MILITARY THOUGHT: THE AIR FORCES IN THE NEW STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOVIET ARMED FORCES, BY LT.-GEN. OF AVIATION S. SINYAKOV AND MAJ.-GEN OF AVIATION M. KOZHEVNIKOV

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80T00246A029400240001-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 20
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 6, 2012
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: January 30, 1962
• Content Type: MEMO

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246AO29400240001-9
Next 2 Page(s) In Document Denied
Iq
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246AO29400240001-9
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246AO29400240001-9
50X1-HUM
The Air Forces in the New Stage of Development
of the Soviet Armed Forces
by
Lt.-Gen. of Aviation S. Sinyakov
and
Maj.-Gen. of Aviation M. Kozhevnikov
The well-known postulate of F. Engels on the direct
dependence of the armament, composition, and organization
of troops, and their tactics and strategy, on the
degree of development of industry, finds brilliant
confirmation in our Soviet reality. The uninterrupted
and stormy growth of socialist economics and the
realization of technological progress in all branches
of the peoples' economy, especially in heavy industry,
has made it possible to supply the Soviet Army with
the new nuclear/missile weapon, which has radically
changed the quality of all the types of our armed forces,
including the air forces (WS).
The introduction of the nuclear/missile weapon was
accompanied by a process of formation of new opinions
regarding the preparation for and conduct of modern
operations and of war as a whole. The nuclear weapon
has changed the role and place of every type of armed
forces and arm of troops in armed combat, in an
operation and a battle, by advancing to first place a
new, more powerful type of armed forces - the missile
troops - to whom belongs the basic role of disorganizing
the enemy rear, his economy, and system of governmental
control, and also, of destroying the enemy's long-range
means of attack.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246AO29400240001-9
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246AO29400240001-9
50X1-HUM
At the same time, it is quite obvious that no
single type of armed forces is in a position, if
isolated from the other types of forces, to perform
successfully the combat missions assigned to it. The
achievement of victory in a future war will be possible
only with the united efforts of all types of armed
forces and with their coordinated operations on land,,.
in the air, and on water. The interdependence of all
types of armed forces and arms of troops will increase
significantly in a future war, since, with the
employment of missiles and aircraft, war will reach
all corners of the globe, the distance between the
rear and front will disappear in fact and the losses
in military equipment and personnel will increase many
fold as compared with the last war. Continual mutual
assistance and cooperation will be required between all
types of armed forces in fulfilment of combat tasks,
as well as in materiel-technical and medical support.
The air forces, owing to the availability in their
composition of various types and kinds of aircraft,
are capable of fulfilling diverse combat tasks, and
because of their high mobility they are very closely
bound to all types of armed forces in combat operations.
In fact, missile troops equipped exclusively with
powerful combat means can at any time of the day and
irrespective of weather conditions penetrate the air
space of the enemy relatively freely and strike all
of his stationary and low-mobility targets on land
and water. But these troops urgently need to have
aerial reconnaissance information on the targets of
operations and on the results of their strikes.
The ground troops, despite their increased fire-
power and penetrating ability, require the assistance
of other types of armed forces, particularly aviation.
The VVS, jointly with missile troops, can successfully
strike the approaching enemy reserves and disrupt his
communications. Military aviation participates directly
in the combat and in the operations of ground troops
by supporting and covering them in cooperation with other
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246AO29400240001-9
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246A029400240001-9
50X1-HUM
arms of troops. For the ground troops and for all
other types of armed forces reconnaissance aviation
is and will be for the immediate future the only
means of ensuring the receipt of reliable information
on the activities and intentions of the enemy in the
depth of his rear and on all close approaches to the
front, just as military transport aviation is and
will be the most mobile means of transporting troops
and cargo.
The troops of PVO of the Country are interested in
the neutralization and destruction of enemy means of
aerial attack, especially of his missiles of all
systems while still at their places of concentration and
at their bases. It is quite obvious that only missiles
and aircraft can neutralize and destroy enemy means of
aerial attack at the locations of their concentration
and bases. Fighter aviation and guided antiaircraft
missiles of fronts, by delivering strikes against an
aerial enemy in flight into the depth of the country,
cooperate significantly with the troops of the PVO
of the Country in the fulfilment of the important
task assigned to them of covering the territory of
the country from air strikes.
