Russia has created aerospace forces

The Russian Air Force and the aerospace defense forces are combined into a new type of Armed Forces - the Air Force of the Russian Federation. The new structure includes all types of aviation, air defense and missile defense forces, as well as units of space forces responsible for launching and controlling military spacecraft.

"The formation of the VKS by combining the Air Force and the Aerospace Defense Forces is the best option to improve the country's aerospace defense system," said the head of the military department Sergey Shoigu during a conference call.

“This allows, first of all, to concentrate in one's hands all the responsibility for the formation of a military-technical policy for the development of troops solving tasks in the aerospace sphere, secondly, due to closer integration, to increase the effectiveness of their use, thirdly, to ensure the progressive development of the country's aerospace defense system, ”the Minister of Defense noted.

VKS as a new type of Russian Armed Forces began to operate 1 August 2015. Organizationally, the Aerospace Forces include three types of forces: the Air Force, the air defense and missile defense forces, and the space forces.

In April 2015, it was reported that aerospace forces would take up combat duty from June 2015. The first reports of the formation of the VKS appeared in the spring of 2014, but they did not find official confirmation.