In the summer of 1954, the air defense units in the Baltic states became part of the new Baltic Air Defense Corps of the
Soviet Air Defense Forces, headquartered in
Riga. In early 1957, the Baltic Air Defense Corps and the Air Defense Directorate of the
Baltic Fleet were merged to form the Separate Baltic Air Defense Corps, which also included the
14th Air Defense Division at
Tallinn. During the Air Defense Forces reorganization in the spring and summer of 1960, the corps became the 27th Air Defense Corps, part of the
2nd Independent Air Defense Army at
Minsk, still with headquarters in Riga. The 27th Corps controlled air defense on the territory of the
Latvian and
Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republics. It included two interceptor regiments: the
54th Guards at
Vaiņode and the
372nd at
Daugavpils. The
158th Guards Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade was formed in 1961 at
Liepāja with the corps. In 1967 and 1968, the
205th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade was formed from a regiment of the corps at Riga. The
77th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade was formed around the same time from a regiment at
Ventspils. The
85th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade was formed at
Kaunas around the same time. In 1973 it took over responsibility for
Kaliningrad Oblast when the
3rd Air Defense Division was disbanded with its units directly subordinated to the headquarters of the 27th Corps. The corps gained the
689th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment at
Nivenskoye, the 169th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade at
Neman, the
69th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade at
Baltiysk, the
183rd Guards Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade at
Gvardeysk, and the 298th Radio-Technical Regiment at
Zelenogradsk. In August 1974, the 298th became the
81st Radio-Technical Brigade, before relocating to
Pereslavlskoye in 1977. In 1975, two radio-technical regiments from the corps merged to form the
80th Radio-Technical Brigade at
Tukums. Between 1978 and 1985, the corps was subordinated to the
Baltic Military District. At the same time, its fighter aviation regiments were transferred to the Air Forces of the district. On 26 July of that year, the 689th Guards transferred to the Air and Air Defense Forces of the Baltic Fleet. == References ==