The navy, using submarines and missile-carrying
surface vessels, can operate successfully against the
enemy's ocean and sea communications only in close
cooperation with reconnaissance and missile-carrying
aviation. Effective combat with enemy aircraft
carriers and missile-carrying vessels, just as with
constantly maneuvering objectives, is possible in
modern conditions only by aircraft armed with missiles
of the "air-to-vessel" class.
It is quite likely that the enemy fleet, having
received the signal of combat alert during the
threatening period, will leave its stationary bases
and will proceed to the vast sea and ocean spaces.
Because of this, it will be practically impossible to
catch military vessels at their bases through the
launching of the first strike with the "surface-to-
surface" (zemlya-zemlya) class of missiles. From
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246A029400240001-9
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246AO29400240001-9
this it becomes quite clear that destruction of enemy
aircraft carriers and missile-carrying vessels will
have to be carried out by the forces and weapons of
missile-carrying aviation and submarines.
Consequently, the air forces as a type of armed
forces must be separate and complete, because in a
future war they will have to perform tasks in cooperation
not only with one type of armed forces but concurrently
with all of them. Therefore it is impossible to agree
with the opinion of Colonel-General A. Gastilovich,
regarding the expediency of transferring the long-range
aviation to the navy, which was expressed In the article
"The Theory of Military Art Needs Review".
In examining the problems of combat use of our WS,
and also in determining its role and place in modern
operations and in warfare as a whole, it is advisable
to proceed from the need to secure close cooperation
between all types of armed forces, without which it
is impossible to achieve success in modern armed
combat.
It is known that the air forces, owing to the
transfer of a number of their combat missions to the
missile troops, have lost their monopolistic position
in the destruction of many enemy objectives, especially
those located on other continents. In this connection,
the VVS sphere of operations in the intercontinental field
has narrowed, but in theaters of military operations and
in front troop operations it has significantly widened.
In the present article it will be advisable to
examine certain already partially determined trends
and directions in the combat use of the various types
of aviation in modern operations. It is necessary to
do this because the appearance of missile troops has
generated many varied interpretations of combat use of
aviation in modern operations and in warfare as a whole.
1. Special Collection of Articles of the Journal
"Military Thought", First on, 1960, page 6.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246AO29400240001-9
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246AO29400240001-9
In order to understand more correctly the peculiarities
of combat use of VVS under the new conditions, we will
begin with an examination of the qualitative changes
which have occurred recently in aviation and of the
combat characteristics of VVS, which derive from the
nature of the various types and arms of aviation.
In the air forces, as in the other types of armed
forces, the nuclear/missile weapon is becoming the
basic type of weapon of strategic, long-range, and front
bombers and is gradually being assimilated by fighter-
bombers and fighter-interceptors. Data on the quantity
and combat capabilities of aircraft - the carriers of
nuclear bombs and missiles of the "air-to-surface" and
"air-to-air" classes - are the basis for all calcula-
tions in answering the question of the combat complement
and the structure of combat formations of aircraft,
getting them to the targets of operations, evaluating
VVS combat capabilities, and organizing control of them.
Missiles of the "air-to-surface" class, which can be
launched from strategic aircraft located at a distance
of up to 600 kms from the target, ensure the destruction
of specific objectives from long distances without the
need for aircraft to penetrate the enemy PVO zone. As
a matter of fact, the mother aircraft (samolet-nositel)
becomes a missile-carrying aircraft (samolet-raketonosets)
and the commonly used term "bomber" will obviously
disappear with time from our military lexicon and will
be replaced with the term "missile-carrier". The
appearance of the aircraft-missile carrier -- this is
the most important qualitative change that has taken
place in the VVS -- has permitted a reduction in the
combat complement of aviation operational formations
(obyedineniye) and large units (soyedineniye) and,
at the same time, even more effective execution of
combat tasks. The determining factor is no longer
the quantity of airplanes carrying out a strike on a
target, as it was in the recent past, but their quality;
for example, their capability to carry nuclear weapons
and, under conditions of a strong enemy PVO, to locate
moving targets quickly and to destroy them.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246AO29400240001-9
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246AO29400240001-9
50X1-HUM
In fighter aviation the guided-missile weapon of
the "air-to-air" class is acquiring increasing significance,
and is becoming the main type of weapon of modern fighters.
This weapon permits the destruction of aerial targets
in all weather conditions at distances of 3 to 5 times
greater than the fire range of existing modern aircraft
cannon and ensures the interception and destruction of
aerial targets on approaching courses and from the
forward semicircle (s peredney polusfery). The guided-
missile weapon and the supersonic fighter flight speed
of 2,000-2,500 kms/hr ensure the destruction of enemy
cruise missiles, aircraft, helicopters, and aerial
balloons.
