Het gevechtsverleden van de luchtmacht en luchtverdediging van de Republiek Belarus
Belarus’s air arm has fought no war of its own since independence. The Second World War entry belongs to the Soviet 1st Air Army, its predecessor; the 1995 balloon shoot-down and the 2021 Ryanair diversion are single incidents; and in the Russian invasion of Ukraine Belarus is a host nation, not a declared combatant. Where a consolidated sortie or loss figure exists in the official record it is given here; where accounts disagree, the range is shown and the disagreement named. Blank cells are blank because no figure could be verified, not because the fighting was small.
From the Western Front in 1941 to Russia’s war next door.
| Conflict | Jaren | Tegen | Hoofdvliegtuig | Uitvallen | Vliegtuig verloren | |
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| De Tweede Wereldoorlog aan het Oostfront1st Air Army and the air defence of the Western FrontSoviet Air Forces: 1st Air Army (Western Front), predecessor of the 26th Air Army; Soviet air defence forces | 1941–1945 | Duitsland | Soviet fighter, ground-attack and bomber types (not itemised here) | 290,000 | ||
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Fighter, ground-attack and bomber operations for the Western Front, later the 3rd Belorussian Front, including Rzhev, Smolensk, Operation Bagration and East Prussia. The Belarusian Air Force and Air Defence Forces claim this war as their own inheritance, and the ministry’s history devotes most of its space to it. The 1st Air Army was formed in May 1942 from the air forces of the Western Front (10 May, per Wikipedia) and fought through the battles around Rzhev and Vyazma, Orel and Smolensk in 1942–1943. In March 1943 it received the Free French Normandie-Niemen squadron, later a regiment. In 1944 it flew in Operation Bagration, the offensive that drove German forces out of Belarus, and in 1945 in East Prussia. Its wartime commanders were Kutsevalov, Khudyakov, Gromov and Khryukin, according to Wikipedia. The ministry credits the Western Front’s airmen with more than 160 Heroes of the Soviet Union, 18 of them twice; Wikipedia gives 145 for the 1st Air Army alone. The difference probably reflects whether earlier Western Front units are counted. Resultaat The 1st Air Army ended the war in East Prussia; in January 1949 it was renamed the 26th Air Army, whose headquarters became the Belarusian Air Force command in 1992. Sortie and Hero counts differ between the Belarusian ministry (300,000 sorties, 160+ Heroes, Western Front air forces) and Wikipedia (290,000 sorties, 145 Heroes, 1st Air Army). The aircraft types flown were not itemised from a checked source.
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| De Gordon Bennett Cup ballonschietwedstrijd12 September 1995Belarusian Air Force | 1995 | Mi-24 | 0 | |||
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A Mi-24 helicopter fired on a hydrogen balloon competing in the Gordon Bennett Cup race that had entered Belarusian airspace. The Gordon Bennett Cup is a long-distance gas balloon race. According to Wikipedia, the organisers had informed the Belarusian government of the race in May and filed flight plans. On 12 September 1995 a Belarusian Mi-24 fired on one of the balloons over Belarus and brought it down; both crew, the Americans Alan Fraenckel and John Stuart-Jervis, were killed. Another balloon was forced to land and its crew fined for visa violations; a third landed safely more than two hours later. The Belarusian government’s explanation at the time was not retrieved for this page, and the incident rests here on a single source. Resultaat Belarus has neither apologised nor offered compensation, according to Wikipedia. Single source (Wikipedia); Belarus’s official account and the US government’s response were not retrieved and are left out. The Mi-24 variant is given as Mi-24B in Wikipedia and is not repeated here.
