Documents / FOIA release
This is an October 1968 contribution by the Central Intelligence Agency's Office of Strategic Research to National Intelligence Estimate 11-14-68 on Soviet and East European general purpose forces. It covers Warsaw Pact war plans for Central Europe, the effects of the Czechoslovak crisis, and the doubling of Soviet forces on the Chinese border since 1965. It also assesses ground, tactical air, naval and coastal defense forces. The text does not mention UFOs or unidentified aerial phenomena.
“The Advance”9 pages
TOP EOPeRT B. Tactical Aviation 1. Mission and Organization T aviation is the support of ground operations in the field. Although the force has a secondary responsi- bility to support air defense (PVO Strany) of the USSR, its organization and equipment reflect an empha- sis on operations in a ground war environment. The major tasks of tactical aviation in supporting ground forces are air superiority and continuous air defense of the combat' area, close support of battlefield oper- ations, interdiction, neutralization of the enemy's means for delivering nuclear weapons, and reconnaissance. Soviet theory of employment of tactical aviation is reflected in the organization of the force. No separate headquarters for tactical air forces (TAF) exists on a national level. Instead, the forces are integrated components of Fronts. The commander of the tactical air army (TAA) within a Front is a deputy to the Front commander, a ground officer, who is usually di- rectly subordinate to the Supreme High Command in Moscow. 2. Deployment Major air armies are deployed with the three groups of forces in Eastern Europe and in eight military districts in the USSR. In addition, a small air army is assigned to the Kiev Military District (MD), and a small military district air force is as- signed to the Moscow MD. New tactical air units es- tablished in the Transbaykal MD during the past year near the Sino-Soviet border have resulted in an in- crease in the overall force level of Front aviation. It is likely that additional new units will be estab- lished in the Transbaykal MD, resulting in the crea- tion of a TAA in that district. Deployment of the tactical air forces con- tinues to reflect a heavy orientation against NATO, and this is expected to last for several years. Nearly 70 percent of the combat aircraft are assigned to air armies in Eastern Europe and in the four military dis- tricts on the western border of the USSR. By far the largest of the air armies is the 24th TAA in East Ger- many, which contains nearly 750 combat aircraft. This air army and the 57th TAA in the Carpathian MD together - 55 - TOP SECRET
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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 115 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.