership of the Air Force in the battles near Lake Khasan in 1938 he was awarded the second Order of the Red Banner. In the same year, Rychagov was admitted to the party by the decision of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks without undergoing candidate experience. During the Finnish War, he commanded the Air Force of the 9th Army - the fourth war and the third Order of the Red Banner. From June 1940 - Deputy, and from August 1940 - Commander-in-Chief of the Red Army Air Force.

On June 26, 1941, A.P. Ionov, born in 1894, member of the CPSU (b) since 1938, major general of aviation, commander of the Air Force of the North-Western Front (Baltic OVO) was arrested.

Photo: ITAR-TASS

On June 27, 1941, P. S. Volodin, born in 1900, Major General of Aviation, was arrested. The first time Volodin (at that time - the chief of staff of the Air Force of the 1st Red Banner Army) was arrested in 1938, then, as part of the "Beria thaw", he was released into the wild in 1939. From April 11, 1941 to the day of his arrest - Chief of Staff of the Red Army Air Force.

On the same day, June 27, 1941, I. I. Proskurov, born in 1907, member of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks since 1927, lieutenant general of aviation, was arrested. The track record of General Proskurov was unusual even by the standards of that incredible time. In 1931, from the last year of the Kharkov Institute of Electrification, Proskurov was drafted into the Red Army, where he graduated from flight school and became the crew commander of a heavy bomber. Then Proskurov serves as an instructor pilot at the elite Air Force Academy. Zhukovsky, commander of a bomber squadron. Among the first, Proskurov arrived in Spain, where he was at the helm of the Security Council fighting the Francoists. In 1937 he was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. After Spain - commander of the aviation army special purpose Far East Front. Awarded the Order of Lenin, two Orders of the Red Banner. On April 14, 1939, a military pilot and aviation commander became the head of the Intelligence Directorate and, according to his position, deputy people's commissar of defense. On July 27, 1941 (exactly 11 months before his arrest), Proskurov again returned to aviation, commanded the Air Force of the Far Eastern Front, and later was appointed assistant commander-in-chief of the Air Force for long-range aviation.

On the same day, June 27, 1941, E. S. Ptukhin, born in 1902, member of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks since 1918, lieutenant general of aviation, commander of the Air Force of the South-Western Front (Kyiv OVO), was arrested. He graduated from the military aviation school in 1929 as a fighter pilot and commander of a fighter aviation brigade. In Spain, he was an adviser to the Republican Air Force, after returning to the Soviet Union in 1938, he was appointed commander of the Air Force of the Leningrad Military District. During the Finnish war - the commander of the Air Force of the main, North-Western Front. Hero of the Soviet Union, awarded two Orders of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner and the Order of the Red Star. In January 1941, Ptukhin was appointed head of the Main Directorate of Air Defense of the Red Army, and then - commander of the Air Force of the Kyiv Special Military District.

On June 28, 1941, F. K. Arzhenukhin, born in 1902, a member of the CPSU (b) since 1922, lieutenant general of aviation, was arrested. In 1927 he graduated from the Borisoglebsk school of military pilots, in 1931 - advanced training courses for command personnel at the Air Force Academy. Squadron commander, senior inspector for the flight service of the Air Force Inspectorate, chief of staff of the 4th bomber air corps. Assistant to the military attache in Spain, in 1938-1940 - chief of staff of the Red Army Air Force, then - head of the Military Academy of Air Force command and navigators. He was awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner.

On July 8, 1941, AI Tayursky, born in 1900, member of the CPSU (b) since 1926, Major General of Aviation, was arrested. Deputy Commander of the Air Force of the Western Front (Western OVO), after the death of the Commander of the Air Force of the Front, took over his duties.

On July 12, 1941, N. A. Laskin, born in 1894, non-partisan, major general of aviation, chief of staff of the Air Force of the Southwestern Front, was arrested.

