MILITARY THOUGHT (USSR): AIRFIELD ENGINEER SUPPORT OF THE AIR ARMY IN THE FIRST OFFENSIVE OPERATION OF THE FRONT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP10-00105R000302630001-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 19
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 16, 2012
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: November 29, 1976
• Content Type: MEMO

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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20505
29 November 1976
MEMORANDUM FOR: The Director of Central Intelligence
FROM William W. Wells
Deputy Director for Operations
SUBJECT MILITARY THOUGHT (USSR): Airfield Engineer
Support of the Air Army in the First Offensive
Operation of the Front
1. The enclosed Intelligence Information Special Report is part of a
series now in preparation based on the SECRET USSR Ministry of Defense
publication Collection of Articles of the Journal "Milita Thought". This
article is a general review of support prove e by airfield engineer forces
to the air army of a front, including its cruise missile units, in anoffensive operation. The support of departure basing entails the
preparation and protection of a network of main, maneuver and alternate
airfields and missile siting areas in anticipation of a rapid advance by
front troops. The author examines the airfield requirement of the air
army, airfield engineer support of air combat operations, including the
construction and restoration of airfields and cruise missile positions,
restoration of captured enemy airfields, the use of highways as runways,
and future requirements occasioned by V STOL aircraft, This article
appeared in Issue No. 4 65 f 1962.
2. Because the source of this report is extremely sensitive, this
document should be handled on a strict need-to-know basis within recipient
agencies. For ease from this publication have been
assigned
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Distribution:
The Director of Central Intelligence
The Joint Chiefs of Staff
The Director, Defense Intelligence Agency
The Assistant to the Chief of Staff for Intelligence
Department of the Army
The Assistant Chief of Staff, Intelligence
U. S. Air Force
Director, National Security Agency
Deputy Director of Central Intelligence
Deputy Director for Intelligence
Deputy Director for Science and Technology
Deputy to the Director of Central Intelligence
for National Intelligence Officers
Director of Strategic Research
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Intelligence Information Special Report
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50X1-HUM
DATE OF
INFO. Mid-1962
DATE
29 November 1976
Comment:
The author also wrote "Engineer Support of Antiair Missile Units5nz1-HUM
y
first ensive operation of the Front
MILITARY THOUGHT (USSR): Airfield Engineer Support of the Air Arm
in the
Documentary
Summa
The following report is a translation from Russian of an article which
appeared in Issue No. 4 (65) for 1962 of the SECRET USSR Ministry of
Defense publication Collection of Articles of the Journal "Military
Thought The author of this article is Engineer Colonel V. emenov. This
article is a general review of support provided by airfield engineer forces
to the air army of a front, including its cruise missile units, in an
offensive operation. The support of departure basing entails the
preparation and protection of a network of main, maneuver and alternate
airfields and missile siting areas in anticipation of a rapid advance by
front troops. The author examines the airfield requirement of the air
army, airfield engineer support of air combat operations, including the
construction and restoration of airfields and cruise missile positions to
allow rapid maneuvering, the personnel, equipment and time required for
this, restoration of captured enemy airfields and the importance of
capturing serviceable airfields, the use of highways as runways, and future
requirements occasioned by STOL and VTOL aircraft. End of Summary
Front Offensive Operation" in Issue No. 3 (70)for 1963
After 1962 the SECRET50X1-HUM
publication at the end of 1970.
version ot i i ary oug t was published three times annually and was
distributed down to the level of eased
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Airfield Engineer Support of the Air Army
in the First Offensive Operation of the Front
Y
Engineer Colonel V. Semenov
The postwar development of front aviation is characterized by a
further increase in its combat c aFi racteristics and an expansion of its
operating ranges in time and space. The main factor determining the might
of present-day front aviation is its equipping with nuclear missile weapons
and the newest combat equipment. But together with the growth in the
combat might of the front aviation, certain difficulties in utilizing it
have arisen. Success-fu fulfilment of the tasks confronting the air army
during the preparation for and course of an offensive operation of the
front in the initial period of war will be determined to a considerable
extent by the conditions of basing and maneuvering air units and large
units.
