8th Air Defence Army


The 8th Separate Army of the Air Defence Forces was a Soviet military formation established in 1960. Army headquarters was in Kiev, Ukrainian SSR.
The 8th air defense army was formed in March 1960 on the basis of the Kiev Air Defense Army on the basis of the Directive of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces No. omu/1/454690 of 24.03.1960. Previously the Kiev Air Defence Region had air defence responsibility for the area.
In 1988 it comprised the 49th and 60th Air Defence Corps.
The last commander of the army, General-Lieutenant Mikhail Lopatin, became the first commander of the Ukrainian Air Defence Forces, and retired as a colonel-general.

49th Air Defence Corps, 1988

HQ: Dnepropetrovsk, Dnepropetrovsk Oblast, 3.86 - 6.92
Units of the 49th ADC 1988
RegimentBaseEquipmentRemarks
146th Guards Fighter Aviation RegimentVasylkiv ? MiG-25PDTaken over by Ukraine 1.6.92. Disbanded 1.6.93.
636th Fighter Aviation RegimentKramatorsk, Donetsk OblastМиГ-23П, Су-15ТМ1.6.92 taken over by Ukraine.
933rd Fighter Aviation Regiment PVOKaydaki, Dnepropetrovsk OblastMiG-25PDTaken over by Ukraine 1.6.92. Disbanded 15.5.96.
96th Anti-Aircraft Missile BrigadeVasilkov, Kiev Oblast
148th Anti-Aircraft Missile BrigadeKharkov, Kharkov Oblast
212th Anti-Aircraft Missile BrigadeMariupol, Donetsk Oblast

In June 1992 the corps was taken over by Ukraine.

60th Air Defence Corps

The 60th Air Defence Corps was formed on 15 June 1989 with its headquarters at Odessa. It was taken over by Ukraine on 1 June 1992.
Fighter Regiments of the 60th Air Defence Corps
RegimentBaseEquipmentRemarks
62nd Fighter Aviation RegimentBelbekSu-27PCrimean Oblast
737th Fighter Aviation RegimentChervonoglinskoye, Odessa OblastMiG-23MLDReequipped with MiG-23 in 1981. Arrived from Ayaguz, Semipalatinsk Oblast in October 1989. Taken over by Ukraine 1.1.92. Disbanded 1998.
738th Fighter Aviation RegimentZaporoshye-Mokroe, Zaporozhia OblastМиG-23ML738 иап 1945; transferred from 1st Air Defence Division on 15 July 1989. Disbanded 9 November 1990.

Among other units that were part of the corps was the 160th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Brigade.
The army as a whole was on Ukrainian territory when the Soviet Union dissolved and became the basis for the Ukrainian Air Defence Forces. From January 24, 1992, after the collapse of the USSR, 28th Air Defense Corps, previously subordinate to 2nd Air Defence Army was transferred under the 8th Air Defence Army.
Some units of the army station in the Republic of Moldova were passed onto the Moldovan Armed Forces.