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Air National Guard (Ukraine)

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Air National Guard (Ukraine)
Гвардійська авіаційна база НГ (Ukrainian)
Air National Guard Insignia
Founded1992 (1992)
Country Ukraine
Allegiance Ministry of Internal Affairs
Branch National Guard of Ukraine
TypeAir National Guard
RoleAviation
Part of National Guard of Ukraine
Garrison/HQOleksandriia
EngagementsTransnistrian War
1992–94 Crimean crisis
Russo-Ukrainian war
Commanders
Current
commander		Colonel Vitaliy Volodymyrovych Buldovich
Insignia
Former Insignia
Former Insignia
Aircraft flown
Cargo helicopterMi-8T/MT/МSB, Eurocopter EC225 Super Puma
Utility helicopterMil Mi-2MSB, Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil
TransportAn-26, An-72V/P, An-74, Tu-134

The Air National Guard is the aerial component of the National Guard of Ukraine tasked with all aviation related operations of the National Guard. It was established in 1992 and has seen combat during the Transnistrian war, War in Donbass and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It operates a variety of rotary wing, fixed wing and Unmanned Aircraft. It is headquartered in Oleksandriia.

History

[edit]

The aviation department of the National Guard of Ukraine was established on 1 January 1992, with Mymka Lubomyr Volodymyrovych becoming it's first commander. The Aviation units of the National Guard of Ukraine were merged into a single helicopter brigade.[1][2] This brigade was created on the basis of the 51st Guards Separate Helicopter Regiment of the Internal Troops of the Soviet Union with Colonel Bondarchuk Vyacheslav Mykolayovych being appointed as the first commander of the brigade. It included two Mi-6 transport squadrons, two Mi-8T/MT/S/PS, Mi-9 transport and combat squadrons and 31 Mi-24B/K/R/P squadrons.[3] In total the Air Guard had 72 helicopters.[4]

In the summer of 1992, during the Transnistrian war, 14 Mil Mi-8 and Mil Mi-24 helicopters were deployed to provide air support at the Ukrainian-Moldovan border. Four Mi-8s and one Mi-24 were also deployed to the Vapnyarka and Krasnoy Vikna for rear support. The helicopters were engaged in transportation of troops, air patrols and logistical support.[5]

On 1 August 1992, it became the 51st Separate Helicopter Brigade. In March 1993, 88 fishermen were carried away by the ice in the Kremenchuk Reservoir, which were rescued by the helicopters of the brigade.[6]

During the 1992–94 Crimean crisis, the National Guard of Ukraine deployed a large contingent of over 60,000 personnel to Crimea,[7] the deployment also included aircraft of the 51st Helicopter Brigade.[8][9]

In 1996, the Mil Mi-6 helicopters of the brigade took part in large-scale exercises at the Yavoriv training ground, taking part in the transport and evacuation of personnel as well as GAZ-3307 vehicles.[10]

In 1998, more than a thousand residents of Zakarpattia Oblast had to be evacuated after severe flooding. On 2 November 1998, 2 Mi-8MT and one Mi-8T flew from Oleksandriia to Uzhgorod, the helicopters were commanded by Lieutenant Colonels Klymenko, Strygin, and Major Kovtun while Colonel Anatoly Mykolayovych Sulima commanded the group. They had to go above the mountains up to 1,600 meters high, in populated areas, where food and medicine were urgently needed to be delivered. In the early days, the crews worked from Uzhgorod, but the flight took an hour so they were transferred to Tiachiv, reducing the flight time to 15–20 minutes, soon ground vehicles were able to reach the area, decreasing the load on aviation. One Mi-8MT was converted into a medevac helicopter and deployed to Chornotysov. During the 19 days of the mission, the Air Guard helicopters had a flight time of 117 hours, transported 94,370 tons of various equipment and 649 people including 72 needing medical assistance.[11]

On 17 December 1999, it became a part of the Internal Troops of Ukraine.[3] On 26 April 2000, a monument was consecrated at the headquarters of the brigade in honor of the liquidators of the Chernobyl incident with the inscription "You closed the whole world." On 19 December 2000, the Mil Mi-6 helicopters were retired from the brigade.[citation needed]