The further increase in the dependence of aviation on the conditions
of airfield basing is explained by the fact that the take-off and landing
characteristics of jet aircraft by comparison with piston aircraft have
drastically changed and have led to the necessity of almost doubling the
dimensions of temporary airfields, improving the quality of preparation of
dirt airfields, and increasing the strength of man-made runways.
Solving the problem of basing the front aviation greatly depends on
the coordinated actions of the commande border military districts,
which are expanded into front formations with the beginning of military
actions, and of the commann of the air army. The high rates of advance of
the troops of the front and the fluid nature of armed combat will force the
aviation, during the development of the operation, to frequently carry out
airfield maneuvering, which will not uncommonly be accomplished under
conditions of radioactive contamination of the terrain. This will require
the fulfilment in extremely short time periods of a considerable number of
airfield engineer measures directed toward support of the basing of
aviation and toward averting its lagging behind the advancing troops of the
front.
Let us examine the airfield engineer support of the air army during
the preparation and course of the first offensive operation of the front.
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The nature of departure basing of the air army. Airfield engineer
support of the departure basing of the front aviation carried out in
peacetime largely predetermines the success ul fulfilment of the tasks
confronting the air army in the first offensive operation of the front.
In organizing the departure basing of the air army, it is necessary to
take into consideration the requirements of establishing an advantageous
grouping of the front aviation by the beginning of the operation, providing
conditions for its successful fulfilment of tasks, and setting up a
reliable system of protecting the basing against means of nuclear attack.
The entire system of basing of the front aviation must meet these three
requirements. Let us note that a moo ern system of basing front aviation
must include main basing airfields, maneuver airfields, anternate
airfields.
The depth of the disposition of the departure basing airfields of the
front aviation is determined by its capabilities to conduct combat actions
from these airfields in the initial missile/nuclear strike and also to
cover and support the troops of the front at the beginning of war. At the
same time, the depth of basing must ensure invulnerability of aviation to
the short-range missiles of the enemy.
In peacetime, the front aviation may have an overall depth of basing
of up to 400 to 600 kilometers. In the interests of ensuring the constant
combat readiness of the aviation and its successful actions in the first
offensive operation of the front, it is necessary to provide for the
advance establishment of maneuver and alternate airfields which will allow
the aviation to perform a prompt maneuver to departure basing airfields at
the beginning of the operation. Airfields in the zone of actions of the
troops of the front must be situated with consideration for the possibility
of quickly including air large units in the accomplishment of the task of
routing the opposing enemy and assisting the combined-arms large units in
completing his destruction. For this, the depth of the departure basing of
the first-echelon fighter air divisions fulfilling the tasks of covering
the deployment of troops and their movement up to the national border must
reach about 150 kilometers, the overall depth of departure basing of the
fighter aviation of the front, in conformity with that materiel with which
it is equipped at the present time, being 200 to 250 kilometers.
Considering the operating radius of the enemy short-range missiles, it is
advisable in organizing the first offensive operation of the front to have
the forward basing airfields of the fighter and fighter-bomber aviation of
the border military districts at a distance of 50 to 70 kilometers from the
national border. As the role of the surface-to-air missile troops in
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covering the large units and installations of the front increases, the
distance of the forward basing airfields of the fighter aviation from the
national border may be increased to one and one-half or two times as far.
Airfield complexes of departure basing of the second-echelon air
divisions, mainly of the front bomber aviation, are advisably placed at a
distance of 300 to 450 kilometers from the national border. Along with
this, in order to hit deeper enemy targets with bomber forces, it is
desirable, in the fighter aviation basing zone, to prepare for the bombers
separate maneuver airfields or a maneuver airfield complex. Using the
departure basing airfield network established in such a manner, the air
army can carry out airfield maneuvering in the zone of the front for the
purpose of shifting its efforts from one axis to another, increase the
depth of action against the enemy, rebase air units and large units to
reduce the possibility of their being hit by nuclear strikes, and also
conceal the true basing of the front aviation during the preparation and
course of the operation.
