Ukrainian Air Defence Forces


The Ukrainian Air Defence Forces were an anti-aircraft military service of Ukraine, active from 1992 to 2004.
They were established on the basis of the former Soviet 8th Air Defence Army, and the last commander of that army, Lieutenant General Mykhailo Lopatin, became the first commander of the Ukrainian Air Defence Forces.

History

From January 24, 1992, after the collapse of the USSR, 28th Air Defense Corps, previously subordinate to 2nd Air Defence Army was transferred under the 8th Air Defence Army of Ukraine. Units stationed in Moldova were transferred to the Moldovan Armed Forces.
There were approximately 67,000 air defense troops in Ukraine in 1992. The new Air Defence Forces headquarters was formed on the basis of the HQ 8th Air Defence Army. There were three air defence corps: the 28th, 49th, and 60th. All three air defence corps were taken over by Ukraine on 1 February 1992. The 28th ADC became the Western AD Region on 1 June 1992.
The Military Balance 95/96 said that six fighter regiments had been disbanded.
The Air Defence Forces expanded in July 1996 through the transfer of the air defence brigades and nondivisional air defence regiments of the Ukrainian Ground Forces in order to centralize the control of air defense assets. This shift transitioned away from the Soviet practice of placing some air defence units under ground forces control. These units included the 68th and 77th Separate Radio-Technical Brigades, the 138th, 223rd, 46th, 156th, 108th and 55th Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigades, the 1046th, 1067th Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiments, and the 1094th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Regiment.
After the accidental shooting down of Siberia Airlines Flight 1812 in October 2001, the commander of the Ukrainian Air Defence Forces, Colonel general Volodymyr Tkachov, first offered to resign and then was dismissed from his post. An anti-aircraft exercise being run from a training area in the Crimea had gone wrong, and a surface-to-air missile destroyed the plane.
In 2004, the Air Defence Forces were amalgamated with the Ukrainian Air Force, becoming the Anti-Air Defence Missile Artillery of the Ukrainian Air Force. The merger of the services thus enabled the Armed Forces of Ukraine to adopt the tri-service structure, common to most modern armed forces in the world, in a historic break with the Soviet precedence. In that capacity as a speciality of the force, Ukrainian Air Defense became involved in the long Russo-Ukrainian War from the 2010s and onward. The modern day AADMA-AF reports as a operating service arm under the office of the Commander of the Air Force with units operating all over the country.

Units in the early 1990s

The first issue of the International Institute for Strategic Studies' Military Balance after the Soviet collapse, 1992–93, listed one Air Defence army, 270 combat aircraft, and seven regiments of Su-15s, MiG-23s and MiG-25s. By March 1994 Air Forces Monthly reported three air defence regions:
  • the Southern with the 62nd and 737th Fighter Aviation Regiments,
  • the Western with the 92nd, 179th, and 894th Fighter Aviation Regiments,
  • the Central with the 146th, 636th, and 933rd Fighter Aviation Regiments.
Аt the time of the formation of the Air Defence Forces of Ukraine, the ADF-UKR was organized into:
General Command of the Air Defence Forces of Ukraine
  • 228th Separate Mixed Air Regiment, the liaison unit of the service, flying An-26, An-24 and Mi-8
  • ATC and radar units supporting the flights of the fighter aviation:
  • * radiotechnical battalions : Belbek, Ay-Petri, Kramatorsk, Dnipropetrovsk-Kaydaki, Zaporozhye, Ozernoe, Vasilkiv, Striy, Kerch, Uman, Uzhhorod, Vladymyr-Volynsky, Kotovsk, Izmayl, Chernivtsi, Kamenka-Bugskaya
  • * separate radiotechnical companies : Tarkhankut, Feodosiya, Poltava, Melitopol, Vinnytsia, Popelnya, Limanskoye, Zmiyinyy 28th Corps of Air Defence
  • * 38th Communications Center
  • * 17th EW Battalion
  • * 894th Fighter Aviation Regiment AD, flying MiG-23ML/MLD/UB
  • * 179th Fighter Aviation Regiment AD, flying MiG-23MLD
  • * 254th Missile Air Defence Regiment
  • * 270th Missile Air Defence Regiment
  • * 438th Missile Air Defence Regiment
  • * 521st Missile Air Defence Regiment
  • * 540th Missile Air Defence Regiment
  • * 1st Radiotechnical Brigade 49th Corps of Air Defence, formed in 1989 from the 9th, 11th and 19th AD divisions.
  • * Separate Transport Air Detachment, flying An-26 and Mi-8
  • * 146th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment AD, flying 41 MiG-25PD
  • * 636th Fighter Aviation Regiment AD, flying 39 Su-15TM
  • * 933rd Fighter Aviation Regiment AD, flying 40 MiG-25PDS/PU
  • * 96th Missile Air Defence Brigade
  • * 148th Missile Air Defence Brigade
  • * 212th Missile Air Defence Brigade
  • * 138th Missile Air Defence Regiment
  • * 276th Missile Air Defence Regiment
  • * 317th Missile Air Defence Regiment
  • * 392nd Guards Missile Air Defence Regiment
  • * 508th Missile Air Defence Regiment
  • * 613th Missile Air Defence Regiment
  • * 138th Radiotechnical Brigade
  • * 164th Radiotechnical Brigade 60th Corps of Air Defence, formed in 1989 from the 1st and 21st AD divisions.
  • * Separate Transport Air Detachment, flying An-26 and Mi-8
  • * 62nd Fighter Aviation Regiment AD, flying Su-27P and Su-15TM
  • * 737th Fighter Aviation Regiment AD, flying MiG-23MLD
  • * 738th Fighter Aviation Regiment AD, flying MiG-25PDS
  • * 100th Missile Air Defence Brigade
  • * 160th Missile Air Defence Brigade
  • * 174th Missile Air Defence Brigade
  • * 208th Guards Missile Air Defence Brigade
  • * 1014th Guards Missile Air Defence Regiment
  • * 1170th Missile Air Defence Regiment
  • * 14th Radiotechnical Brigade
  • * 16th Radiotechnical Brigade

Current organization as branch of the Air Force

Current and historical equipment

Currently in service in the Air Force Anti-Air Missile Defense Artillery Forces including those inherited from the Ukrainian ADF upon merger:
Retired from both the Ukrainian ADF and/or the Air Force:
  • S-75 Dvina, S-200 truck-towed anti-air defense long range surface-to-air missile launchers
  • 2K11 Krug tracked mobile anti-air defense medium range surface-to-air missile launchers
Future purchases by the Air Force Anti-Air Defense:
  • SAMP-T Eurosam Aster-30 Mamba truck-mounted anti-air defense medium/long range surface-to-air missile launchers
  • Skyshield fixed or truck-mounted mobile short range anti-aircraft guns for defense of air force bases and installations
  • RIM-7 Sea Sparrow tracked or truck mounted anti-air defense short range surface-to-air missile launchers, the former mounted on Buk chassis
Retired aircraft of the Ukrainian ADF:

Commanders