Tass News (Информационное агентство России ТАСС)
A Sukhoi Su-27UB sporting the highly visible colors of the Russian Knights, the principal ambassador and display team of the present day Russian Aerospace Forces, pictured a few weeks back at Kubinka air base, near Moscow. ©D. Osipov
Moscow, Russia, 3 August 2015 — The Aerospace Forces have become operational in Russia as its new armed service as of this 1st August in accordance with the Russian president’s decree, Defense Minister, General of the Army Sergey Shoigu said at a conference call on Monday.
“The formation of the Aerospace Forces by combining the Air Force and the Aerospace Defense Force is the optimal option for improving the system of the country’s aerospace defense,” Shoigu said. “The establishment of the Aerospace Forces is prompted by a shift in the center of gravity of the armed struggle towards the aerospace sphere,” the defense minister said.
“Now the single command unites aviation, air defense and anti-missile defense troops, space forces and means of the armed forces,’ Shoigu said.This makes it possible, in the first place, to concentrate in a single command the entire responsibility for formulating military and technical policy for the development of troops dealing with tasks in the aerospace sphere and, secondly, to raise the efficiency of their use through closer integration and, thirdly, to ensure the consistent development of the country’s aerospace defense,” Shoigu pointed.
On this August 1, the Russian president signed decree No. 394 on appointing Colonel-General Viktor Bondarev as the commander-in-chief of the Aerospace Forces, Lieutenant-General Pavel Kurachenko as chief of the Main Staff and first deputy commander-in-chief of the Aerospace Forces, Lieutenant-General Alexander Golovko as deputy commander-in-chief of the Aerospace Forces and commander of the Space Forces.
The existing system of aviation and air defense control in Russia’s military districts remains unchanged, the defense minister indicated.