Under present conditions, besides using the basing airfields of some
air large units for the airfield maneuvering of other air large units, it
also is advisable to allocate a certain part of the alternate airfields and
prepare them as maneuver airfields. Expanding the capabilities for
carrying out airfield maneuvering of the front aviation by establishing a
certain number of additional maneuver air iel will undoubtedly increase
its combat readiness for delivering the initial nuclear strike against the
enemy and repulsing his surprise attack. At the same time, this will
create favorable conditions for the fulfilment of the subsequent tasks of
the air army in the first operation of the front and, further, it will
favor an increase in the protection of the basing of the front aviation
against enemy means of nuclear attack.
Maneuver airfields, in our opinion, are given the same engineer
preparation as the main basing airfields, with the disposition on them of
the appropriate radiotechnical means, a definite reserve of
materiel-technical means, and deployed rear services organs capable at any
moment of receiving this or that air unit using the maneuver airfield and
supporting its uninterrupted combat actions. Consequently, the constant
combat readiness of the front aviation in the initial period of war is
conditioned to a considers e extent by advance engineer preparation of the
appropriate number of maneuver airfields and by the availability in the air
army of enough reserve rear services units capable of supporting the combat
activity of the aviation from these airfields during the preparation and
the beginning of the first offensive operation of the front, which is being
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carried out at high speeds.
The basic tasks of airfield engineer support of the air army in an
offensive operation of the front in the initial period of war are:
creating the conditions for t e- cruise missile units and air large units to
maintain constant combat readiness for conduct of combat actions in the
initial missile/nuclear strike against the enemy and in repulsing his
surprise attack; and providing the front aviation with conditions for
dispersed, maneuverable, protected, anc[ concealed basing. Timely
accomplishment of these tasks should assure the front aviation successful
conduct of combat actions during the preparation and beginning of the
offensive operation.
Having decisive significance during the course of the offensive
operation will be the speedy preparation of airfields on the axes of
actions of the troops of the front. Speedy preparation of airfields can be
achieved by shortening the time of reconnaissance of sectors for airfields,
introducing more streamlined forms of airfields, and increasing the
mobility of the airfield engineer units and their mastery of the methods of
constructing and restoring airfields under nighttime conditions.
The amount and nature of engineer measures to be fulfilled by the
engineer troops in peacetime in the interests of supporting the combat
actions of the cruise missile units will be determined by the task which is
assigned to these units in an initial missile/nuclear strike. If the plan
provides for allocating certain cruise missile units for the first
missile/nuclear strike, then, for such units or their subunits on alert, it
is advisable to have, already in peacetime, siting areas ready that would
ensure their constant readiness to conduct combat actions.
In the siting areas, shelters can be prepared for the launchers,
special vehicles, and personnel. True, advance preparation of siting areas
justifies itself only in case it is accompanied by careful and all-round
camouflage. Siting areas for launching subunits on alert, taking into
consideration the range of their fire, should be situated 30 to 40
kilometers from the national border (front line). Besides this, the
engineer measures for support of the front cruise missile units fulfilled
in peacetime must be aimed toward creating conditions for launching cruise
missiles both from permanent deployment points as well as from combat alert
assembly points, and during the movement of these units into siting areas.
It should also be kept in mind that, during the deployment of the troops of
the front at the beginning of war, the forces of the engineer units and
subunits may carry out engineer preparation of new siting areas for the
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cruise missile units and subunits, in which provision must be made for the
preparation of waiting and servicing positions, preparation of roads to
provide for the maneuvering of the cruise missile subunits in the siting
area, building of structures for the command post of the unit commander,
and fulfilment of engineer measures for camouflaging the cruise missile
units and subunits.
The siting area of a cruise missile unit may occupy an area of 500 to
600 square kilometers. In the selection of places in which to locate the
siting areas of cruise missile units, it is necessary to take into
consideration the disposition of the siting areas of the army and front
missile and surface-to-air missile units, and also the location of the
airfields of the front aviation. One must not allow overlapping of some
siting areas by oti ers. High density of the disposition of missile units
and subunits on the terrain will not only reduce the capabilities of the
rocket troops of the front to hit targets throughout the operating zone of
the troops of the front, but it will also create conditions for the enemy
to destroy them quickly with nuclear weapons.