Military-transport aviation is being equipped with
new heavy freight capacity and with faster aircraft and
helicopters capable of transporting troops and freight
not only within the limits of one front and one theater
of military operations but also between different
theaters of military operations.
In the very near future, major qualitative changes
will occur in reconnaissance aviation. This process
will acquire an ever larger scope by its being equipped
with new manned and pilotless cruise reconnaissance
vehicles (bespilotnyy krylatyy razvedchik), and also with
night-vision apparatus and automatic transmission of
reconnaissance information from the aircraft to the
screens of the appropriate command posts.
The increased speed, flight altitude and other
features of our aircraft as carriers of nuclear
weapons, and also the improved capabilities of active
and passive PVO means, are connected with the successful
mastery of all types of jet engines (turboprop, turbojet,
ramjet, rocket). In comparison with conventional aircraft,
they possess much greater thrust with lighter weight,
and they impart to an aircraft, whether with liquid or
solid fuel, exceptionally great speed which has not
as yet been fully exploited, and in addition they have
unlimited altitude. The appearance of aircraft with
atomic engines will ensure the possibility of flights
of unlimited distance.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246AO29400240001-9
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246AO29400240001-9
50X1-HUM
Electronics are far from being the least element
influencing the basic qualitative changes in our VVS.
Radioelectronic apparatus has made it possible to
achieve more effective guidance of manned and pilot-
less means of attack and defense than was possible
previously. In manned equipment, electronics has
brought about the realization of complete or partial
automation, without which the flight of aircraft
(including bombers) would have been inconceivable
with a crew at modern supersonic speeds. Radioelectronic
apparatus permits control from the ground or from the
mother aircraft of pilotless cruise missile flights.
The further development of aviation weapons will
permit us, in the next few years, to have ballistic
missiles of the "air-to-surface" class along with
cruise missiles, within the armament inventory of
supersonic strategic and long-range bombers.
At the present time the question of the need for
creating rocket aircraft has become acute. In a
future war, rocket aircraft, combining the combat
characteristics of missiles and aircraft, and piloted
by a human, will play a highly important role in space
(kosmos) combat and in the destruction of the most
important objectives on distant continents. The creation
of rocket aircraft is a most immediate and completely
practicable task in the development and construction
of our air forces. There is no doubt that rocket
aircraft, as an absolutely new and longer range weapon
of the VVS, will find broad application in a future
intercontinental war.
These are the qualitative changes taking place in
our air forces and representative aspects of future
development in military aviation.
Let us examine those combat characteristics of the
VVS which are inherent to them alone and which retain
their importance in the new phase of the development
of the armed forces. Among these combat characteristics
should be listed:
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246AO29400240001-9
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246AO29400240001-9
50X1-HUM
-the high mobility and capability of the VVS to
perform rapid maneuver with piloted means on
operational and strategic axes and in theaters of
military operations;
-the capability of carrying out independent
search for and preliminary reconnaissance of targets
assigned for destruction and of annihilating them
either when they are on the move or when stationary;
-the ability to retarget more rapidly than other
means, while airborne, against new targets which
suddenly appear or against targets whose locations
have changed;
-the capability to observe the enemy's operations
from the air, to discover his intentions, and to
transmit the reconnaissance information. immediately
to the command posts of all types of armed forces;
-the capability to support an airborne troop
landing and to provide rapid air transport for troops
and freight for any distance.
Mobility to one degree or another is also character-
istic of other types of armed forces, but in the WS
it is notable for the fact that military aviation is
capable, by maneuvering rapidly with piloted combat
equipment, to ensure its immediate entry into combat.
This should be emphasized particularly because under
conditions of great destruction of railroad and auto-
mobile communication lines, relatively speedy reinforce-
ment of separate fronts and active theaters of military
operations with forces and weapons from other axes
will be possible only by combat aviation, if we do not
consider implementation of maneuver by fire of ballistic
missiles of operational-strategic designation. Within
2 to 5 hours after receiving the order and notification
of combat alert, aviation large units and units of the
WS can (depending on the types of aircraft) take off
and carry out the assigned combat task in the direction
or in the theater of military operations indicated to
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246AO29400240001-9
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246AO29400240001-9
5UX1-HUM
them. If, in this event, the aircraft are in a
situation of "ground alert" (dezhurstvo na aerodrome)
the time will be decreased to 15 to 25 minutes. It is
absolutely clear that no other type of troops will be
able in such a short time to maneuver even within a
single theater of military operations.
