The VTA traces its history to the formation of the first transport aviation unit in the
Leningrad Military District on 1 June 1931. In 1955–56 air transport units were removed from the
Soviet Airborne Troops and the VTA itself was created. from the
Il-76 at the
Tuzla airfield in Bosnia, January 1996 . Servicemen of the 35th Airborne Assault Brigade of the
Kazakh Armed Forces prepare for parachute landing in the sky over the city of
Kapchagay, May 1996 In 1988 the VTA included six separate regiments (194th Guards Bryanskiy Red Banner Military-Transport Aviation Regiment im. N.F. Gastello at
Fergana, probably associated with the
105th Guards Vienna Airborne Division, 334, 374 OVTAP at
Klokovo, 566 VTAP, and unidentified regiments at Ulyanovsk and
Kirovakan) and six divisions with a total of 18 military transport aviation regiments. Holm and Feskov
et al. 2004 disagree on multiple regiments' identity and stationing. The divisions were the
3rd Guards Military Transport Aviation Division (VTAD) at
Vitebsk (103rd Guards, 110, 235, 239th Regiments), the
6th Military Transport Aviation Division at
Kryvyi Rih (Krivoy Rog) (37th, 338th Regiments), the 7th Division at
Melitopol with the 25th Guards, 369th (
Dzhankoy), and 708th Regiments, the 8th Division at
Chkalovsky,
Shchyolkovo,
Moscow Oblast, (70th, 353rd, and 354th OSNAZ regiments), the
12th Military Transport Aviation Division at
Migalovo, which traced its heritage to the 12th Bomber Aviation Division of the World War II period, and had three regiments, including the 8th, 81st, and a regiment at
Klin. The final division was the 18th Guards 'Taganrogskaya Red Banner Orders of Suvorov and Kutuzov' Military Transport Aviation Division at
Shaulyai, which traced its history to the wartime 6th Guards Bomber Aviation Division, and had three regiments (117th, 128th Guards, 196th). Regiments of the 18th VTAD, according to Holm included the 128th Guards VTAP at
Panevėžys Air Base, and the 600th VTAP at
Kėdainiai in the
Lithuanian SSR. The main aircraft the 61st Air Army used was the
Il-76 Candid (about 220) and
An-22 Cock; or the medium transport
An-12 Cub. The Russian Air Force began in 2002 to upgrade its Il-76MD transport aircraft, but this is a slow process, only two aircraft being modernized in 2005. According to the modernisation programme, 12 Il-76 aircraft are due to be modernised before 2010, to the Il-76MD-90 variant. ==Structure 2007==