The requirements of the air army for airfields. Up to the beginning
of the first offensive operation, the n er of airfields for the aviation
of the front may be different in each specific case. It is determined in
dependence on the preparation of a given theater of military operations in
respect to airfields, the quantitative composition of the air army and the
nature of its basing, and also in dependence on the conditions of the
terrain on which the air army has been based in peacetime.
If there are in the composition of the air army four to five fighter,
fighter-bomber, and bomber air divisions, one transport division, one or
two reconnaissance regiments, one or two aviation engineer regiments, and
one aviation radio regiment, then with this variant, in the air army in the
initial period of war there may be 17 to 21 air regiments altogether.
Figuring on two airfields for each fighter and fighter-bomber air regiment
(the remaining air regiments -- one to each airfield), 25 to 33 airfields
will be required to base them. This number of airfields will permit
situating all the aviation of the front within the zone of actions of its
troops. But it will be too difficult to provide continuous support and
cover of the troops with this number of airfields. With the beginning of
the operation, the requirement for airfields is conditioned not only by the
strength of the aviation but also by the necessity for airfield
maneuvering. Let us suppose that simultaneous airfield maneuvering is
being carried out by only one-quarter of the forces of the air army; in
this case, without sharing the basing of other air large units, it is
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necessary to have, in addition to the indicated number of airfields,
another six to eight maneuver airfields and a like number of alternate
airfields.
Thus, to provide maneuver basing of an air army of the indicated
composition in departure position, up to 50 airfields will be required
altogether. This is the minimum number. Such an airfield network can only
basically provide basing of the aviation of the front. And if one
considers that, in a number of cases, the necessity -may may arise to allocate
six to nine airfields from the airfield network of the air army for the
fighter aviation of the air defense army defending installations in the
border area, and three to five airfields for carrying out staging of the
long range aviation for the purpose of bringing its basing closer to the
targets of action located in the deep rear of the enemy, then the
capabilities for dispersed basing of the air large units of the air army
will become very limited.
In order to have beforehand an airfield network of the needed
capacity, it is necessary, as it appears to us, already in peacetime,
during the preparation of the territory of border areas in respect to
airfields, to prepare two to three airfields for each air regiment. Under
this condition it will be possible with the beginning of war to provide
departure basing of the air army, and in peacetime to work out the
performance of quick maneuvering of air large units during operational
training in district and army exercises.
Along with the preparation of an airfield network, taking on great
significance now are engineer measures for antinuclear protection of the
departure basing of the aviation, including, as is known, the undertaking
of work to ensure utilization of the protective features of the terrain and
dispersal of the air units and large units, and the equipping of airfields
with structures for the protection of personnel and materiel.
With proper utilization of the protective features of the terrain, it
is possible to increase the antinuclear protection of the basing of
aviation in a real way and by the same token considerably reduce the
requirements of the air units and air large units for man-made structures
to be erected on airfields for the protection of personnel and materiel.
On airfields prepared in peacetime, it is advisable, in our opinion, to be
sure to have dispersal zones. In order to ensure the constant combat
readiness of the air subunits, in the dispersal zones it is desirable to
have strips for the take-off of aircraft immediately from these zones.
Increasing the combat readiness of the front aviation and providing for its
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maneuvering and protection from the effects of enemy nuclear strikes can
also be promoted by wider utilization of the civil airfields of the border
military districts and the socialist countries. Naturally, the indicated
airfields can be used for the landing and take-off of the present aircraft
of the front aviation only with the appropriate additional preparation.
Airfield engineer s ort of the combat actions of the air army
During an offensive operation, airfield maneuvering o the large units and
units of the air army acquires great importance. During the rapid advance
of the troops of the front, it will be necessary to constantly bring the
basing airfields of tie aviation, especially of the fighter and
fighter-bomber aviation, closer to the forward large units of the front so
that the aviation, in cooperation with the rocket and surface-to-air
missile troops of the front, can successfully fulfil the tasks of cover and
support of the advancing troops.
