45th Air and Air Defense Forces Army
Site ID
This record matches the headquarters of military unit 06351 in Safonovo, within the Severomorsk garrison in Murmansk Oblast on the Kola Peninsula. Public Russian legal and labor-registry records place unit 06351 in Safonovo, and TASS describes the 45th Air and Air Defense Army as the Northern Fleet air component established in December 2015. Since 1 March 2024, the Northern Fleet has no longer held separate military-district status, so the army’s higher-level subordination has been reworked. ([base.garant.ru](https://base.garant.ru/66457834/?utm_source=openai))
Basing
Open-source reporting consistently ties the 45th Army to the main Kola aviation cluster: Severomorsk-3 for the 279th and 100th shipborne fighter regiments, Monchegorsk for the 98th Separate Mixed Air Regiment, and Kipelovo in Vologda Region for Northern Fleet Tu-142 long-range patrol aircraft. This gives the HQ access to carrier aviation, interceptor/strike aviation, and long-range maritime patrol assets from one command network. ([acrosskarman.wilsoncenter.org](https://acrosskarman.wilsoncenter.org/sites/default/files/media/uploads/documents/RussiaArctic_Boulegue.pdf))
Capabilities
The force set linked to this headquarters supports more than local base defense. TASS reporting shows MiG-31 interceptors conducting air-defense scrambles over the Barents Sea, Ka-27 crews flying anti-submarine drills from Severomorsk-1, and Tu-142 aircraft flying long-range sorties over the North Sea and North-East Atlantic before recovering at Kipelovo; Wilson Center analysis likewise describes a mix of fighters, maritime patrol aircraft, and helicopters assigned to Northern Fleet Arctic and naval missions. ([tass.com](https://tass.com/defense/1702663?utm_source=openai))
Arctic reach
The army is also used to extend Russian air cover onto forward Arctic sites. In March 2021, MiG-29K fighters from the 100th Regiment took over duty at Rogachyovo on Novaya Zemlya from MiG-31BM crews, which the fleet said expanded controlled airspace over the Northern Sea Route. TASS later reported that Su-33 crews flew to Arctic island airfields in August 2023 and then stood combat duty from both Rogachyovo and Nagurskoye. Public reporting on the Novaya Zemlya air-defense regiment is not fully consistent: TASS described a modernized S-300 regiment there in 2015, but by 2021 referred to an S-400-equipped regiment, suggesting either re-equipment or inconsistent public nomenclature. ([tass.com](https://tass.com/defense/1265271))
Command note
Command attribution is not fully stable in open sources. TASS identified Lieutenant General Alexander Otroshchenko in 2020 as commander of the Northern Fleet Air Force and Air Defense association, but on 9 April 2024 it described him as commander of the Northern Fleet’s mixed aviation corps during a military council. That points to a reorganization or title change; open sources do not clearly confirm that he still commands unit 06351 as of 12 March 2026. ([tass.ru](https://tass.ru/obschestvo/9264899?utm_source=openai))