Long-Range Aviation
Long-Range Aviation (, literally Aviation of Distant Action and abbreviated DA, is a sub-branch of the Russian Aerospace Forces responsible for delivering long-range nuclear or conventional strikes by aircraft (rather than missiles). The branch was previously part of the Soviet Air Forces and Russian Air Force tasked with long-range bombardment of strategic targets with nuclear weapons. During the Cold War, the Long-Range Aviation of the Air Forces (DA VS) was the rough Soviet equivalent to the French Air Force's Forces aériennes stratégiques (1964-present); the British RAF Bomber Command (1936-68); and the United States Air Force (USAF) Strategic Air Command (1946-1992). In the early 2020s there are roughly-equivalent structures within the People's Liberation Army Air Force and in the USAF Air Force Global Strike Command. Long-Range Aviation traces its history to the Aviation of Distant Action, AДД, or ADD, Авиация дальнего действия, and the 18th Air Army of the Second World War and beforehand. This article sketches the development of Soviet and Russian long-range bomber forces from their origins in the mid-1930s. Origins, 1936-1940 The first three Air Armies, designated Air Armies of Specific Purpose (or Particular Purpose) were created between 1936 and 1938. In accordance with the predominant Deep operations