Cannibalization, Russian-style: A new Aviation Division has been created by Moscow

Russia’s 6th Air and Air Defence Forces Army, headquartered in St. Petersburg, is currently stationed in the Moscow and Leningrad Military Districts. These districts were created in 2024 through the transformation of the Western Military District and the incorporation of the territory occupied by the Northern Fleet. 

Until recently, the main tactical aviation formation of this army was the 105th Mixed Aviation Division, headquartered in Voronezh. It included: 

• 14th Fighter Aviation Regiment;
• 47th Bomber Aviation Regiment;
• 159th Fighter Aviation Regiment;
• 790th Fighter Aviation Regiment.

Given the current size of Russian aviation, a four-regiment division was an anomaly. The Russians are capable of organizing a division headquarters even for only two regiments.

Meanwhile, the tactical aviation formation of the Baltic Fleet was the 34th Mixed Aviation Division, stationed entirely in the Kaliningrad Oblast. It consisted of:

• 4th Mixed Aviation Regiment;
• 396th Helicopter Regiment;
• 689th Fighter Aviation Regiment.

At the end of 2023, a major reform of the Russian command system took place. Ground-based and aviation air-defence units were, for the most part, removed from the structure of the Navy and transferred to the Aerospace Forces. This process also included the 689th Fighter Aviation Regiment, which was assigned to the 6th Air and Air Defence Forces Army. 

In this way, the army already had five combat aviation regiments, and it was high time to divide them between two divisions. In Petrozavodsk, the capital of the Republic of Karelia, the headquarters of the new 149th Mixed Aviation Division was formed. The choice of this location was no accident, as one of the 105th Division’s regiments is stationed at the airfield there. 

For now, it is known that the new 149th Mixed Aviation Division already includes:

• 159th Fighter Aviation Regiment;
• 689th Fighter Aviation Regiment.

However, the name of the new division suggests that this may not be the full picture. A mixed division always consists of regiments of different types. If the 149th Division were to include only two fighter aviation regiments, then, theoretically, it should be called the 149th Fighter Aviation Division. 

On 21 December 2022, after Russia’s aggression of 24 February, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu presented detailed plans for the organizational development of the Russian Armed Forces. Among the announced intentions was the formation of three additional aviation division headquarters, so that one division would be maintained for each combined-arms and tank army. Shoigu did not provide a timeline for these organizational plans, but to date only one such division headquarters has been formed. At present, there are eight of them in the Aerospace Forces and one in the Navy. Meanwhile, the number of combined-arms and tank armies has risen to 16. As is often the case, the Russian plans mentioned above are no longer fully current.    

It is also worth noting the distance between the permanent bases of the 149th Division’s regiments. One is stationed in the Republic of Karelia, and the other in the Kaliningrad Oblast. As the crow flies, the distance between them is more than 1,100 km, which at subsonic speed means more than an hour of flight for a Su-27, Su-30, or Su-35 aircraft—the types with which both regiments are equipped. 

From the Polish point of view, this organizational change is important because the 689th Fighter Aviation Regiment constitutes the entirety of the air component of the Kaliningrad Oblast’s air defence forces, directly bordering Poland. The ground-based air-defence component of the oblast is the 44th Air Defence Division, headquartered in Kaliningrad. Until the end of 2023, it too was subordinate to the command of the Baltic Fleet, but it is now part of the Aerospace Forces structure. 

Finally, it is worth remembering that units from across Russia are taking part in the war against Ukraine. It should therefore be assumed that the forces stationed in the Kaliningrad Oblast are smaller in practice, as some of them are in Ukraine.