The 37th Air Army (Russian: 37-я воздушная армия, 37 Vozdushnaya Armiya) of the High Supreme Command (Strategic Purpose) was the strategic bomber force of the Russian Air Force from 1998 to 2009. It was equipped with Tupolev Tu-95MS and Tu-160 armed with nuclear cruise missiles, and the intermediate range Tu-22M3 bombers.
It was the successor to the Soviet Union's Long Range Aviation, which once had several Air Armies, including the 37th. The 37th Air Army was originally formed in 1949 by redesignating the 4th Air Army in the Northern Group of Forces in Poland. It was active there until 1968. It was reformed by a decree of 13 March 1980, along with the 24th, 30th, and 46th Air Armies, which together replaced the Long Range Aviation headquarters, which was disbanded. It appears the decree may have been put into effect and the headquarters actually reformed on 1 August 1980.
Strategic aviation is the sole Russian Air Force component which was actually increased in the 1990s rather than being cut, as was the case with military services. Following the break-up of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, only 22 Tu-95MS bombers remained on Russian territory; at that time the only Tu-160s were in test units or with the manufacturers. However, manufacture of the Tu-160 continued, and between 1992 and 1995, the Engels regiment received six Tu-160s before the production rate slowed down considerably. More aircraft, 43 Tu-95MSes and 8 Tu-160s were exchanged, or bought back from Kazakhstan and Ukraine. The Russian Air Force currently has 64 Tu-95MS and 16 Tu-160 bombers, and these are being upgraded by changing the navigation and fire-control suites and installing new weapons, including non-nuclear cruise missiles, Kh-55 and stand-off guided munitions.
On September 10, 2008 two Tu-160 bombers made flight from a basing place to airdrome Libertador in Venezuela, using as airdrome of jumping up airdrome Olenegorsk in Murmansk area. Onboard were training rockets with which the sortie's task was fulfilled. It is the first case of use in the history of the Russian Federation by Long-Range Aviation aircraft of airdromes located in territory of the foreign state. While in Venezuela the aircraft made training flights over neutral waters in the Atlantic ocean and Caribbean sea.
In 2009 the 37th Air Army of the Supreme Command was disbanded as part of a large scale reorganisation of the Air Force and has been reformed into the Long Range Aviation Command.
Read more about 37th Air Army: Structure 2007, Structure 2000, Structure 1991, Structure in 1980, Structure 1960 in Poland, Commanders
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“Hast not thy share? On winged feet,
Lo! it rushes thee to meet;
And all that Nature made thy own,
Floating in air or pent in stone,
Will rive the hills and swim the sea,
And, like thy shadow, follow thee.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
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