At the first (and hasty) glance, the arrests made after June 22 could be related to the investigation of the causes and the search for those responsible for the defeat of Soviet aviation, however, in the above-mentioned "indictment" by Beria dated January 29, 1942, the events of the war are not even mentioned! The commanders of the Air Force of the western districts (Ionov, Ptukhin, Tayursky, Laskin), just like the aviation generals arrested before June 22, are “convicted by the testimony” of Belov, Uritsky, Bergolts, Uborevich, who were shot in 1937-1938. They are charged with "participation in a right-wing Trotskyist conspiracy" and even "espionage" in favor of the almost non-existent France. They enlisted as spies who in 1938, and who (Ptukhin) in 1935 ...

sealed fates

By the way, the fate of Ptukhin, the commander of the Air Force of the Kyiv Special Military District, was apparently decided even BEFORE the German invasion. Air Marshal A. A. Novikov (at that time - commander of the Air Force of the Leningrad Military District) writes in his memoirs:

“... On June 20, unexpectedly, on the orders of People's Commissar of Defense Marshal of the Soviet Union S.K. Timoshenko, I was summoned to Moscow. On Saturday I returned to Leningrad and immediately telephoned the people's commissariat. General Zlobin, who was with the people's commissar for special assignments, said that I was being transferred to Kyiv. Naturally, I immediately thought of General E. S. Ptukhin and inquired where he was being transferred. My question remained unanswered. Zlobin somehow hesitated and after a short pause replied that the issue of Ptukhin had not yet been resolved, and I should be with the marshal at 9 o'clock in the morning on June 23, and hung up the phone ... "

A lot of obscure and in the circumstances of the death of the commander of the Air Force of the Western Front, Major General I. I. Kopts. According to the generally accepted version, Kopets shot himself in his office on the evening of June 22, 1941. The documents available and studied by me of the headquarters of the Air Force of the Western Front tacitly testify that the commander of the Air Force of the front has really changed: on the morning of June 22, Kopets signs the documents, and on the night of June 22-23, there are already other, quickly replacing each other faces. However, there is no document that the new commander took up his duties, just as there is not the slightest mention of where the former one went. All this is very strange: according to well-known statutory norms, even the departure of the commander for the next vacation and the appointment of a temporary acting officer is formalized by a written order.

In the traditional version (suicide caused by psychological breakdown from the defeat of the aviation of the front) the most important thing in such a matter does not fit - the personality traits of the deceased. Hero of the Soviet Union, holder of the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Red Banner, a participant in two wars (Spanish and Finnish), 34-year-old General Ivan Kopets was not a "former fighter pilot." Before last day he remained a flying aviator. Marshal Skripko, in his memoirs, even notes with some disapproval that the district aviation commander spent most of his time at airfields, to which he did not arrive on the ZIS, but flew on the I-16 fighter. Yes, and the title of Hero of the Soviet Union squadron commander I. I. Kopets received not as a gift "for the anniversary", but for personal courage shown in the sky of Madrid.

For a person with such a biography and such a character, it would be much more natural to commit suicide - if such an intention actually arose - in the air, in the cockpit of a combat aircraft, taking with him several enemies. The fighter aircraft was at the personal disposal of the Air Force commander. There were plenty of German planes in the sky over Belarus, they themselves flew to Minsk. Everything falls into place, if we assume that in the afternoon of June 22, 1941, they arrived for the front aviation commander. People with "warm hearts", "friends of the people" arrived. In this case, the only way to evade the "investigation" and the wrong court was only one bullet in the temple.

Does not fit into the version of the suicide of General Kopets and one episode described in the diary of P. K. Ponomarenko (first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus, in the early days of the war - a member of the Military Council of the Western Front). In this document (published under the editorship of the famous Russian historian V. Nevezhin in the Minsk magazine "Neman" No. 7, 8 for 2008) there is such an entry: in the middle of the day on June 23 (twenty-third!) In a telephone conversation with Ponomarenko, Stalin tells him : Yes, I almost forgot. Smushkevich testified that Kopets was a German spy. His deputy was appointed commander of aviation. Take a look at his qualities. Tell Pavlov about it ... "

If this is true and on the afternoon of June 23, neither the front commander Pavlov nor Ponomarenko, a member of the Military Council of the ZF, knew anything about the “suicide” of the front air force commander, which allegedly happened the day before, then most likely there was no suicide. There was an arrest and / or murder during detention. Of course, it is still too early to draw final conclusions, historians can only hope that for the documents of the "case" of General I. Kopts, a place was found in the archives of the NKVD-KGB-FSB...

Except for the two pardoned...

