Russian Naval Aviation

Air arm of the Russian Navy
The small Caspian Flotilla operates An 26 and Mi 8 transports, Ka 27PS rescue helicopters, as well as some Ka 29 and Mi 24 armed helicopters. In 2011, the Russian Navy Deputy Commander in Chief for Naval Aviation and Air Defense/Commander, Naval Air and Air Defense Forces is Major General Igor Kozhin.

On May 30, 1912, the Vice Admiral of the Imperial Russian Navy, Vice Admiral Alexander Karl Nikolai von Lieven submitted a written report No. 127 on the plan for the creation of aviation detachments in the fleets This document, approved with some reservations by the Naval Minister Vice Admiral Ivan Grigorovich, acquired the character of an order for the Naval Ministry. The logical continuation of the report was a letter from MGSh No. 1706/272 dated 06/02/1912 to the head of the General Staff School on the formation of the infrastructure of aviation units in 1913. As of January 1, 1913, there was one seaplane and two wheeled airplanes in the Baltic, and five seaplanes on the Black Sea. In the spring of 1914, by the decision of the Minister of the Navy, an aviation department was introduced into the staff of the Naval General Staff, consisting of three people.

The beginning of the World War I found the Russian Naval Aviation at the stage of organizational formation. In total, by August 1, 1914, the Naval Ministry had about three dozen aircraft of various types and about 20 certified pilots. About 10 more officers underwent flight training directly in the fleets. By the beginning of the war, there were only 10 seaplanes in the Baltic, based in Libau, and 8 seaplanes in the Black Sea, in Sevastopol, and Kilen Bay. It was planned to deploy air detachments in the Pacific Ocean only by the summer of 1915, but this was not implemented due to the outbreak of the war. At the beginning of March 1915, the Naval Aviation already had 77 aircraft, including 47 in the Baltic, and 30 seaplanes in the Black Sea. They were served by 78 officers and 859 lower ranks. As of 1 January 1917, the Russian Naval Aviation was an impressive force and included 264 airplanes of various types. Of these, 152 aircraft and 4 small controlled balloons were in the Black Sea Fleet, 88 aircraft in the Baltic. Another 29 aircraft were available in the Petrograd and Baku officer aviation schools. From September 1916 to May 1917 alone, the Naval Department received 61 Grigorovich M 11 and M 12 seaplanes. 26 of them flew in the Black Sea, about 20 entered the Baltic. In the Black Sea and Baltic aviation units, respectively, 115 and 96 officers, 1039 and 1339 conductors, non commissioned officers and privates served.

The regular Soviet naval aviation units were created in 1918. They participated in the Russian Civil War, cooperating with the ships and the army during the combats at Petrograd, on the Baltic Sea, the Black Sea, the Volga, the Kama River, Northern Dvina and on the Lake Onega. The newborn Soviet Naval Air Force consisted of 76 obsolete hydroplanes. Scanty and technically imperfect, it was mostly used for resupplying the ships and the army. In the second half of the 1920s, the Naval Aviation order of battle began to grow. It received new reconnaissance hydroplanes, bombers, and fighters. In the mid 1930s, the Soviets created the Naval Air Force in the Baltic Fleet, the Black Sea Fleet and the Soviet Pacific Fleet. The importance of naval aviation had grown significantly by 1938–1940, to become one of the main components of the Soviet Navy. By this time, the Soviets had created formations and units of the torpedo and bomb aviation. At the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, all of the fleets (except for the Pacific Fleet) had a total of 1,445 aircraft.

At the end of June 1941, three air squadrons of the Civil Air Fleet (Baltic, Black Sea, Northern) were formed from civil aviation units (Baltic, Black Sea, Northern), which were operatively subordinate to the command of the air forces of the respective fleets. Their task was to provide transport services in the interests of the fleets. In addition, from the first days of the war, some aviation units of the NKVD Border Troops were transferred to the Naval Aviation. At the same time, the first assault aviation units appeared in the Navy's Air Force: a squadron of the 57th BAP in the Baltic and the 46th OSHAE in the Black Sea Fleet. In the Great Patriotic War, the Naval Aviation turned out to be the most effective of the forces of the fleet the destruction of 407 enemy ships by aviation was officially confirmed, which is 66% of losses, with a total number of losses 614 units (however, there is information that official data on the effectiveness of the work of mine and torpedo aviation, for a number of reasons, they are greatly overestimated). In the end of World War II, a reduction in the Soviet Armed Forces began. In the Naval Aviation, after the end of hostilities, assault aviation was completely eliminated, however, three more aviation divisions were formed: the 17th SAD and the 18th SAD of the Pacific Fleet Air Force, as well as the 19th MTAD of the Navy's Main Command.

To attack surface ships at long ranges, the Soviet Navy was unique in deploying large numbers of bombers in a maritime role for use by Naval Aviation. The Kiev class of Soviet aircraft carriers was deployed in the late 1970s and carried up to 30 aircraft including Yak 38 VTOL fighters. The next class of Soviet aircraft carriers, named the Admiral Kuznetsov class, supported more conventional aircraft such as the Su 33 "Flanker D" and the MiG 29 "Fulcrum". Land based aircraft such as the Tupolev Tu 16 "Badger" and Tu 22M "Backfire" bombers were deployed with high speed anti ship missiles. Previously believed to be interceptors of NATO supply convoys traveling the sea lines of communication across the North Atlantic Ocean between Europe and North America, the primary role of these aircraft was to protect the Soviet mainland from attacks by U. S. carrier task forces. On 3 December 2016, an Su 33 crashed into the sea after attempting to land on the Admiral Kuznetsov. The plane crashed on its second attempt to land on the aircraft carrier in good weather conditions. The pilot was safely recovered by a search and rescue helicopter. Initially it was suspected that the plane missed the wires and failed to go around, falling short of the bow of the warship, but later it was revealed that the arresting cable failed to hold the aircraft, and was damaged in the attempt. Following the two incidents, the air wing was transferred to shore at Khmeimim Air Base near Latakia, Syria to continue military operations while the carrier's arresting gear issues were addressed. During her deployment off Syria, aircraft from Admiral Kuznetsov carried out 420 combat missions, hitting 1,252 hostile targets. On 11 January 2017, Admiral Kuznetsov was conducting live fire training exercises in the Mediterranean off the coast of Libya. The Russian defence ministry announced that on 11 January, Admiral Kuznetsov was visited by Libya's military leader Khalifa Haftar, who had a video conference with Russian defence minister Sergey Shoygu while on board.

The 100th Shipborne Fighter Aviation Regiment (Military Unit Number 45782) was formed at Saki in the Crimea on 10 March 1986. In January 1992 its personnel refused to take the oath of loyalty to Ukraine, which would have presumably made them part of the Ukrainian Navy or Ukrainian Air Force, and instead its personnel left for Russia, leaving their aircraft and equipment behind. The unit regrouped at Severomorsk 3 as part of the Northern Fleet. However, in February 1993 the regiment was disbanded and its personnel and equipment incorporated into the 279th Shipborne Fighter Aviation Regiment. The 279th Independent Shipborne Assault Aviation Regiment was established in 1973. In 1990 it became a Maritime Assault Aviation Regiment. On 22 February 1993 it was renamed the 279th Shipborne Fighter Aviation Regiment as it absorbed the remaining elements of the 100th Shipborne Fighter Aviation Regiment.

The Russian Naval Aviation maintains a large and varied fleet of fixed wing and rotary aircraft, the most numerous of which is the Kamov Ka 27 anti submarine helicopter that operates from various surface ships.