Russian Space Forces
The Russian Space Forces is the space force branch of the Russian Aerospace Forces. It was reestablished following the 1 August 2015 merger between the Russian Air Force and the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces, after the independent arm of service was dissolved in 2011.
Formed on 10 August 1992 alongside the creation of the Russian Armed Forces, the Russian Space Forces was the first independent space force in the world. The organization shared control of the Baikonur Cosmodrome with Roscosmos, the Federal Space Agency. It also operated the Plesetsk and the Svobodny Cosmodromes. However the Russian Space Forces was dissolved in July 1997 and incorporated into the Strategic Missile Forces.
The Russian Space Forces was once again reformed as an independent troop on 1 June 2001, under a military reorganization. However, by December 2011, it was dissolved once again and this time replaced by the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces.
On 1 August 2015, the Russian Air Force and the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces were merged to form the Russian Aerospace Forces. The Russian Space Forces was reestablished as a result, and is now one of three sub-branches of the new military branch.
History
Soviet Strategic Missile Forces space troops
The Soviet Space Troops date back to 12 February 1955, when the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union issued a joint executive order for the establishment of Scientific Research and Testing Range for the development of space exploration technology, codenamed Tayga Installation. The range was formally established on 2 June 1955, on Plot 10 - Zarya in Kyzylorda Region of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, when the General Staff of the Soviet Army established the structure and manpower requirements of the range and assigned the formal designation of 5th Scientific Research and Testing Range.From the beginning in the Soviet Union Space exploration was a military activity. It was an integral part of the Soviet strategic ballistic missile force and by the time of the range's creation in 1955 this was the portfolio of the Deputy Minister of Defence for Special Weaponry and Rocket Technology. The first appointee was Marshal of Artillery, later Chief Marshal Of Artillery Mitrofan Ivanovich Nedelin. On 17 December 1959, Marshal Nedelin's Deputy Minister apparatus was transformed into the Strategic Missile Forces.
As a military unit the range received the designation Military Detachment 11284. The range was initially commanded by a Colonel of the RVSN, but it had an extensive force structure of division equivalent with its own aviation, a missile assembly brigade, its own railway network, security, logistics, medical units and flight measurement units as far away as the Kamchatka Peninsula.
As a clear indication of the indivisible connection between the Soviet Strategic Missile Forces and the Soviet space program the 627th Missile Regiment was reassigned from the 28th Guards Missile Division to the 5th SRTR on 1 August 1961. On 19 October 1961, its designation changed to the 43rd Separate Engineer Testing Detachment. While subordinated to the Baykonur Cosmodrome the 43rd SET Detachment conducted the state evaluation program of the R-16U type ICBM and accomplished the first launch from an underground shaft on 13 July 1962.
The unit also had the task to demonstrate Soviet ballistic missiles to foreign delegations. For example, the demonstration launch for the French President Charles de Gaulle on 25 June 1966. The 43rd SET Det. was disbanded in 1968. Another operational unit transferred to the 5th SRTR was the 676th Missile Regiment, Military Detachment 44083 of the 14th Missile Division, reassigned to the Range on 10 April 1961.
On 25 January 1962, its designation changed to 51st Separate Engineer Testing Detachment, but the number 44083 was retained. The Detachment operated three surface launch pads and three underground launch shafts for the R-9A ICBMs. It was disbanded on 7 December 1971.
The 311th Missile Regiment of the 49th Guards Missile Division transferred to the Range on 13 October 1962, and changed designation to the 6th Separate Engineer Testing Detachment. The regiment, later the detachment, had military number 44108, which changed in 1966 to 45856.
The Soviet space troops achieved the first successful launch of a human into space on 12 April 1961. As a maskirovka measure the Soviet TASS news agency mentioned the cosmodrome under the name Baykonur by the name of the nearest train station of the Trans-Caspian railway. The Soviet military internally used the geographic designation of Tyuratam from the closest Kazakh village. On the same day the 5th SRTR received its battle standard as a military formation.
While heavily involved in the Soviet space program, the Range simultaneously carried out the task of being the test center for the country's ICBM force. For that reason it had four test directorates :
- 1st Test Directorate ), testing ICBMs of the OKB Korolev;
- 2nd Test Directorate ), testing ICBMs of the OKB Yangel;
- 3rd Test Directorate ), testing ICBMs of the OKB Korolev;
- 4th Test Directorate ), testing ICBMs of the OKB Chelomey.
After the Baykonur Cosmodrome another space-related formation was added in 1957, when the Command and Measurement Complex for Control of Space Vehicles was formed initially in Bolshevo, later transferred to Krasnoznamensk, Moscow Oblast. Also in 1957 the construction of a missile launch range for the testing of R-7 ICBMs started near Mirny, Arkhangelsk Oblast, which later became the Plesetsk Cosmodrome.