The requirements for depth of disposition of the forward airfields
during the operation remain basically the same as for the depth of
departure basing of the aviation of the front. An additional requirement
will be the preparation of conditions that provide the fighters the
capability of conducting more prolonged actions at low flight altitudes.
Taking this into consideration, it is advisable to situate the forward
airfields of the fighter aviation at a distance of 70 to 100 kilometers
from the front line; the depth of basing of all fighter aviation must not
exceed 100 to 300 kilometers. This will allow covering the troops of the
front against the strikes of enemy aviation at low altitudes from a status
of airfield alert and intercepting the air enemy at high altitudes 25 to 30
kilometers beyond the front line, i.e., up to the line of enemy bombing
against our troops.
The fighter-bomber aviation, designated for hitting enemy targets 15
to 200 kilometers from the forward large units of the front, should be
situated at the same depth as the first echelon of the fig ter aviation of
the air army, and the bomber aviation, from 300 to 450 kilometers from the
front line, and in an number of cases even up to 600 kilometers away.
Naturally, to deliver strikes on deep enemy targets it is necessary during
an offensive operation of the front to have for the bomber aviation of the
front a staging airfield complex n the area of the airfield basing of the
fist-echelon fighters.
It is advisable to locate the siting areas of the front cruise missile
units 30 to 80 kilometers from the front line during the operation.
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The high rates of advance of the troops of the front during the
operation will drastically limit the possibilities oilizing departure
basing airfields, especially for the fighter and fighter-bomber aviation.
Thus, by the end of the first day of the operation, the separation of the
troops of the front from the departure basing of the air army may come to
120 to 150 kilometers, and by the end of the third day of the operation,
the fighter and fighter-bomber aviation of the first echelon of the air
army will be forced to completely change its departure basing airfields.
This, of course, will require considerable efforts by the airfield engineer
troops and perhaps even by the engineer troops subordinate to the front.
But this still does not fully characterize the difficulties connecte with
the preparation of airfield basing of the aviation during the first
operation of the front. When the depth of the operation is 800 to 1,000
kilometers, every tighter and fighter-bomber air division will change up to
four or five airfield complexes, and a bomber division, up to two or three.
Such is the nature of basing and the scope of airfield maneuvering of an
air army in an operation of the initial period of war which predetermine
the increase in the amount of basic engineer measures to support the basing
of the air army without separation from the troops during the course of an
offensive operation of the front.
Airfield engineer support of the air army during an operation of the
front, as is known, will be carried out under conditions of widespread
eiTIoyment of nuclear weapons by the sides against all targets, airfields
of the aviation included, conditions of the advance of our combined-arms
and tank armies along individual axes, wide maneuvering of troops and
units, change of the axis of their actions, presence of extensive areas
with high levels of radioactive contamination, and frequent change of the
basing airfields of the front aviation and the siting areas of the cruise
missile units. This specific character of the first operations will
require the fulfilment of airfield engineer measures within very short time
limits. At the same time, the limited strength of the airfield engineer
units which the air army will have at its disposal by the beginning of war
may slow down the performance of these measures unless the air army is
provided an expanded airfield network in advance, unless the amount and the
order of performance of engineer work in constructing and restoring
airfields during the operation are determined, and the available airfield
engineer battalions are equipped with efficient and highly mobile technical
equipment.
The basic measures of airfield engineer support of the maneuvering of
the air army during an offensive operation of the front in the initial
period of war are: maintaining the departure basing airfields in
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serviceable condition in the first days of the operation, constructing new
airfields and restoring damaged ones, bringing captured enemy airfields
into serviceable condition, carrying out work to protect the basing of the
air army from enemy nuclear means of attack, and ensuring the safety of the
forced basing and maneuvering of aviation in zones of radioactive
contamination. Another important engineer measure is the preparation of
siting areas for the units and subunits of the front cruise missiles and
support of their maneuvering during the operation.