In 2014, the brigade again became a part of the National Guard of Ukraine renamed as the Air National Guard of Ukraine.[3] On 29 May 2014, during the Siege of Sloviansk, after unloading food and personnel at a checkpoint, and while returning from Mount Karachun, an Mi-8MT helicopter of the National Guard was shot by a MANPAD, causing the blast of its fuel tanks killing the commander of National Guard, Serhii Kulchitskyi, two officers of the Air Guard, pilot Colonel Buldovych Serhiy Ivanovich and flight engineer Captain Kravchenko Sergey Mykolayovych, three other National Guard servicemen and six Berkut personnel. The copilot, Captain Oleksandr Mykolayovych Makeyenko survived but was seriously wounded.[12][13][14][15][16] In Autumn 2014, Athlon Avia A1-CM Furia UAVs were delivered to the Air Guard.[17] On 22 July 2015, Athlon Avia A1-CM Furia UAVs were officially adopted by the Air Guard.[18] On 24 August 2015, during the "Independence March", the Air Guard received a new combat flag replacing the former Soviet banner with a ceremony taking place on 29 August, the "Aviation Day".[19] In 2016, the Air National Guard started operating Polish-manufactured "Fly eye" reconnaissance UAVs.[20][21] On 14 October 2016, the open-air Mil Mi-6 helicopter museum was opened at the Air Guard Headquarters by the mayor of Oleksandria, Stepan Tsapyuk.[22] From 2014 to 2019, the Air Guard received an Antonov An-26, an Antonov An-72, three Mil Mi-8 and two Mi-2MSB. A squadron of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles was established which received "Fly-eye", A1-CM/KS-1 Furia, RQ-11B Raven, and MARA-2M UAVs.[23] In 2018, Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil helicopters were also purchased for the Air Guard.[24] On 21 December 2018, the Air Guard received it's first Eurocopter EC225 Super Puma,[25] followed by a second Eurocopter EC225 Super Puma in December 2019.[26]

On 15 April 2022, during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian forces conducted a missile attack on the airfield of the Air Guard causing casualties, there were multiple wounded,[27] and an officer, Captain Oleg Anatoliyovych Zabolotnyi was killed as a result of the Missile strike.[28]

Structure

[edit]

The structure of the Air Guard is as follows:[29][30][31]

Commanders

[edit]
  • Colonel Bondarchuk Vyacheslav Mykolayovych (1992-?)
  • Colonel Pobyvanets Gennadiy Yuriyovych (2014–2015)[32]
  • Colonel Yakovlev Ruslan Petrovych (2015–2019)[3]
  • Colonel Vitaliy Volodymyrovych Buldovich (2019-)

Aircraft

[edit]
Model Image Origin Type Number Details
Aircraft
Antonov An-26  Soviet Union
 Ukraine 		Transport 20[33]
Antonov An-72 2[33]
Antonov An-74 N/A
Tupolev Tu-134  Soviet Union 2[33]
Helicopters
Mil Mi-2  Poland
 Ukraine 		Utility 1[33] Upgraded to the Mi-2MSB standard.[34]
Mil Mi-8  Soviet Union Transport 7[33]
Airbus Helicopters H125  France Utility 2[33]
Airbus H225  France Transport 4[33]
Unmanned aerial vehicles
BpAK P-100[35]  Ukraine Multi-purpose
Fly-eye[20]  Poland
 Ukraine		 Reconnaissance
RQ-11 Raven[23]  United States SUAV
A1-CM/KS-1 Furia[18]  Ukraine Reconnaissance
MARA-2M[23]  Ukraine

