Long-Range Aviation (, literally Aviation of Distant Action and abbreviated DA, is a sub-branch of the Russian Aerospace Forces responsible for delivering long-range nuclear or conventional strikes by aircraft (rather than missiles). The branch was previously part of the Soviet Air Forces and Russian Air Force tasked with long-range bombardment of strategic targets with nuclear weapons.
During the Cold War, the Long-Range Aviation of the Air Forces (DA VS) was the rough Soviet equivalent to the French Air Force's Forces aériennes stratégiques (1964-present); the British RAF Bomber Command (1936-68); and the United States Air Force (USAF) Strategic Air Command (1946-1992). In the early 2020s there are roughly-equivalent structures within the People's Liberation Army Air Force and in the USAF Air Force Global Strike Command.
Long-Range Aviation traces its history to the Aviation of Distant Action, AДД, or ADD, Авиация дальнего действия, and the 18th Air Army of the Second World War and beforehand. This article sketches the development of Soviet and Russian long-range bomber forces from their origins in the mid-1930s.
Origins, 1936-1940
The first three Air Armies, designated Air Armies of Specific Purpose (or Particular Purpose) were created between 1936 and 1938.
In accordance with the predominant Deep operations doctrine, the Red Army was reorganized into six echelons, of which the long-range aviation was the 1st echelon. The 2nd echelon consisted of: heavy tanks; the 3rd echelon: medium and light tanks; the 4th echelon: the motorised infantry; the 5th echelon: heavy artillery; and the 6th echelon comprised the Main Force: the rifle troops, with their own integral tank support.
The 1st Specific Purpose Air Army was formed on 8 January 1936 as 1st Air Army of the General Reserve Command (Specific Purpose Army - 1) (1-я авиационная армия резерва главного командования (РГК) (АОН – 1)) headquartered at Monino Airfield. The initial TO&E established by the General Staff included two heavy-bomber air brigades (of Tupolev TB-3), one fast-bomber air brigade (of Tupolev SB) and one fighter air brigade. As the Ilyushin DB-3 entered service, they formed long-range bomber squadrons.
The 2nd Air Army was created on 15 March 1937 in the Far East, headquartered in Khabarovsk. The 3rd Air Army was created on 21 May 1938 in the North Caucasus Military District, headquartered in Rostov-on-Don.
On 20 October 1939 the three air armies' order of battle included:
1st Specific Purpose Army (Monino) 27th Aviation Brigade at Monino (9th Air Base) 21st and the 53rd Long Range Bomber Air Regiments 13th Aviation Brigade at Migalovo (24th Air Base) 41st Fast Bomber Air Regiment and 6th Long Range Bomber Air Regiment at Ivanovo (12th Air Base) 2nd Specific Purpose Army (Voronezh) 64th Aviation Brigade at Voronezh (112th Air Base) 7th and the 42nd Long Range Bomber Air Regiments 30th Aviation Brigade at Kursk (115th Air Base) 51st Fast Bomber Air Regiment and 45th Long Range Bomber Air Regiment at Oryol (141st Air Base) 3rd Specific Purpose Army (Rostov-on-Don) 3rd Aviation Brigade at Rostov-on-Don (12th Air Base) 1st Heavy Bomber Air Regiment and 12th Long Range Bomber Air Regiment at Novocherkassk (7th Air Base) 7th Aviation Brigade at Zaporizhia (16th Air Base) 8th and 11th Long Range Bomber Air Regiments
On 5 November 1940 the three Specific Purpose Air Armies were disbanded, due to their poor combat performance during the Winter War with Finland.
The three armies were restructured as an integrated: Long-Range Bomber Aviation of the Stavka, the Red Army supreme command (Дальнебомбардировочная авиация Главного командования Красной Армии (ДБА ГК)). The structure now comprised: five air corps, three separate air divisions and one separate air regiment.
Second World War
The crews of the DBA GK performed their first combat sorties on June 22, 1941, bombing enemy troop concentrations in the Suwalki and Przemysl areas. On June 23, long-range bombers together with Soviet naval aviation bombed Danzig, Koenigsberg, Warsaw, Krakow, and Bucharest. On the night of August 10-11 of the same year, naval aviation bombers of the Baltic Fleet and 81st Heavy Bomber Aviation Division DBA GK launched an air strike on the capital of the Reich, the city of Berlin.