1545th Guards Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment
Unit Identification
Official designation: 1545th Guards Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment (1545-y gvardeyskiy zenitnyy raketnyy polk), military unit 01907. Service branch: Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS), Air and Missile Defense Troops (PVO). Open-source Russian administrative and local reporting place the regiment in Petrozavodsk, Republic of Karelia. The unit bears the Guards honorific, indicating historically awarded distinction; the Ministry of Defense has not publicly released the original award decree details in recent summaries.
Higher Command and Mission
The regiment operates within the Western Military District under the VKS Air and Missile Defense component, subordinate to the 6th Air and Air Defense Army. Its assigned mission is continuous air-defense duty in its sector of northwestern Russia, providing detection, tracking, and engagement of aerodynamic and, within system parameters, certain ballistic targets to protect critical infrastructure and approaches in the Republic of Karelia and to integrate with adjacent air-defense units in the region.
Headquarters and Garrison (v/ch 01907)
Headquarters location: Petrozavodsk, Republic of Karelia (Russian Federation). Unit identifier: military unit 01907. The Ministry of Defense does not publish the street address in open releases. The regiment maintains peacetime garrison facilities, a regimental technical position for missile storage and maintenance, and prepared firing positions within the region. Exact facility coordinates and detailed site layouts are not published in official sources.
Equipment History and Modernization Status
Legacy equipment: S-300PS (NATO: SA-10B) operated through the 2010s and into the early 2020s. Modernization: On 22 December 2022, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that an S-400 air-defense system had gone on combat duty in the Republic of Karelia. While that announcement did not name the specific regiment, open-source defense reporting commonly associates the Karelia S-400 deployment with the Petrozavodsk-based regiment, indicating a transition from S-300PS to S-400 beginning by late 2022. The Ministry of Defense has not publicly released the exact number of S-400 battalions in this regiment or whether any S-300PS elements remain.
S-300PS System Technical Profile (Legacy)
System type: mobile, medium-to-long range SAM. Typical components: 5N63S fire-control radar (Flap Lid B), 36D6 surveillance radar (Tin Shield), optional 76N6 low-altitude radar, and 5P85S/D launchers on MAZ-543/7910 chassis. Missiles: 5V55R/5V55RM series. Engagement envelope (representative, open sources): up to ~75–90 km range against aerodynamic targets; intercept altitudes up to ~27–30 km. A S-300PS firing battalion (divizion) typically fields up to 12 launchers, with the system designed to track multiple targets and engage several simultaneously. Exact configuration and launcher counts for this regiment are not publicly disclosed.
S-400 System Technical Profile (Current/Recent)
System type: mobile, long-range SAM with multi-missile family. Typical components: 91N6E acquisition radar (Big Bird), 92N6E engagement radar (Grave Stone), 96L6/96L6-Ts all-altitude radar, 55K6E command post, and 5P85TE2/5P85SE2 or 51P6A launchers. Missile options and representative ranges (per open sources): 48N6DM up to ~250 km; 9M96E2 up to ~120 km; 9M96E up to ~40 km; 40N6 up to ~380–400 km against suitable targets. Engagement altitude depends on missile type and target profile; the system is designed to counter a wide set of aerodynamic threats and select ballistic targets within stated parameters. A regiment typically fields two or more firing battalions; exact counts for military unit 01907 are not officially published.
Location Analysis and Area of Responsibility
Garrisoned in Petrozavodsk, the regiment covers the Republic of Karelia sector in Russia’s northwest. From this location, its air-defense coverage contributes to the regional network that protects key infrastructure and air approaches across Karelia. Terrain in the region (forested areas, lakes, and varied elevation) can affect radar line-of-sight at low altitude; Russian PVO units mitigate this with elevated radar masts (such as 40V6-series for suitable radars), overlapping radar coverage from radio-technical units, and integration with higher-echelon surveillance assets. The Ministry of Defense does not publish precise combat duty sites for this regiment.
Infrastructure Capabilities
The regiment operates prepared peacetime firing positions, a regimental technical position for missile assembly, storage, and testing, and support facilities for maintenance and logistics. Road mobility is provided by heavy wheeled chassis (MAZ family for S-300PS; MAZ/BZKT platforms for S-400), enabling redeployment to field positions. The Petrozavodsk area provides access to railheads on the October Railway and the R-21 (Kola) highway for logistics. Specific depot locations, storage capacities, and hardened shelter details are not publicly released.
Organizational Structure (Typical)
A Russian S-300/S-400 regiment typically consists of a regimental command post, two or more firing battalions (divizion), a technical battery (regimental technical position), signals and support subunits, and logistics elements. Each firing battalion commonly fields 8–12 launchers with associated engagement and acquisition radars and support vehicles. The exact number of battalions, launcher counts, and subunit disposition for the 1545th Guards Regiment have not been officially published.
Operations, Training, and Readiness
Air-defense regiments in the 6th Air and Air Defense Army maintain round-the-clock combat duty and conduct regular tactical exercises that include rapid occupation of field positions, deployment under electronic countermeasures, and simulated repulsion of massed aerospace attacks. Live-fire events for VKS PVO SAM units are typically conducted at recognized ranges such as Kapustin Yar/Ashuluk (Astrakhan Oblast) or Telemba (Republic of Buryatia). The Ministry of Defense’s public releases do not provide a continuous exercise log specific to military unit 01907.
Command, Control, and Integration
The regiment operates under VKS PVO automated command-and-control, integrating with regional radio-technical units for early warning and target designation. S-400 units employ the 55K6E command post and can interface with higher-echelon control systems. Russian PVO regiments are commonly networked through standardized automated control systems (e.g., Baikal-1ME or Polyana-D4M1) at the sector/division level; the specific system fielded by this regiment is not publicly identified. Data from long-range surveillance radars and, when available, airborne early warning assets can be integrated into the air picture for engagement control.
Data Availability and Gaps
Publicly available sources corroborate the regiment’s identity as the 1545th Guards Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment (v/ch 01907) and its basing in Petrozavodsk, Republic of Karelia, with historical use of S-300PS and the Ministry of Defense’s December 2022 announcement of S-400 combat duty in Karelia. Not publicly disclosed by official sources are: precise regiment subordination at division level, exact number of battalions and launchers, detailed equipment inventories, specific firing-site coordinates, regimental technical position location, and current rotation schedules. Where figures and configurations are provided above, they represent standard system characteristics and typical organizational patterns for S-300PS and S-400 units and are not regiment-specific unless explicitly stated.