The results of the great work carried out by the Chekists in less than two months are amazing. Were arrested:

Deputy People's Commissar of Defense, former boss General Staff of the Red Army (Meretskov);
People's Commissar for Armaments (Vannikov);
People's Commissar of Ammunition (Sergeev);
three former commanders of the Red Army Air Force (Loktionov, Smushkevich, Rychagov);
Head of the Main Directorate of Air Defense of the USSR (Stern);
Assistant Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force for Long-Range Aviation (Proskurov);
chief of staff of the Red Army Air Force and his deputy (Volodin and Yusupov);
Commander of the Air Force of the Far Eastern Front (Gusev);
Deputy Commander of the Air Force of the Leningrad Military District (Levin);
Commander of the Air Force of the North-Western Front (Ionov);
Commander of the Air Force of the Western Front (Tayursky);
Commander of the Air Force and Chief of Staff of the Air Force of the Southwestern Front (Ptukhin and Laskin);
Commander of the Air Force of the Moscow Military District (Pumpur);
Assistant Commander of the Air Force of the Oryol Military District (Shakht);
assistant commander of the Air Force of the Volga Military District (Alekseev);
Head of the Military Academy of Command and Navigators of the Air Force (Arzhenukhin);
head of the Air Force Research Institute (Filin);
head of the NIP of aviation weapons (Shevchenko).

The list is, of course, far from complete. It doesn't even include all those named above. But there were dozens of other commanders, engineers, managers who were arrested and killed as part of the "aviators' case." And at the same time, a grandiose case of an “anti-Soviet conspiracy” was unfolding in the Main Artillery Directorate of the Red Army (deputy head of the department, Major General G.K. Savchenko and his deputies, many designers of artillery systems were arrested and shot).

No one knows why, but Stalin pardoned the two doomed: Vannikov and Meretskov. July 20 straight from the prison cell to workplace returned Vannikov. Stalin, the chairman of the GKO, personally wrote a paper with the following content:

“The GKO certifies that Comrade Vannikov Boris Lvovich was temporarily arrested by the NKVD, as it has now become clear, due to a misunderstanding that Comrade Vannikov is now considered to be fully rehabilitated. T. Vannikov, by the Decree of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, was appointed Deputy People's Commissar for Armaments and, by order of the State Defense Committee, must immediately begin work as Deputy People's Commissar for Arms.

A little later, Vannikov was appointed People's Commissar of Ammunition of the USSR. He served the Master faithfully, and when the time came to create for Comrade Stalin "ammunition" of unprecedented destructive power - atomic, and then hydrogen bomb, then this case was entrusted to Vannikov, who had previously been arrested by the NKVD, "as it has now been clarified, due to a misunderstanding." Vannikov coped with the task, brought the matter to the test of "ammunition" with a capacity of 50 megatons and became three times Hero of Socialist Labor.

Meretskov was released at the beginning of September 1941 and sent directly from the prison cell in the same rank of Army General and again as a representative of the Stavka to the Karelian Front. This front, under the command of the former deputy people's commissar, did not achieve great (and small) successes. Perhaps because Meretskov's health and strength were irrevocably undermined. According to a widespread historical legend, caring Stalin even allowed the general, mutilated by torture, to report while sitting. Khrushchev writes in his memoirs: “When I saw Meretskov in last time, it was no longer Meretskov, but his shadow. He used to be a young general, physically strong, the strong man and now he can barely walk…”

All the rest, who were not tortured during the "investigation" and lived to see the verdict, were shot. On October 28, after the evacuation of the central apparatus of the NKVD from Moscow to Kuibyshev, Loktionov, Stern, Arzhenukhin, Rychagov, Smushkevich, Proskurov, Savchenko, Volodin were shot on the outskirts of the "reserve capital". The fate of the largest group of those arrested was decided on January 29, 1942, Stalin personally inscribed on the memorandum of the People's Commissar of the NKVD Beria: "Shoot all those named on the list." On February 13, 1942, the Special Meeting of the NKVD of the USSR formalized the will of the “leader” with a death sentence. Young, thirty and forty-year-old generals who signed up for the Bolshevik-Leninist Party at the age of 18-20 were shot on February 23, 1942. On the Day of the Red Army.

***

Many, many years have passed since then. In Kuibyshev, a park appeared on the site of the execution site of the NKVD. Children's Park named after Gagarin. At the beginning of the “perestroika”, a memorial stone was placed on the site of the future monument to the martyr heroes. Relatives were invited and speeches were made. Now on this place there is a modest monument, almost imperceptible because of trees. True, the grass there will be born good, tall and beautiful. With wildflowers.