The front aviation will start carrying out combat actions connected
with repull ni g sudden enemy strikes and delivering the initial strike
against him from the departure basing airfields prepared basically in
peacetime. But from the very beginning of combat actions there will be
required fulfilment of such engineer measures as elimination of the
aftereffects of nuclear strikes, support of the removal of air units and
cruise missile units from zones with high levels of radioactive
contamination, restoration of airfields where there is only an
insignificant level of damage, final preparation of alternate airfields and
support of the rebasing of air units: on them, and also preparation of new
siting areas for the front cruise missile units and assistance of their
maneuvering into the in icated areas.
To perform all these tasks, an air army must have considerable
airfield engineer forces at its disposal. In the first days of an
offensive operation of the front, engineer measures to maintain the
departure basing airfields seen'' rriceable condition will be carried out by
the airfield engineer battalions and airfield technical companies from the
complement of the aviation technical units. The possibility is not
excluded that, at the beginning of war, in order to maintain departure
basing airfields in serviceable condition and to eliminate the aftereffects
of nuclear strikes against them, civilian construction, road, and
transportation organizations located in the territory of the front will
also be allocated. However, during the operation, all engineer tasks to
support the basing of the air army will be performed basically by the
forces of its engineer troops.
To support the combat actions of the cruise missile units during the
operation, frequent change of siting areas will be required. New positions
will be needed daily in order to bring the missiles closer to the troops,
to a distance from which the cruise missile units can hit the deepest
targets and at the same time not sustain losses from the tactical missiles
and conventional artillery fire of the enemy. Unless a daily change of
positions of the cruise missile units and subunits is provided, then, by
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the end of the first day of the offensive, the depth at which enemy targets
may be hit with these missiles is substantially reduced and the range of
tasks they can accomplish is drastically restricted.
For the missile unit, the airfield engineer battalion, during the
preparation of the siting area, is required to conduct engineer
reconnaissance of the terrain and participate in the reconnaissance and
selection of sectors for launching, waiting, and servicing positions; to
prepare the routes and support the relocation of the cruise missile units
to the new siting areas; to carry out engineer preparation of the
positions, implement engineer measures to protect personnel and equipment
from nuclear means of attack, and take measures to camouflage equipment and
protective structures. Support of the relocation of the cruise missile
units and subunits during the operation is a matter of special concern.
Engineer support of the combat actions of the cruise missile regiment
during an offensive operation can be accomplished by one airfield engineer
battalion or a reinforced company of this battalion. If high-performance
mobile equipment (three BAT-type road-clearing tractor-dozers, three MDK
excavators, and three DIM road induction minesweepers) is introduced into
the T/0$E of the present engineer-combat engineer platoon of the front
cruise missile regiment, then the platoon will be able, during the
operation, to carry out the preparation of the siting areas of the
launching squadrons in the course of five to six hours. In this case, the
front cruise missile regiment will have the capability of carrying out
timely maneuvering.
Airfield engineer support of air large units involves a large volume
of earthworks in the construction of airfields. In each specific case the
volume is determined taking into consideration the relief of the terrain
and the linear dimensions of the runways.
During the Great Patriotic War, the length of the airfields
constructed was within the limits of 1,000 to 1,200 meters, with the volume
of earthworks on an airstrip on average broken terrain constituting from
1,000 to 2,000 cubic meters. In constructing a present-day temporary
airfield 2,000 to 2,200 meters long on the same average broken terrain, the
volume of earthworks increases considerably and reaches 10 to 15 thousand
cubic meters.
When troops of the front advance at high rates, a rigid requirement is
made in respect to time limits for constructing and restoring airfields in
the course of the operation. With a rate of advance of the troops of the
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front up to 100 kilometers per day, the time for constructing and restoring
eac airfield must not exceed one day, since otherwise the forward
airfields of the front aviation will be more than 100 kilometers distant
from the front line, as a result of which the front aviation will not be
able to provide cover of troops from the air and fulfil certain air support
tasks. Consequently, during an operation conducted at high speeds, the
airfield engineer battalion must have the capability, under conditions of
average broken terrain, by working in two shifts, of preparing for
operation a dirt airstrip measuring 2,000 x 100 meters in one day. In the
process, as it appears to us, the only work to be carried out should be
scraping, compacting, and rolling a dirt runway, taxiways, and dispersal
zones for materiel, and preparing approach roads to the airfield and slit
trenches for personnel.