Sources

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Архівована копія". Archived from the original on 22 October 2019. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  2. ^ "Архівована копія". Archived from the original on 23 October 2019. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  3. ^ a b c d Sergey Gavrylenko, Ко дню рождения александрийской авиации Archived 19 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine Alexandria Week, 21 September 2017
  4. ^ Aviation and Time. — April 1996. — p.37
  5. ^ "Авіація Національної гвардії України". YouTube. Video published by the National Guard of Ukraine. 30 August 2019. Archived from the original on 28 February 2022. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  6. ^ Брошура №2 5 років НГУ
  7. ^ "Холодна війна за Крим. Як ділили флот у 1990-х Українська правда (укр.)". Archived from the original on 7 March 2022. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  8. ^ "Холодна війна за Крим". Archived from the original on 18 September 2019. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  9. ^ "За крок до війни…". Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  10. ^ Aviation and Time. —January 1999. —p.29
  11. ^ Aviation and Time. —January 1999. —p.1
  12. ^ Офіційне повідомлення: терористи підбили гелікоптер МІ-8 Національної гвардії України // Архів 29.05.2014. Сайт НГУ
  13. ^ "Під Слов'янськом терористи збили вертоліт: загинули 10 військових з генералом Кульчицьким // УНІАН, 29 травня 2014". Archived from the original on 31 May 2014. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  14. ^ "Терористи збили під Слов'янськом український вертоліт – загинули 14 військових на чолі з генералом // «Щоденний Львів», 29 травня 2014". Archived from the original on 8 October 2017. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  15. ^ "Національна гвардія підтвердила загибель у збитому терористами вертольоті 12 силовиків // «Щоденний Львів», 29 травня 2014". Archived from the original on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  16. ^ "Заплаче мати не одна, заплаче Україна… // Сергій Дідик. «Іменем закону», 5 червня 2014". Archived from the original on 1 July 2014. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  17. ^ «Атлон Авіа» - Історія Archived 2021-09-03 at the Wayback Machine
  18. ^ a b "Нацгвардія отримала нові безпілотники". Archived from the original on 2015-07-25. Retrieved 2015-07-22.
  19. ^ "Олександрійські льотчики урочисто змінили радянський бойовий стяг на новий". gre4ka.info/. 29 August 2015. Archived from the original on 25 February 2022. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
  20. ^ a b "Безпілотні будні України". Військова панорама. 19 January 2017. Archived from the original on 22 August 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2017.
  21. ^ "Fly Eye i Warmate na Ukrainie - Altair Agencja Lotnicza". altair.com.pl. Archived from the original on 10 December 2016. Retrieved 2016-06-18.
  22. ^ "У В\Ч 2269 представили музей вертольоту МІ-6 під відкритим небом". golosgromadu.info/. Voice of the Community. 14 October 2016. Archived from the original on 17 October 2016. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
  23. ^ a b c "Авіація Нацгвардії". nguinunpeaceoperations.tilda.ws. Archived from the original on 26 February 2020. Retrieved 2021-01-19.
  24. ^ "Ukraine to buy new rotorcraft from Airbus Helicopters". Jane's 360. Archived from the original on 30 May 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  25. ^ "Перші два вертольоти Airbus надійшли на службу до Нацгвардії та ДСНС". ukrinform.ua (in Ukrainian). 21 December 2018. Archived from the original on 28 January 2021. Retrieved 2021-01-19.
  26. ^ "Фото: Чергова партія H225 Super Puma готується до передачі Україні". Український мілітарний портал (in Russian). Archived from the original on 28 January 2021. Retrieved 2021-01-19.
  27. ^ "Россия нанесла ракетный удар по Александрии: есть погибшие и пострадавшие". Зеркало недели | Дзеркало тижня | Mirror Weekly. Retrieved 2023-01-12.
  28. ^ Калинівчани провели в останню путь загиблого офіцера. 19.04.2022, 14:50
  29. ^ "Військова частина 2269 Національної Гвардії України". Archived from the original on 27 February 2020. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
  30. ^ "В/ч №2269 - отдельная авиабаза Нацгвардии". 2016-07-20. Archived from the original on 23 February 2017. Retrieved 30 November 2016.
  31. ^ Якими були повітряні сили 20 століття Archived 26 February 2020 at the Wayback Machine Archived 23 February 2020 at the Wayback Machine
  32. ^ Арсеній Яценюк побував у таборі АТО в районі Слов'янська Archived 9 February 2015 at the Wayback Machine
  33. ^ a b c d e f g IISS 2023, p. 204.
  34. ^ Андрій Яцик. Мi-2: український вариант // «Народна армія», No. 22 (5554) вiд 31 травня 2018. стор.6
  35. ^ "ukraine introduced in india a multi-purpose unmanned airplane bpak r-100". Retrieved 14 May 2022.
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