On August 12, the Russian Air Force celebrated its centenary. The Commander-in-Chief, Honored Military Pilot, Hero of Russia, spoke about the present day and the prospects of one of the branches of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation Lieutenant General Viktor Bondarev.

- Viktor Nikolaevich, the Air Force has passed different stages development. What is characteristic of the current period, does it allow you to look to the future with optimism?

There is optimism. Now there are no problems in conducting combat training in the Air Force. We have almost everything that is necessary for intensive combat training, from aviation kerosene to funds for the repair and maintenance of aviation equipment. New aircraft is coming. This hasn't happened for a very long time.

For three or four years, there has been a constant increase in the average flight time of pilots, especially young ones. We believe that the most important thing is the training of young people, and therefore we spare no effort and money for it. The fact is that a serving military pilot, on the basis of accumulated experience, can perform combat training tasks with less flying time, but a young lieutenant needs to fly and train more.

It is known that in order for a person to feel like a pilot, his minimum, as they say, biological norm for flying time per year must be at least 60 hours. We have a lieutenant this year, I think, will have an average flying time of 85 hours. It's not bad. Especially if you remember that even ten years ago, the annual average flight time in our Air Force could hardly be maintained at the level of 10-12 hours. I don't want to remember those times. But it was - the lack of aviation fuel, the lack of funds for the current repair of aircraft.

Starting from 2009, we began to receive new aircraft. This year we plan to receive about 175-180 new aircraft and helicopters. Enter the air units and equipment maintenance facilities. Next year we will receive more than 200 new aircraft.

In total, under the State Armament Program until 2020, the Air Force will receive more than 1,000 new helicopters and about the same number of new aircraft. Thus, by 2020 our fleet will be renewed by almost 75%, and maybe even more.

- The press periodically raises the question of the future fate of the Air Force Commander-in-Chief. Some say that it may soon be transformed into a department of the General Staff. It's true?

I want to say with full responsibility: there is no question of reorganizing the main command into a department or some other structure. No one has set me such a task and, I think, no one will. Because there is such a type of armed forces as the Air Force in almost any country - let it be, for example, the United States or Honduras. And since there is an Air Force, then there must be an appropriate governing body. So let the veterans of military aviation and those who serve in the Air Force not worry: the commander-in-chief was, is and will be.

In general, the updated structure of the Air Force has been formed. Reformation Russian army it's finished. Now we are only working out the interaction of the branches and branches of the Armed Forces, improving the quality of combat training.

- How do you assess the process of creating a promising front-line aviation complex? Are the troops waiting for this plane?

We carefully monitor how it is brought to mass production. It is already clear that this is indeed a fifth-generation machine, an aircraft of the future. He has very great opportunities in work, both on air and on ground targets. PAK FA The Air Force, of course, really needs it.

Sometimes you read in the press that we are behind the Americans in the development of the fifth generation fighter. Like, they have been flying on such machines for a long time. I can say that we are not far behind. We are creating a world-class aircraft, which in a number of indicators significantly exceeds the capabilities of overseas analogues.

- Is there any concern that the developers of the radar with an active phased antenna array or the engine engineers will not be able to meet the deadline with the creation of a power plant for the PAK FA?

There are no particular concerns. I saw objective control data when working with the new radar, I know what engines are on the PAK FA and how they work. Yes, we are working on new design solutions, "grinding" in the operation of various aircraft systems. But I have no fears that this aircraft will not enter the series on time due to problems with the engine or station with AFAR.

Everything is in the process of testing, which is exactly what is needed in order to bring everything to its logical end. I think that next year we will be able to start joint military tests of the new aircraft together with the Sukhoi company. Including its weapon systems.

- With front-line aviation in this sense, there is clarity. And what about long-range aviation? Will she get a new generation strategic bomber?

Yes, there will be such machines. The appearance of a promising aviation complex has already been formed long-range aviation– . Those strategic bombers that are now in service with our Air Force, I mean the Tu-95MS and , are excellent aircraft. They allow you to solve the problems that face long-range aviation.

Tu-95 has been in operation for over 40 years. The Americans, for example, have an equally old B-52. But the machine copes with the tasks assigned to it, and the US Air Force does not refuse this bomber. Just like we are from.

But be that as it may, the life of any aircraft is limited. It still ends someday - in 10-20 or 50 years. Proceeding from this, we are obliged, we are ready and we are doing everything so that a new long-range aircraft appears. And he will appear.

