11th Air Army The 11th Army of VVS and PVO was a formation of the Russian Air Force , which was located in the Russian Far East and Pacific Coast area , and its zone of responsibility covered the Far East Military District . It was first formed during the Second World War from the Soviet Air Forces of the 2nd Red Banner Army . It was re - created in 1998 from the Soviet Air Defence Forces ' 11th Air Defence Army units ( except for a regiment of MiG - 31 interceptor aircraft on the Kamchatka Peninsula , handed over by Russian Naval Aviation ) and the 1st Air Army of the VVS . The 1st Army of the VVS had been reformed on 1 July 1957 . In 2007 the commanding officer was Lieutenant General Valeriy Ivanov , former commander of the 1st Air Defence Corps . The 11th Army of VVS and PVO was disbanded in 2009 by being redesignated the 3rd Air and Air Defence Forces Command . 11th Air Defence Army . The 11th Air Defence Army ( or 11th Army of the Soviet Air Defence Forces , 11 A PVO ) appears to have been formed in 1960 . During the Soviet period , the 11th Air Defence Army gained headlines due to the defection of Viktor Belenko in September 1976 , and the KAL 007 shootdown in 1983 . The KAL 007 shootdown occurred on 1 September 1983 . After a protracted ground - controlled interception , three Su - 15 fighters from Dolinsk - Sokol airbase and a MiG - 23 from Smirnykh Air Base managed to make visual contact with the Boeing 747 and later shot it down . In the late 1980s the 11th Air Defence Army of the Voyska PVO , as it was then , controlled two Corps ( 23rd in Vladivostok & 8th in Komsomolsk ) and three divisions ( 24th in Petropavlovsk , 29th in Blagoveshchenk and 6th in Okhotsk ) , 10 fighter aviation regiments ( IAPs ) , 8 SAM brigades / regiments and 9 radio - technical ( radar ) brigades / regiments . The 8th Air Defence Corps was activated in April 1960 from the Komsomolskaya Air Defence Corps ( activated 1957 ) . 8th Air Defence Corps 1988 . In 2001 the 8th ADC was renamed the 25th Air Defence Division , and in 2009 renamed 11th Aerospace Defence Brigade . 24th Air Defence Division was activated 5 . 60 in Yuzhno - Sakhalinsk ( Khomutovo ) , Sakhalin Oblast . 23rd Air Defence Corps 1988 . HQ Vladivostok In 2001 renamed 93rd Air Defence Division ; in 2009 renamed 12th Aerospace Defence Brigade . 6th Air Defence Division 1988 . HQ Petropavlovsk - Kamchatsky , Kamchatka Oblast Formed from 222nd Fighter Aviation Division PVO May 1960 ; disbanded 1998 . 24th Air Defence Division 1988 . HQ Yuzhno - Sakhalinsk ( Khomutovo ) Disbanded 1998 . 11th Air Force and Air Defence Forces Army . Following the amalgamation of the 11th Air Defence Army and the 1st Air Army , in 2007 the 11th Army included two regiments of Su - 27 fighter aircraft , one of MiG - 31 interceptors , two of Su - 24 tactical bomber s , two of Su - 25 attack aircraft and one reconnaissance regiment of Su - 24MRs . The anti - aircraft component is much less powerful , including just three regiments of surface - to - air missile s , located in Khabarovsk , Komsomolsk and Vladivostok . The 23rd Fighter Aviation Regiment , located at Dzemgi ( Komsomolsk - on - Amur ) , was the first Russian Air Force unit armed with the upgraded Su - 27SM fighters . The 303rd Air Division fought with the 64th Independent Fighter Aviation Corps of the Air Defence Forces during the Korean War , flying Mikoyan - Gurevich MiG - 15 s , though it is not certain that the current 303rd Division is the same unit that fought during that war . The 303rd Fighter Aviation Division fought during Operation Bagration , and included the Normandie - Niemen regiment for a period . The most notable unit of the 11th Army in 2007 was the 18th Vitebsk Normandie - Niemen Attack Air Regiment of Guards , stationed at Galyonki , which has been twice awarded the Red Banner and the Suvorov order . In 1943 , during World War II , the regiment included the Normandie squadron of French pilots , which later became the independent regiment known as Normandie - Niemen . On 9 May 1995 ( Victory Day ) , to commemorate these events , the 18th ShAP received the name Normandie - Niemen . Since March 1993 , the unit operates the Sukhoi Su - 25 attack aircraft .