A remarkable combat characteristic which only aviation
possesses is the ability to combine independent search
by aircraft crews for the assigned targets and the
destruction of them by nuclear and conventional weapons.
In reality, we all recognize that a future war will
have a highly maneuverable and destructive character.
The troops, in order to escape enemy nuclear activity,
will constantly strive to change location. The troops
operating in the first strategic echelon will require
more frequent reinforcement and the uninterrupted
delivery of materiel means (ammunition, fuel, food)
from the rear areas. All this, in the final analysis,
will result in a stream of freight trains, numerous
vehicle columns, and flights of transport aircraft and
helicopters from the rear area to the front. If it
were to be calculated, one could confirm the fact that
a group of U.S. armies in the Western theater of military
operations can have up to 45 percent of its installations
mobile. It can be expected that during combat operations
at least half of the enemy armed forces will be in a
constantly mobile status. Combat against such mobile
objectives can be carried out principally by aviation
and partially by missile troops. In this event, missiles
of the "surface-to-surface" class require the precise
coordinates of each target, and with moving objectives,
as is known, they change constantly. Therefore missiles
can destroy mobile targets only on the basis of previously
calculated coordinates, in narrow defiles, at road
crossings, and also at loading and unloading places.
All moving objectives can be most reliably destroyed,
only by piloted aircraft, whose crews need only
information as to the area in which moving enemy troops
and equipment have been detected.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246AO29400240001-9
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246A029400240001-9
5UX1-HUM
The ability to see the enemy from the air and to
observe his activities in both the deep and close areas
of the rear -- this is a characteristic peculiar to
aviation. It is difficult to overestimate it, if we
consider that without reconnaissance information, which
is obtained with the aid of aviation, it would be
impossible to carry out modern operations.
As concerns airborne troop landings and the rapid
transport of troops and freight for any distance,
irrespective of the availability and condition of
roads, aviation still remains the only means for per-
formance of such tasks. The need for military-transport
aircraft and helicopters is continually increasing in
all types of armed forces, but under conditions of
mass use of nuclear/missile weapons, aircraft and
helicopters will in many instances be the only means
to provide for the maneuverability of the troops and
for timely materiel-technical supply to them.
On the basis of a brief analysis of the qualitative
aspects and the combat characteristics of our VVS, it
is possible to determine their combat tasks in warfare.
In the not too distant past, air forces, as is
known, were responsible for three basic tasks:
-the disruption of the military-economic potential
of the enemy;
-the struggle for supremacy in the air;
-cooperation with the ground troops and the navy
in the successful conduct of operations.
In the past war all of these missions were success-
fully fulfilled by the Soviet air forces. This is
especially apparent, for example, in the fulfilment
of the second and third tasks by them.
As is known, in the middle of the summer of 1943
our aviation wrested the initiative from the hands of
the enemy in heated combat and, after winning the
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246A029400240001-9
 i
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246A029400240001-9
50X1-HUM
battles for the Kuban and at Kursk, firmly secured
supremacy in the air. By uninterrupted support and
cover of the ground troops, our aviation actively
cooperated in the destruction of the armed forces
of Fascist Germany. The zVVS activities against rail-
road networks, military-i'adustrial targets, airfields,
and groupings of troops, transformed aviation during
the course of the war into a factor of strategic
significance. Even after the war and right up to
the appearance of missile troops , the VVS were
actually the strategic means of combat and were the
main striking force capable of subjecting the deep
enemy rear to destructive nuclear action.
After the appearance of missiles of strategic
and operational-tactical designation, the situation
changed radically. Missiles, possessing the capability
to reach any distant target strongly defended by enemy
PVO means, will be able to fulfil the most important
strategic missions. They will be used primarily along
the main axes, where the most important large and
stationary enemy objectives are located, well-screened
by antiaircraft guided missiles. Despite this, one
cannot overlook the fact that the enemy has many important
mobile objectives, and that there are areas which are
not screened by an effective PVO. Naturally, it is
expedient to use long-range and strategic bombers in these
directions.
Therefore, the first task - disruption and reduction
of the military-economic potential of the enemy -which
was previously the responsibility of the VVS, has now
passed in significant degree to the missile forces.