Of course, it is easier to upgrade a car than to create and build a new one. However, we must do this in order to keep up with the times and keep up with others.

– And if, as they say, look beyond the horizon? Do your specialists think about what the sixth generation combat aircraft will be like?

The trends in the development of means of warfare, including military aviation, give reason to believe that the next generation of military aircraft will become mostly unmanned. This also applies to fighters, and front-line bombers, and strategic vehicles.

The fact is that the development of technology, information technologies goes with such steps that a person - a pilot, an operator already today sometimes has to act at the limit of his physical, psychological capabilities. And what will happen tomorrow, at the next stage scientific and technological progress? A person simply does not have time, he will not be able to realize all the possibilities of the new next generation aviation technology. He involuntarily transfers part of his functions to the machine - be it " artificial intelligence"or on-board supercomputer.

Therefore, both here and abroad, work on unmanned aerial vehicles, including strategic drones, is in full swing. They are not particularly advertised. But we know that such projects are being developed and certain results have already been obtained. Every now and then in the chronicle of hostilities in a particular region of the world, pinpoint strikes by unmanned aircraft are reported. Many UAVs are involved in operations carried out by the Americans and their allies in the Middle East. Suffice it to recall how recently one of the long-range US drones turned out to be a trophy of Iranian air defense.

- Russia recently resumed flights of strategic bombers for air patrols over the neutral waters of the oceans. Will the number of these flights decrease?

In no case. On the contrary, we are increasing this area of combat training and the number of sorties. Much more often we fly to air patrol zones over the Barents and Black Seas, in the Far East. We are training aircrew, practicing certain maneuvers aimed at increasing the country's defense capability.

“A few years ago, our bombers made an impressive flight to Venezuela with several mid-air refuelings. Are there any similar events planned?

Certainly. We are working on these issues - the implementation of flights to various regions of the world. One cannot do without them for one simple reason, because it is necessary to train the flight crew - the crews of both strategic bombers and Il-78 tanker aircraft.

You need to know your capabilities: what we are capable of, where we have bottlenecks, weaknesses, what, on the contrary, our strategic aviation is strong in. Any long-distance flight is not a walk. In each flight, so much information is obtained that is sometimes impossible to obtain in any other way.

- What are the prospects for re-equipping military transport aviation?

The BTA fleet, especially light transport aircraft, is outdated. An-24s have already completed their service. So far, An-26s remain. But they, poor fellows, work so much that some other machines, quite possibly, would not have survived. These planes need to be replaced. There is also a medium military transport An-12. He worked very, very hard.

The situation with the Il-76 heavy transport fleet is developing in a similar way. They adequately perform all the tasks assigned to them. But this aircraft was built in those days when they did not particularly look at the efficiency characteristics.

What will replace the VTA veterans? These are An-140 light turboprop transport aircraft. The Air Force has already purchased two such machines and will continue to purchase them. Purchases of An-148 and . As for the An-70, it is now entering the factory tests, I think it will successfully pass all the upcoming "exams" and go into production.

Naturally, there are big plans for the renewal of the IL-76 fleet. We have excellent PS-90 engines, which are twice as economical as those currently installed on these aircraft.

The pride and beauty of the An-124 military transport aviation is also scheduled to be modernized and produced in a new look. It will be purchased additionally and will be included in the BTA line.

- Parts of the Russian Air Force are also deployed abroad, in particular in the Kyrgyz Kant. What are the prospects for this airbase?

There are no questions about Kant. The Kyrgyz side is interested in the Russian air base functioning further. Especially given the US plans to withdraw from Afghanistan in 2014. Under these conditions, its importance in the system of ensuring regional security will only increase. In any case, no one even thinks about removing the base from Kant. The base is and the base will be.

- How is the armament of anti-aircraft missile forces with S-400 systems going?

This year we have already received two regimental kits. There will be more entries. The system is wonderful. Before equipping the next regiment, the Almaz-Antey Air Defense Concern took the air defense system to the training ground. We delivered there the personnel of the unit that received the equipment. Conducted training, real-time adjustment with the creation of a certain target environment, checked the readiness of people to carry out combat duty. The regiment successfully coped with all the tasks and now takes its place in common system Air defense in the Far East.

- Has work begun on the S-500 anti-aircraft missile system?