Russian Air Force in the context of List of tanker aircraft

Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) is the United States military's operational name for the international war against the Islamic State (IS)—a group also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) or its Arab acronym "Daesh"—including both a campaign in Iraq and a campaign in Syria, with a closely related campaign in Libya. Through 18 September 2018, the U.S. Army's III Armored Corps was responsible for Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF—OIR) and were replaced by the XVIII Airborne Corps. The campaign is primarily waged by American and British forces in support of local allies, most prominently the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) and Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Combat ground troops, mostly special forces, infantry, and artillery have also been deployed, especially in Iraq. Of the airstrikes, 70% have been conducted by the military of the United States, 20% by the United Kingdom, and the remaining 10% being carried out by Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates.

According to the Pentagon, by March 2019, the day of IS's territorial defeat in Syria, CJTF—OIR and its partner forces had liberated nearly 110,000 square kilometers (42,471 square miles) of land and 7.7 million people from IS, the vast majority of the self-proclaimed caliphate's territory and subjects. By October 2017, around the time of IS's territorial defeat in Iraq, CJTF—OIR claimed that around 80,000 IS militants had been killed by it and its allies (excluding those targeted by Russian and Syrian air strikes). By the end of August 2019, it had conducted 34,573 strikes. Tens of thousands more were killed by partner forces on the ground (the SDF alone claimed to have killed 25,336 IS fighters by the end of 2017).

An air force in the broadest sense is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an army aviation or naval aviation units. Typically, air forces are responsible for gaining control of the air, carrying out strategic and tactical bombing missions, and providing support to land and naval forces often in the form of aerial reconnaissance and close air support.

The term air force may also refer to a tactical air force or numbered air force, which is an operational formation either within a national air force or comprising several air components from allied nations. Air forces typically consist of a combination of fighters, bombers, helicopters, transport planes and other aircraft.

A space force is a military branch of a nation's armed forces that conducts military operations in outer space and space warfare. The world's first space force was the Russian Space Forces, established in 1992 as an independent military service. However, it lost its independence twice, first being absorbed into the Strategic Rocket Forces from 1997–2001 and 2001–2011, then it merged with the Russian Air Force to form the Russian Aerospace Forces in 2015, where it now exists as a sub-branch. As of 2025, there are two independent space forces: the United States Space Force and China's People's Liberation Army Aerospace Force.

Countries with smaller or developing space forces may combine their air and space forces under a single military branch, such as the Russian Aerospace Forces, Spanish Air and Space Force, French Air and Space Force, or Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force, or put them in an independent defense agency, such as the Indian Defence Space Agency. Countries with nascent military space capabilities usually organize them within their air forces.

The Russian Space Forces (Russian: Космические войска России, romanized: Kosmicheskie voyska Rossii, KV) is the space force branch of the Russian Aerospace Forces. It was reestablished following the 1 August 2015 merger between the Russian Air Force and the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces, after the independent arm of service was dissolved in 2011.

Formed on 10 August 1992 alongside the creation of the Russian Armed Forces, the Russian Space Forces was the first independent space force in the world. The organization shared control of the Baikonur Cosmodrome with Roscosmos, the Federal Space Agency. It also operated the Plesetsk and the Svobodny Cosmodromes. However the Russian Space Forces was dissolved in July 1997 and incorporated into the Strategic Missile Forces.

The Tupolev Tu-22M (Russian: Туполев Ту-22М; NATO reporting name: Backfire) is a supersonic, variable-sweep wing, long-range strategic and maritime strike bomber developed by the Tupolev Design Bureau in the 1960s. The bomber was reported as being designated Tu-26 by Western intelligence at one time. During the Cold War, the Tu-22M was operated by the Soviet Air Forces (VVS) in a missile carrier strategic bombing role, and by the Soviet Naval Aviation (Aviatsiya Voyenno-Morskogo Flota, AVMF) in a long-range maritime anti-shipping role.

In 2024, the Russian Air Force had 57 aircraft in service, according to the 2024 Military Balance report by International Institute for Strategic Studies. However, in 2023, Ukraine's Main Directorate of Intelligence estimated that Russia had only 27 aircraft in operable condition.

The Russian Aerospace Forces or Russian Air and Space Forces (VKS) comprise the aerial, space warfare, and missile defence branches of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. It was established on 1 August 2015 with the merging of the Russian Air Force (VVS) and the Russian Aerospace Defence Forces (VVKO), as recommended by the Ministry of Defence to improve efficiency and logistical support. The VKS is headquartered in Moscow.

This is a list of tanker aircraft used for aerial refuelling of another aircraft while in powered flight.

Alexander Alexanderovich Misurkin (Russian: Aлександр Aлександрович Мисуркин) (born 23 September 1977), a major in the Russian Air Force, is a Russian cosmonaut, selected in 2006. He flew aboard Soyuz TMA-08M on 28 March 2013 as his first space mission, and launched on Soyuz MS-06 as his second flight, in 2017. He was commander of the International Space Station for Expedition 54.

The Soviet Air Forces (Russian: Военно-Воздушные Силы Союза Советских Социалистических Республик, romanized: Voenno-Vozdushnye Sily Soyuza Sovetskih Sotsialisticheskih Respublik, VVS SSSR; literally "Military Air Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics"; initialism VVS, sometimes referred to as the "Red Air Force") was one of two air forces belonging to the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces. The Air Forces were formed from components of the Imperial Russian Air Service in 1917, and faced their greatest test during World War II. The groups were also involved in the Korean War, and dissolved along with the Soviet Union itself in 1991–92. Former Soviet Air Forces' assets were subsequently divided into several air forces of former Soviet republics, including the new Russian Air Force. The "March of the Pilots" was its marching song.