In 1964, in order to bring the various space-related units and establishments together, the Soviet Ministry of Defence formed the Central Directorate for Space Assets of the Missile Troops of Strategic Purpose. In 1970 the Directorate was upgraded from a Central to a Main Directorate.
Independent troops
In 1981 the Main Directorate was taken out of the RVSN and subordinated to the Soviet General Staff with the corresponding re-designation from ГУКОС РВСН to ГУКОС ГШ ВС СССР. In 1986 the Main Directorate for Space Assets of the Ministry of Defence was reformed into the Directorate of the Chief of Space Assets and upgraded from a directorate under the General Staff, to a directorate directly subordinated to the Ministry of Defence.After the collapse of the USSR in 1992 the Directorate of the Chief of Space Assets of the Ministry of Defence was reformed into a separate combat arm - Military Space Forces. This is the moment when the Space Troops legally became a separate arm. Also noted should be the difference in designation. The Military Space Forces were a separate arm under the Ministry of Defence. They later became part of the Aerospace Forces. These are different entities and it is important to take this into consideration in order to avoid mixing up the two, because they share the same acronym in Russian - ВКС.
Anti-Missile and Anti-Space Defence Troops
On 30 March 1967, a Directorate of the Chief of Anti-Missile and Anti-Space Defence, under Lieutenant-General of Artillery Yuri Votintsev, was formed within the Soviet Air Defence Forces. In February 1971 the 1st Division for Warning Against Missile Attack was formed with HQ in Solnechnegorsk, the 57th Separate Radiotechnical Nod in Olenegorsk, Murmansk Oblast and the 129th Separate Radiotechnical Nod in Skrunda, Latvian SSR.The 2nd Division for Space Observation followed in July 1973 with HQ in Serpukhov-15, the 145th Center for Space Control and 1069th Command Center, the 46th Separate Radiotechnical Nod in Mishelyovka, Irkutskaya Oblast and the 49th Separate Radiotechnical Nod in the closed military townlet of Balkhash-9, Kazakh SSR.
In 1965 began the formation of a Space Control System. The headquarters was constructed in the Noginsk-9 closed military townlet east of Moscow. On 7 October 1965, the unit received the Military Unit designation 28289. On 1 October 1966, a directive of the General Staff reformed the unit into the 45th Division for Space Control under the Air Defence Force.
In 1977 the 1st Division WAMA was expanded into the 3rd Separate Army of Special Purpose for Warning Against Missile Attack and took over the 2nd Division SO. In 1978 the 9th Separate Corps for Anti-Missile Defence was added to the Directorate of the Chief of Anti-Missile and Anti-Space Defence.
The Corps was originally formed on 22 January 1962, in Moscow as the Command of the 81st Radiotechnical Center. The unit moved later to Pavshino in 1963. In 1965 it was transformed into Directorate of the Chief of Anti-Missile Defence Troops of the Moscow Air Defence District, Military Unit 75555 and later in the same year moved to Solnechnogorsk. In 1972 it was reformed as the Second Directorate of the Commander of the Anti-Missile Defence Troops of the Moscow Air Defence District. In 1976 it was reformed again, transferred from the Moscow ADD directly to the High Command of the Air Defence Force and correspondingly the designation changed to Second Directorate of the Commander of the Anti-Missile Defence Troops.
Two years later in 1978 it relocated again to Akulovo, Moscow Oblast. It was reformed into the 9th Separate Corps for Anti-Missile Defence. In 1988 the 45th Division SC was expanded into the 18th Separate Corps for Space Control. The 18th Separate Corps was reduced back into the 45th Division by the mid-1990s. It is still active today as the Main Centre for Reconnaissance of Situation in Space.
In 1992 the Anti-Missile and Anti-Space Defence Troops of the Air Defence Force were renamed to the Missile and Space Defence Troops. In 1995 the HQ of the 9th Separate Corps AMD relocated to Sofrino-1, Pushkin District, Moscow Oblast. On 1 October 1998, the Corps was reduced into the 9th Division for Anti-Missile Defence and transferred from the Air Defence Force to the Missile Troops of Strategic Purpose. The division is still active today.
In 1997 the Missile and Space Defence Troops and the Military Space Troops were transferred to the RVSN. In the view of some experts, the merger of the Space Troops and the Anti-Missile and Anti-Space Troops and their subordination to the RVSN was a mistake that prevented the Russian military from developing space-based capabilities. Russian public television comment on the matter:
On 1 October 1998, the 3rd Separate Army for Missile Space Defence of Special Purpose.
On 1 June 2001, the Missile and Space Defence Troops and the Military Space Troops were detached from the RVSN into the separate Space Troops directly under the General Staff. Colonel General Anatoly Perminov was appointed to lead the new Space Forces. He was succeeded by General Vladimir Popovkin in 2004 and General Oleg Ostapenko in 2008 until dissolution in 2011.
On 1 August 2015, the Space Forces were absorbed into the newly established Russian Aerospace Forces.