Origins The army traces its lineage back to the formation of the
2nd Air Defence Corps before
Operation Barbarossa, the
World War II German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. The corps provided direct cover for the city, and the
Air Forces of the Leningrad Military District had two fighter aviation divisions for air defense, which became the
7th Fighter Aviation Corps in July. In November, the 2nd Corps was reorganized into the
Leningrad Air Defence Corps Region, but on April 5, 1942, it became the
Leningrad Air Defence Army. During the
Siege of Leningrad between 1941 and 1944, the air defence formations protecting the city claimed more than 1,500 German aircraft destroyed, and covered the
Road of Life across
Lake Ladoga. In the fall of 1945, after the end of the war, the army was reorganized into the
16th Special Air Defence Corps, which was redesignated the 16th Air Defence Corps in May 1946 and the 16th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Corps PVO in July 1947. In early 1949, the headquarters of the
Leningrad Air Defence Region was formed from the corps headquarters. In August, its
anti-aircraft artillery divisions conducted an exercise in which they practiced repelling a large enemy air raid. The region was an air defence region of the 2nd category, and in the spring of 1954 became 1st category, tasked with providing air defense for Leningrad and the
Leningrad Military District. On May 1, 1953, it included four fighter aviation divisions part of the
25th Fighter Air Defence Army (the 20th, 41st, 44th, and the 50th), three anti-aircraft artillery divisions (the 25th, 29th, and the 42nd), a separate anti-aircraft artillery regiment, and seven separate anti-aircraft artillery battalions. These numbered 33,200 men, 256 fighter aircraft, 950 anti-aircraft guns (including 261 light guns), and 52 radars. In June 1954, the region was reorganized into the
Special Leningrad Air Defence Army, and the 25th Fighter Army abolished with its divisions brought under the direct control of the new army. When
surface-to-air missiles were introduced into the Air Defence Forces between 1958 and 1959, four Air Defence Brigades of Special Designation were formed in the army: the 82nd, 83rd, 84th, and 86th, equipped with
S-75 Dvina missiles. These brigades were planned to be controlled by a coordinated missile defence system forming a ring around Leningrad, known as the System-100 Missile Zone. Additionally, the S-75s were to be bolstered by three regiments of long-range multi-target
Dal missiles (see
:ru:Даль_(зенитный_ракетный_комплекс)), whose formation began in the fall of 1960. The
closed military townlet of Khvoyny was built to house the headquarters of the system. In April 1959
General-lieutenant Dmitry Zherebin was appointed commander of the Special Leningrad Air Defence Army. He continued to command the army after its reorganization into the 6th Separate Air Defence Army in February 1961.
6th Independent Air Defence Army In March 1960, the 6th Independent Air Defence Army (6-я отдельная армия ПВО) was formed from the Special Leningrad Air Defence Army. It controlled air defence units in
Leningrad Oblast,
Pskov Oblast, and the
Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic. Between 1961 and 1962, the aviation division headquarters were disbanded and their regiments directly subordinated to the army headquarters. The Dal missile program was cancelled in late 1962, and the SAM brigades instead equipped with the
S-125 and
S-200 missiles. In the spring of 1967, the System-100 Zone was abolished and its units directly subordinate to the army headquarters or the
14th Air Defence Division. On February 22, 1968, the army was awarded the
Order of the Red Banner in honor of the 50th anniversary of the
Soviet Army. In early 1978, the 14th Division was transferred to the
Baltic Military District, and in the spring of 1980 the army was reorganized into the 18th Air Defence Corps with the transfer of its fighter units to the Air Forces of the Leningrad Military District. The army was composed of regiments of
interceptors and anti-aircraft missiles. It had two major tasks: to protect the most industrialized European part of the
Soviet Union against possible U.S.
