This record aligns with the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS), the service branch created on August 1, 2015 by merging the Air Force and the Aerospace Defense Forces under a single command. Interfax reported when the service was formed that its main command would be concentrated in Moscow, on Znamenka in the Arbat area, which is consistent with the metadata's Moscow HQ reference. ([tass.com](https://tass.com/russia/812184))
Viktor Afzalov was confirmed as commander-in-chief of the Aerospace Forces in October 2023. In the latest public source I found naming the current chiefs directly, TASS reported that Afzalov attended a Kremlin armaments meeting on June 11, 2025 in his capacity as commander-in-chief of the VKS, which supports the metadata listing him as commander. ([tass.com](https://tass.com/defense/1698111?utm_source=openai))
Public descriptions of VKS state that the service unifies aviation, air defense, anti-missile defense, and space forces under one command. Early official breakdowns also listed strategic aviation, military transport aviation, district air-and-air-defense armies, an air-defense/ABM army, and supporting EW, communications, engineering, meteorological, logistics, and research elements. Russian state reporting has also tied VKS formations in the Moscow region to air defense of Moscow and the Central Industrial District. ([tass.com](https://tass.com/russia/812184))
The first placemark is consistent with military unit 13816, a real Ministry of Defense federal institution registered in Balashikha and described in registry-based public records as conducting activity related to military security. However, I could not verify from authoritative open sources the more specific placemark label describing it as an automotive/electric-gas airfield-technical storage base, so that functional attribution should be treated as unconfirmed. ([spark-interfax.ru](https://spark-interfax.ru/moskovskaya-oblast-balashikha/fku-voiskovaya-chast-inn-5001010441-ogrn-1035000702692-6906d9863aeb226ae0531b9aa8c04bb6?utm_source=openai))
The second placemark matches the State Treasury Research and Testing Ground for Aviation Systems named for L.K. Safronov (GkNIPAS) in Beloozersky, Voskresensk. Official sources describe it as one of Russia's larger aviation test complexes, with more than 10,000 hectares, about 50 experimental-base objects, a 2.5 km rail track, and facilities for testing aircraft systems, propulsion, escape systems, parachutes, and civil-aircraft components. Those same official sources list GkNIPAS under the National Research Center "Zhukovsky Institute" since 2015, so its inclusion here as a direct VKS site is ambiguous in open sources and direct VKS control was not publicly confirmed in the material reviewed. ([nrczh.ru](https://nrczh.ru/suborg/gknipas/))