Page 77 - AirForces Monthly - Issue 381 (December 2019)

Belarusian AF & Air Defence Part 1
e
ow
p
Air power
A
i
r
home to an additional
quantity of nuclear-
capable heavy
bombers from a division of naval
missile-carrying aircraft of the
Soviet Baltic Fleet, plus a fleet of
attack and transport helicopters
belonging to local Ground Forces
and Strategic Missile Forces units. Early days
Once independent, Belarus also
gained control of a modest number
of military defence enterprises able
to manufacture electronic systems
and perform aircraft overhaul and
modernisation. Of these, the 558
www.Key.Aero
74-79 Belarus AFM Dec2019.indd 75
r
airforcesintel.com
Between
Russia and
the West
* In Russian, unit names
up to and including a division
are written with a lower-case first
letter, including their abbreviations.
Capital letters begin the unit names of
corps and higher units. However, in this was considered
15, 1992, the Air article, the usual Western standard has the best
Force Command been adopted, with the abbreviations maintained and
of the Republic in capitals (for example, IAP organised within
Aviatsionnyy of Belarus was instead of iap). the newly created
Remontnyy Zavod established and Commonwealth
(ARZ, Aircraft Repair began to formally gain of Independent
Plant) at Baranovichi is one control over former VVS States (CIS). On gaining
of the better-known facilities. assets based on Belarusian territory, independence, an estimated 700
starting with the 26 VA. On August military aircraft of various types were
1 that year, the 2 OA PVO of the deployed on Belarusian territory, but
Belarus became de facto Soviet VPVO was transformed by no means all were taken over by
independent in December 1991, into the PVO of Belarus (ie, the Belarus. The heavy bombers of the
when the USSR ceased to exist, and HQ of 2 OA PVO became the HQ DA were of no interest to Belarus.
in the process took over most of the of the Belarus PVO) – the VVS There was a single naval missile-
inventories of the Soviet 26 VA and and PVO would merge in 2001. carrying division with two regiments
11 K PVO. Six months later, on June Belarus established an air arm that at Bykhov that was disbanded
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