cruise missile attack from the north via the North Pole (using
Mikoyan MiG-31 interceptors), and to protect the deployment of
nuclear submarines stationed in the
Kola Peninsula (using
Su-27 fighters). In early 1986, the PVO returned to the organization used during the 1960s and 1970s. As a result, in April 1986, the headquarters of the army was reestablished in Leningrad at 16 Baskov Pereulok from the headquarters of the 18th Corps. The army included the
27th Air Defence Corps at Riga, the new
54th Air Defence Corps with headquarters at
Khvoyny, the
14th Air Defence Division at
Tallinn, which included the 425th Fighter Aviation Regiment PVO (
Haapsalu (Khaansalu), Estonian SSR), the 656th Fighter Aviation Regiment PVO at
Tapa Airfield in Estonia with MiG-27MLDs from 1978 and the
498th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Training Brigade at
Opochka. In turn, the 27th Corps of the PVO consisted in 1988 of the: •
54th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment PVO (Vainode, Latvian SSR) (38
Sukhoi Su-27P / UB) •
689th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment PVO (
Nivenskoye, Kaliningrad Oblast) (36
Sukhoi Su-27P / UB) • 77th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade (Ventspils, Latvian SSR) • 85th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade (Kaunas, Lithuanian SSR) • 158th Guards Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade (Liepaya, Latvian SSR) • 169th Guards Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade (Neman, Kaliningrad Oblast) • 183rd Guards Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade (Gvardeysk, Kaliningrad Oblast) • 205th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade (Riga, Latvian SSR) • 529th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment (Ukmerge, Lithuanian SSR) • 466th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment (Vilnius, Lithuanian SSR) • 80th Radio-Technical Brigade (Tukums, Latvian SSR) • 81st Radio-Technical Brigade (Pereslavskoye, Kaliningrad Oblast) • 5th Radio-Technical Regiment (Paplaka, Latvian SSR) 54th Air Defence Corps included: •
177th Fighter Aviation Regiment PVO (
Lodeynoye Pole, Leningrad Oblast) (38
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23MLD) •
180th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiment PVO at
Gromovo-Sakkola, Leningrad Oblast) (31
Mikoyan MiG-31) •
82nd Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade (Lomonosov, Leningrad Oblast) •
83rd Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade (Zelenogorsk, Leningrad Oblast) •
84th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade (Vaganovo, Leningrad Oblast) •
86th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade (Tosno-2, Leningrad Oblast) •
204th Guards Anti-Aircraft Rocket Brigade (Kerstovo, Leningrad Oblast) •
169th Guards Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment (Kornevo, Leningrad Oblast) •
219th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment (
Pervomayskoye-1) •
341st Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment (
Lopukhinka-2) •
555th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment (
Ostrov-2) •
967th Anti-Aircraft Rocket Regiment (
Tikhvin) •
46th Radio-Technical Brigade (Khvoyny)
Russian Air Force The Army was reformed within the
Russian Air Force on June 1, 1998, from the
76th Air Army of the VVS and the 6th Independent Air Defence Army, both headquartered in
Saint Petersburg. Its new title was the 6th Army of Air Forces and Air Defence. The 6th Army had responsibility for the
Leningrad Military District. Its commanding officer was
General Lieutenant Vladimir Sviridov from June 2005 until at least 2007.
10th Independent Air Defence Army appears to have disbanded on December 1, 1994. The
518th Fighter Aviation Regiment at
Talagi Airport disbanded in 1998. The 174th and
470th Guards Fighter Aviation Regiments, at
Monchegorsk and
Afrikanda air base, both disbanded on September 1, 2001. There was also formerly the
72nd Fighter Regiment at
Amderma and the
641st Fighter Aviation Regiment at
Rogachevo (
Sukhoi Su-27s). On September 13, 2005, the army was awarded the honorific Leningrad in honor of the actions of its predecessor units in the Siege of Leningrad. In 2009 the army was disestablished and reorganised as the
1st Air and Air Defence Forces Command. Major General took command in February 2014; he was promoted to lieutenant general in February 2016. On August 1, 2015, the army was reformed from the 1st Air and Air Defence Forces Command as the 6th Leningrad Air and Air Defence Forces Army. By a
Decree of the President of Russia dated September 13, 2005, for mass heroism and courage, fortitude and courage shown by the personnel of the army during the Great Patriotic War to protect the skies of Leningrad, and given its merits in peacetime, the army was given the honorary name "Leningrad". On December 22, 2025, the army was awarded the Guards status. ==Structure==