Soviet 6th Independent Red Banner Air Defence Army - Cold War 1989

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 Avi