Shortening the times of preparing new airfields during the operation
may be achieved as a result of reducing the width of the airfields,
increasing the speed of moving the airfield engineer battalions from one
airfield to another, mastery by these battalions of the construction of
airfields under night conditions, and more complete and effective use of
means of mechanization.
An airfield prepared during an operation, by the moment its
construction or restoration is completed and by the moment the fighter or
fighter-bomber aviation land on it, may not be more than 60 to 100
kilometers distant from the forward advancing troops. In order that the
depth of disposition of the forward airfields will not be increased by the
time their construction or restoration is completed, and that they will not
be located too far from the forward combined-arms large units, it is
advisable to carry out the preparation of individual labor-consuming
airfields with the forces of two airfield engineer battalions.
The restoration of airfields seized from the enemy during the
operation will be complicated. They may have different degrees of damage.
The enemy may blow them up before leaving. In this case, airfields
destroyed with the use of surface or underground bursts of nuclear mines
will have so great a degree of destruction and such a high level of
radioactive contamination that restoring them during the offensive
operation of the front will be, for practical purposes, impossible. Only
those dirt airfieTM-which have been put out of operation (by the enemy or
by our troops during preceding actions) as a result of air nuclear bursts,
or airfields with a man-made runway that have been blown up with
conventional high-explosive weapons, may be restorable.
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In restoring dirt airfields after air bursts of low and medium-yield
nuclear warheads, it will be necessary to carry out scraping and rolling
over the whole area damaged. Restoration operations can, as exercises
show, begin only one to two hours after a high air burst, when the degree
of radioactive contamination of the terrain has come down to acceptable
limits. To restore a dirt airfield after the air burst of a low-yield
nuclear warhead will require, according to calculations, one airfield
engineer company-day, and to restore a dirt airfield after the air burst of
a medium-yield nuclear warhead -- up to one airfield engineer
battalion-day. To restore airfields put out of operation with conventional
explosives takes lesser forces and time.
Occupying an important place in airfield engineer support of the
aviation of the front is the capture of serviceable enemy airfields. The
conditions for capture of serviceable enemy airfields during an offensive
operation conducted at high speeds have changed drastically.
Earlier, as is known, the forward airfields of the enemy tactical
aviation were 40 to 50 kilometers distant from the front line. Lately the
enemy seems to have a tendency toward increasing the depth of disposition
of the forward airfields of this aviation to about 100 kilometers. It can
be assumed on sufficient grounds that all enemy airfields situated nearer
than the indicated depth will be prepared for blowing up and part of them
may be blown up upon being abandoned. However, with an advance of our
troops at a rate of up to 100 kilometers per day, the enemy will hardly
succeed in blowing up all his airfields. It will be possible to count on
the capture of certain airfields which will be suitable for flights of our
aviation. This is a very important circumstance. Both the air cover of
the troops of the front and their support by the forces of our aviation
will largely depend on -whether the command of the front troops is able to
ensure the capture of serviceable enemy airfields.
To successfully accomplish this task, we think it is necessary, on the
basis of operational expediency, to plan the capture of certain enemy
airfields by combined-arms and tank armies and to allocate the necessary
forces and means for this when organizing the offensive operation of the
front. Of course, the capture of suitable enemy airfields by the forces of
advancing ground troops is possible only when they make a rapid, deep
penetration into the enemy disposition, but this very thing will be typical
of the first offensive operation.
The most advisable may be a combination method of capturing airfields,
where the capture and holding of enemy airfields is carried out by tactical
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airborne landing forces before the approach of the large units of the
ground troops who have the task of deep penetration and movement into the
area of the captured airfield.