The very contents of this task have changed. It has
assumed a more decisive character and consists now of
the mass and rapid destruction and annihilation of the
most important targets of the enemy's rear. In
fulfilment of this broadened task, the air forces,
in the new conditions, take an active part by
concentrating their efforts on the destruction of
targets mainly in directions not well covered by PVO
means.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246A029400240001-9
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246AO29400240001-9
50X1-HUM
The second mission - the fight for air supremacy -
as one of the most important missions previously
assigned to the VVS, has lost its earlier significance
due to the appearance of missile troops. But in its
place there has appeared a new, even more complicated
task - the struggle against enemy nuclear/missile
means of attack, which, in its significance to warfare,
acquires paramount importance. Its significance flows
from the colossal increased destructive might of
nuclear/missile weapons. In a future war a stubborn,
bitter struggle will develop between the warring sides
for nuclear superiority and for more effective
exploitation and use of nuclear weapons for more rapid
achievement of strategic goals. Both sides will
vigorously seek to locate the antagonist's nuclear/
missile weapons and to destroy them immediately. It
can be confidently stated that whoever resolves this
task faster will win the battle and, consequently,
the war. For this, it is necessary to have in constant
readiness, not only missile troops, but also military
aircraft and means of aerial reconnaissance that are
capable, at the start of the war, to survey all corners
of the globe that are enveloped by war, and later to
carry on constant observation of the enemy on land
and water.
In this connection, the task of the struggle with
the,enemy's nuclear/missile means of attack becomes the
primary one for our missile troops. The air forces
will take a most active part in its fulfilment.
The third most important task of the VVS -
cooperation with the ground troops and the navy in
their operations - remains fully intact under the
new conditions. Military aviation takes part in
cover and support of troops from the air, in the
battle with the enemy's means of nuclear/missile
attack and his reserves, in support of airborne
troop landings, and in air transport of troops and
freight.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246AO29400240001-9
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246A029400240001-9
50X1-HUM
The fourth task of the VVS - combat against enemy
transport operations via his ocean, sea, land,and air
communication routes. Under the new conditions of
waging war, this task will undoubtedly assume an
operational-strategic scope.
The fifth task of the VVS - aerial reconnaissance.
This VVS task is becoming, in its operational-strategic
significance, no less important than all the other tasks.
Therefore it seems expedient to us to raise aerial
reconnaissance to the category of the independent and
most important tasks of the air forces.
These are the combat tasks which must be fulfilled
by the air forces in modern warfare with consideration
for the existing capabilities of aircraft and the
immediate prospects for receipt of new aircraft equip-
ment into the armament. The many-sided nature of VVS
tasks resulting from the new conditions also pre-
determines the need for long-range, front, and
military-transport aviation within its composition.
Let's examine the apparent and already partially
determined new trends and directions in-the combat use
of various types and kinds of aviation under conditions
of wide use of missile weapons in the conduct of
operations by the ground troops in the initial period
of a war.
The experience of a number of aviation exercises
carried out jointly with the troops of PVO of the
Country indicates that the VVS's first massive strike
against the enemy in the beginning of a war can be
executed immediately following the first missile salvo,
but that aerial reconnaissance must start fulfilling its
assigned tasks simultaneously with the initiation of the
first launch of missiles. The subsequent activities
of long-range and strategic bombers, and cruise missiles
with nuclear warheads, will similarly be carried on
between the missile salvoes (strikes). Such a sequence
of operations of the missile troops and of the VVS
creates for the VVS two quite new situations, one of a
positive, the second of a negative,, nature.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246A029400240001-9
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246A029400240001-9
50X1-HUM
Missile troops, simultaneously with the destruction
of assigned enemy targets by nuclear warheads, inevitably
destroy and annihilate the forces and weapons of his
antiaircraft defense and thereby disrupt the only control
system for enemy antiaircraft missiles and fighter-
interceptors. This assists the long-range and strategic
bombers to overcome enemy PVO.
But in this connection, during the course of a
missile strike, the necessity arises to transit air
space heavily contaminated with radioactive fallout.
Therefore, the probability of air-crews entering a
zone of radioactive contamination significantly increases
at night and with adverse weather conditions, during
daylight, when visual determination of the limits of
the radioactive cloud is almost impossible.
