Soviet Long Range Aviation
branch of the Russian Air Force
Soviet Long Range Aviation (Russian: Авиация дальнего действия, romanized: Aviatsiya dal'nego deystviya, literally Aviation of Distant Action and abbreviated DA) was a sub-branch of the Soviet Air Forces responsible for delivering long-range nuclear or conventional strikes by aircraft (rather than missiles).
During the Cold War, the Long-Range Aviation of the Air Forces (DA VS) was the rough Soviet equivalent to the French Air Force's Forces aériennes stratégiques (1964-present); the British RAF Bomber Command (1936-68); and the United States Air Force (USAF) Strategic Air Command (1946–1992). In the early 2020s there are roughly-equivalent structures within the People's Liberation Army Air Force and in the USAF Air Force Global Strike Command.
Long-Range Aviation traces its history to the Aviation of Distant Action, AДД, or ADD, Авиация дальнего действия, and the 18th Air Army of the Second World War and beforehand. This article sketches the development of Soviet and Russian long-range bomber forces from their origins in the mid–1930s.
Origins (1936–1940)
The first three Air Armies, designated Air Armies of Specific Purpose (or Particular Purpose) were created between 1936 and 1938.
In accordance with the predominant Deep operations doctrine, the Red Army was reorganized into six echelons, of which the long-range aviation was the 1st echelon. The 2nd echelon consisted of: heavy tanks; the 3rd echelon: medium and light tanks; the 4th echelon: the motorised infantry; the 5th echelon: heavy artillery; and the 6th echelon comprised the Main Force: the rifle troops, with their own integral tank support.
The 1st Specific Purpose Air Army was formed on 8 January 1936 as 1st Air Army of the General Reserve Command (Specific Purpose Army - 1) (1-я авиационная армия резерва главного командования (РГК) (АОН – 1)) headquartered at Monino Airfield. The initial TO&E established by the General Staff included two heavy-bomber air brigades (of Tupolev TB-3), one fast-bomber air brigade (of Tupolev SB) and one fighter air brigade.
The public source identifies “Soviet Long Range Aviation” as branch of the Russian Air Force. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Soviet, Long and Range.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4055881. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1964, 1936, 1946 and 1992.
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This entry incorporates text from “Soviet Long Range Aviation” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.