The daily requirement for airfields to be prepared during an offensive
operation will be determined by the rates of advance, the numerical
strength of fighter and fighter-bomber aviation making up the first echelon
of the air army, and the requirement of this aviation for airfields to
support maneuvering along the front. If the first echelon of the air army
is going to be made up of one fighter-bomber and two fighter air divisions,
then, as calculations show, during the operation it is necessary every day
to prepare at least one airfield for each division. Besides this, to
support airfield maneuvering and to replenish airfield losses during the
operation, it is necessary every day to prepare one or two more airfields.
Thus, during an offensive operation, to provide basing for the first
echelon of an air army having the above-mentioned strength, daily
preparation of up to four to five new airfields will be required, of which
one or two serviceable airfields must be captured from the enemy by the
troops of the front. This last condition is, as has been indicated,
extremely important. If it is not fulfilled, then the air army may
substantially lower the intensity of air support and worsen the cover of
troops against air strikes.
It was established earlier that, by mastering quick restoration and
construction of airfields under conditions of average broken terrain and by
having the forces of the airfield engineer battalion work two shifts, it is
possible to prepare a dirt airfield in one day. Taking this into
consideration, to support the airfield maneuvering of the part of the front
aviation belonging to the first echelon of the air army will require
allocating three to four airfield engineer battalions. Airfield engineer
support of the maneuvering of the fighter aviation making up the second
echelon of the air army and also of the bomber and military transport
aviation during an offensive operation will be realized basically by
utilizing the airfields vacated by the aviation of the first echelon.
Along with this, the restoration of certain airfields will be required, as
will the allocation of one or two airfield engineer battalions for this.
Thus, an air army, during the first offensive operation of the front, must
have a minimum of five or six airfield engineer battalions.
Support of the maneuvering of the front aviation may be somewhat
improved by utilizing certain sections of highways for the take-off and
landing of aircraft, for instance, in the territory of the Western Theater
of Military Operations. The experience with the flight of aviation from
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highways acquired during the Great Patriotic War confirms the possibility
of using them for present-day aircraft as well. Here it is necessary to
keep in mind that the present aircraft of the front aviation will require
preparing sections of highways nearly twice as long as those prepared up to
the end of the last war. The volume of engineer works to adapt certain
sections of highways for flights of aviation will be correspondingly
increased in comparison with the past. In the plan for road support of the
troops of the front, it will be required to provide for measures to supply
detours around :=e sections of highways to be used as runways.
Employment in the near future of aircraft with shortened take-off and
landing will, to a considerable degree, facilitate support of maneuverable
basing of the air units and large units of the air army during a rapid
offensive of the troops of the front in the initial period of war. The
conditions for the maneuvering oof front aviation in an offensive operation
of the front will be improved to an even greater degree when this aviation
receives vertical take-off and landing aircraft into service. In this
case, the necessity of preparing airfields with long runways will
disappear. Engineer support of vertical take-off and landing aviation
differs in principle from airfield engineer support of the aviation now
existing. Instead of runways which are used by the front aviation for
repeated take-offs and landings over two or three days continuous
basing, there will appear areas for vertical take-off and landing of
aircraft, the majority of which will most often be used once. As a result
of this, the front aviation will have the conditions for highly
maneuverable basing during the course of the entire offensive operation of
the front carried out at high speeds.
The list and volume of engineer measures to prepare a vertical
take-off and landing area for the subunits and units of the front aviation
will change. For instance, the tasks of checking the indicate areas for
mining and radioactive contamination of the terrain and of preparing
protective structures for personnel and equipment will become more
labor-consuming. Of course, the relative proportion of the preparation of
roads on which maneuvering will be carried out between the areas to
transport materiel-technical means, will increase many times. But, in
return, it will be completely unnecessary to build runways. True, the
engineer units supporting the combat actions and maneuvering of the front
vertical take-off and landing aviation will have to have the correspondiig
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technical equipping allowing the preparation of conditions for the
maneuvering of aviation during the rapid offensive of the front troops. We
should already be working on the establishment of such equipping now so
that, when such aircraft are received into service, we will have the
airfield engineer means of supporting their combat actions right away.
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