These two circumstances strongly emphasize the
need for continuous coordination between the
respective headquarters of the missile troops and of
the air forces. It must be expressed primarily in the
assignment of targets of the operations, in the assign-
ment of a time schedule for the missile strike and for
mother aircraft, and in the determination of altitudes
for the burst of nuclear charges. In practice it is
possible to coordinate missile and aviation operations
against enemy targets in the same area if they are
plotted on a single board which reflects the combat
capabilities of the missiles and aircraft being used.
For the air forces, even under the new conditions,_
the basic method of operations in the initial period of
a war will be the execution of powerful massive strikes,
with subsequent transition to operations by small groups
on a broad front following the missile strikes.
The form of operational employment of the VVS under
conditions of the initial period of a war remains the
air operation, i.e., massive strikes with its entire
strength. In its content, the air operation will have
a somewhat different nature than previously. In the
first place, it will be carried out under conditions
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246A029400240001-9
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246A029400240001-9
50X1-HUM
of wide use of missiles; because of this, its duration
will be sharply reduced and the immediate task can be
fulfilled by the initial massive strikes, as the
experience of training exercises indicates. In the
second place, the air operation will be carried out by
the entire or the major portion of the forces of long-
range aviation, with the participation of front
aviation. In such an operation the decision regarding
the fulfilment of assigned tasks will ordinarily be
made by the Commander-in-Chief of the VVS. In the
third place, the targets and areas of operations of the
VVS in an air operation will be determined by a higher
command, depending upon the operations of the missile
troops.
One of the main conditions for fulfilment of tasks
by long-range and strategic bombers, as regards the
destruction of targets in the enemy rear areas, is
their successful overcoming of enemy PVO means. Wide
use of low flight altitudes by bombers, and the use of
passive and active jamming (pomekh), are highly effective.
It was determined during training exercises that the
percentage of aircraft attacked by enemy fighters in
daylight at high altitudes was 5 or 6 times greater
than at lower altitudes and at night it was quite
insignificant. Destruction of aircraft by guided
antiaircraft missiles during low altitude flights
is limited by the combat characteristics of the anti-
aircraft missiles. Thus, absolutely clear-cut
determination was made of the direction of the use of
existing long-range and strategic bombers against
targets located in theaters of military operations -
at night and at low altitudes. Low altitudes are
becoming the basic operational altitudes for long-range
and front aviation.
The training exercises carried out this year
confirm the assumption that during the execution of the
first retaliatory strike, a single echelon operational
formation of long-range aviation forces and the over-
coming of the pre-frontal zone on a broad front are the
basic form of operational maneuver.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246A029400240001-9
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246AO29400240001-9
50X1-HUM
These are some of the new tendencies and trends
in the combat use of the VVS in conditions of the wide
utilization of missile troops during the initial period
of a war.
Let us examine definite directions in air operations
when fulfilling tasks in cooperation with the ground
troops in their operations.
It is known, that of all the types of aviation,
front aviation plays the main role in the operations
of the ground troops; during the recent past it has
undergone major qualitative and quantitative changes
which have resulted in a significant impact on the
nature of the tasks performed by front aviation. For
example, with the appearance of nuclear weapons, the
main content of the air struggle with the enemy's means
of attack changed from the destruction of enemy aircraft
in general to the destruction principally of the air-
craft carrying nuclear weapons and missiles and also
of assembly bases and nuclear weapons storage areas;
in the air support of troops-it has become the destruction
of atomic artillery, various missile equipment, and of
highly mobile, constantly maneuvering enemy reserves.
There was a particularly sharp change in these tasks
due to the appearance of missiles of various designations
in the armament of troops; as a result, front bombers
and fighters began to execute their basic missions in
conjunction with the missile troops and to concede to
missile troops the main role in the use of nuclear
weapons against stationary surface targets and against
aerial targets.
By dint of these circumstances, front aviation,
having conceded the main role to missiles, began to
have only a part in the performance of a number of
tasks - in the struggle with the means of aerial and
missile attack, in the screening of troops and installa-
tions of the rear area of the front, and in the struggle
with the enemy's reserves. The special province of
front aviation operations remains air support of troops
and the conduct of aerial reconnaissance.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246AO29400240001-9
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246AO29400240001-9
50X1-HUM
It is essential to state a number of new situations
in the combat use of front aviation in ground troop
operations. The struggle with enemy means of aerial
and missile attack is now planned on a frontal scale,
since the missile troops of the front take an active
part in it in addition to aviation. Upon aviation
falls the principal responsibility of destroying newly
detected enemy means of aerial attack, i.e., those
targets which are on the move and which will not be
destroyed by missiles. The performance of this task
by aviation will be resolved by the method of calling
up aircraft from a position of "ground alert" or
"airborne alert".
