5th Air Army The 5th Army of VVS and PVO ( " 5 - я Краснознамённая армия военно - воздушных сил и противовоздушной обороны " ) was the Russian Air Force ' s smallest Air Army , with the headquarters located in Yekaterinburg . Its zone of responsibility was the Volga - Ural Military District , on the border between Europe and Asia . The commanding officer of the 5th Air Army was from May 2006 , Lieutenant - General Vadim Volkovitskiy . The 5th Air Army ( " 5 Vozdushnaya Armiya " ) was first created during the Second World War , formed from the Air Forces of the North Caucasus Front in June 1942 , consisting of three fighter , one ground attack , and one bomber division . During the Battle of Kursk ( July – August 1943 ) it fought as part of the Steppe Front , and comprised the 7th Combined Aviation Corps , 8th Combined Aviation Corps , 3rd Fighter Aviation Corps , and the 7th Fighter Aviation Corps ( 7 иак ) . On 1 August 1943 it comprised the 1st Bomber Aviation Corps ( 1 гв . , 293 бад ) , 1 шак ( 203 , 266 иад , 292 шад ) , 3 иак ( 265 , 278 иад ) , 4 иак ( 294 , 302 иад ) , 7th Fighter Aviation Corps ( 304 иад ) , 511 рап . On 10 January 1949 it was redesignated the 48th Air Army . 5th Air Army appears to have been reformed in 1988 from the Air Forces of the Odessa Military District ( VVS OdVO ) . The 119th ' Nevel ' Order of Suvorov Fighter Aviation Division was part of the VVS OdVO , and the 5th Air Army VVS both before the VVS OdVO period and afterwards . The Army was still serving there when the Soviet Union dissolved , and consisted in 1991 - 92 of a single MiG - 29 fighter regiment and a Su - 17 reconnaissance regiment . Other elements included the 86th Guards Fighter Regiment with MiG - 29s at ~ Markuleshcht , across the border in Moldova , whose aircraft became part of the fledgling Moldovan Air Force . The formation was later downgraded in status by the Ukrainian Air Force . On 18 March 1994 the Ukrainian 5th Air Army was redesignated the 5th Air Corps . In 1994 the 4th Air Defence Army of the former Soviet Air Defence Forces , now under Russian control , was redesignated the 5th Separate Air Defence Corps ( probably with its headquarters at Yekaterinburg ) . In 1998 this brought in air forces formations and became the 5th Separate Corps of VVS and PVO . In 2001 the formation becaome the 5th Army of the VVS and PVO . The Air Army had no combat aircraft ( except a small number of Su - 25 attack aircraft located at Kant , Kyrgyzstan ) and only three regiments of surface - to - air missile s ( Yekaterinburg , Samara and Engels ) , but includes two helicopter regiments and some other auxiliary units . The 764th Interceptor Aviation Regiment , operating MiG - 31 aircraft , which was stationed Bolshoye Savino Airport 16 km southwest of Perm , within the zone of the 5th Air Army , is subordinated directly to the Air Forces HQ . The Kant Air Base was commissioned in October 2003 and is also subordinated to the 5th Air Army , along with possibly another air base in Dushanbe , Tajikistan . Since July 2007 , the commander of the 5th Air Army is General Lieutenant Mikhail Kucheryavy . In 2007 , 12 Mi - 24 and 12 Mi - 8 of the Army took part in the joint Russia - Sino exercise Peace Mission 2007 . ( Warfare . ru ) In 2009 the Army was disbanded and incorporated within the new 4th Command of Air Forces and Air Defence . c . 1993 Ukrainian structure . Source : Jackson 1994 .