In screening of troops and installations of the
rear areas of a front, new conditions have also been
created which permit more effective resolution of
this problem. The more important installations of
the front are screened by antiaircraft missiles. How-
ever, troop, army, and front antiaircraft guided missiles
are-still able to destroy only the aerial targets
located at insignificant distances from the missile
positions; these means cannot destroy enemy missile
mother aircraft at the limits from which they drop
their missiles of the "air-to-surface" class. Fighter-
interceptors, with their high maneuverability, are
capable of meeting the aerial enemy and destroying him
with guided weapons while he is still on distant
approaches to the line of the front and to the
installations being screened.
Taking into consideration the combat characteristics
of antiaircraft guided missiles and of fighter aircraft,
it is advisable to organize cooperation between them
along the following lines.
First, zones of operations in area and altitude
must be delineated between guided missiles and fighters.
In doing so, it is desirable to assign to fighters a
zone of combat operations ahead of the front line to
the depth of possible interception within the radius
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246AO29400240001-9
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246AO29400240001-9
of operation of a pair of fighters, i.e., beyond the
range limits of antiaircraft missiles (ZUR). When
operating in the same area with ZUR, it is advisable
to assign low altitudes to fighters wherever guided
missiles are still limited in their operations.
Secondly, it is necessary to distribute targets
of operations between fighters and antiaircraft
guided missiles. Fighter-interceptors must destroy
principally mother aircraft, cruise missiles, fighter-
bombers, military transport aircraft, helicopters
and aerial balloons, antiaircraft guided missiles,
cruise (krylataya) missiles and pilotless missiles
(samolet-snaryad), and also all the other manned and
pilotless means that manage to break through the
covering screen of fighters into the air space of the
front.
Thirdly, it is necessary to set up demarcation
of areas of operations between the air large units that
cover the troops and those that cover installations
in the rear area of the front. Taking into account
that under the new conditions a front air army may
have no more than two fighter divisions, it is advisable
to assign one division or a major part of its forces
to cover the front tank army which is operating ahead
and out of contact, and the second division - to cover
the other troops of the front and the installations
in the rear areas. Further, it is advisable to set
up demarcation of operational areas between the fighter
divisions.
In air support of ground troop operations, the need
to use aircraft against mobile targets becomes
especially clear, since they do not all have precise
coordinates, and the majority of them do not produce
a clearly defined radar contrast.
In this connection, it has been deemed expedient
to carry out air support of combined-arms armies by a
centralized method of allocating to armies, in
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246AO29400240001-9
 Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246AO29400240001-9
50X1-HUM
accordance with the decision of the front troop
commander, a definite number of flights (vylet) of
fighter-bombers with nuclear bombs, without making the
fighter-bomber subunits and units subordinate to the
army. Support of the tank army that is operating
separately from the main forces of the front is best
accomplished by allocating designated aviation units
of bomber and fighter-bomber aviation for this. The
basic type of fighter-bomber and bomber operations in
the air support of troops will be the method of
operations on request.
From the above-mentioned facts it is possible to
conclude that the basic method of operation for all
types of aviation in the execution of combat missions
under the new conditions is the method of operations
with subunits and small groups of airplanes called up
for air support from the command, or forward, control
post from a condition of ground or air alert. Along
with this, front aviation will participate in the
execution of massive nuclear strikes against missile,
air, and other enemy means of attack, not on the scale
of an air army, as it was before the appearance of
missiles, but on the scale of a front. This means that
in modern conditions the massive strike becomes a
front function.
A number of new postulates have also arisen in
the conduct of aerial reconnaissance. The establish-
ment of the reconnaissance mission has become an
integral part of the operational decision. By its
nature, aerial reconnaissance simultaneously fulfils,
it would seem, two missions. The first and main one -
the detection of enemy missile and nuclear means of
attack, with the aim of ensuring direct effect on
them by the missile, aviation, and artillery forces.
The second mission - the continuous observation of all
of the enemy's forces and weapons with the aim of
planning combat operations for the following 24-hour
period, day or night.
Such are the new concepts and characteristics which
have been determined recently in training exercises which
were carried out by the air forces, both independently
and jointly with the ground troops.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/06: CIA-RDP80T00246AO29400240001-9