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| De omleiding van Ryanair-vlucht 4978Minsk, 23 May 2021Luchtmacht en luchtverdedigingstroepen | 2021 | MiG-29 | 1 | 0 | ||
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A MiG-29 was launched while air traffic control told the Athens–Vilnius flight of a bomb threat and it diverted to Minsk. On 23 May 2021 Ryanair Flight FR4978 from Athens to Vilnius, with 126 passengers and six crew, was told by Minsk air traffic control of a bomb threat and diverted to Minsk, where the opposition journalist Raman Pratasevich and Sofia Sapega were arrested. A MiG-29 of the Air Force and Air Defence Forces was airborne. The sides differ on what it was doing. ICAO’s fact-finding report of 17 January 2022 found that the MiG-29 was tasked with communications back-up and to protect Minsk, and did not approach or escort FR4978; it found the bomb threat deliberately false but could not attribute it to an individual or state, and said Belarus had not preserved records. On 21 June 2021 the EU sanctioned Minister of Defence Viktor Khrenin, the service’s commander Ihar Holub and its chief of staff Andrei Gurtsevich, stating that the command had dispatched military aircraft to escort the forced landing without proper justification. President Lukashenko said on 26 May 2021 that he had acted legally in response to a bomb threat. In July 2022 the ICAO Council condemned the Belarusian government’s act of unlawful interference; in January 2022 US prosecutors charged four Belarusian officials with aircraft piracy. Resultaat The ICAO Council in July 2022 condemned the Belarusian government for an act of unlawful interference; the EU banned Belarusian carriers from its airspace and sanctioned the defence minister and the Air Force and Air Defence command. The ICAO report and the EU listing disagree on whether the MiG-29 escorted the airliner. The ICAO report and Council text were read through Wikipedia, not directly (the ICAO site refused the request).
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| De Russische invasie van OekraïneBelarus as a staging groundAir Force and Air Defence Forces (host nation; not a declared combatant) | 2022– | Russian aircraft on Belarusian bases (Su-35S and others), Belarusian air defence alert forces | ||||
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According to the Belarusian government, no combat role; Belarusian bases hosted Russian forces, and the service has intercepted aerial targets entering from the war zone. Russian and Belarusian forces held the joint exercise Union Resolve-2022 in February 2022, and the Russian troops did not leave. On 24 February, the first day of the invasion, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief reported ballistic missiles launched from Belarus; satellite images published by Maxar and others showed Russian helicopters, aircraft and missile systems near the border and at Baranovichi and Machulishchy, and AirForces Monthly reported Russian Su-35S fighters at Baranovichi from February to April 2022. President Lukashenko said Belarusian forces would not take part directly and on 27 February acknowledged launches by Russia from Belarusian territory as a “forced step”. On 2 March 2022 UN General Assembly resolution ES-11/1, adopted by 141 votes to 5 with 35 abstentions, deplored the involvement of Belarus in the unlawful use of force against Ukraine. Russia calls its war a “special military operation”. On 26 February 2023 BYPOL claimed a drone attack on a Russian A-50 at Machulishchy; an article on the ministry’s portal in April 2023 referred to arrests of people it linked to Ukrainian special services. In August and September 2024 Belarusian officials said air defence had destroyed aerial targets entering from Ukraine, and on 10 September 2025 the General Staff said it had warned Poland and Lithuania of drones heading their way. Resultaat Ongoing. The UN General Assembly deplored Belarus’s involvement on 2 March 2022; Belarus says it is not a party to the war. Russian use of Belarusian bases rests on satellite imagery and press reports cited by Wikipedia, not on a Belarusian government statement. Belarusian claims of drones destroyed were not independently verified, and Ukraine’s response to them was not retrieved. No current dispositions are given here.
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Niets komt overeen met die zoekopdracht.
Elk cijfer, gecontroleerd
- Ministerie van Defensie van Wit-Rusland: ВВС и войска ПВО — ИсторияDe geschiedenis van de luchtverdediging begint in 1941 (5e Luchtverdedigingsdivisie, Koebjesjev); het 1e Luchtleger werd in mei 1942 gevormd uit luchtmachteenheden van het Westfront en in 1949 hernoemd tot 26e Luchtleger; het 2e Onafhankelijke Luchtverdedigingsleger werd op 30 juni 1960 opgericht en ontving de Orde van de Rode Banier in 1974; de Luchtmacht werd in 1992 gevormd uit het 26e Luchtleger; de samengevoegde dienst werd in 2001 opgericht; de luchtmacht claimt in de Tweede Wereldoorlog 300.000 sorties, meer dan 5.000 vernietigde vliegtuigen en 3.000 vernietigde tanks, en meer dan 160 Helden van de Sovjet-Unie (waarvan 18 tweemaal).
- Ministerie van Defensie van Belarus: laatste fase van oefening Union Resolve-2022 (19 februari 2022)Kop en fragment gevonden via de zoekfunctie van mil.by op 30 september 2026; de artikelpagina zelf kon niet worden geladen tijdens dit onderzoek. Gezamenlijke Russisch-Wit-Russische oefening met luchtmacht op het Obuz-Lesnovsky oefenterrein.
- Ministerie van Defensie van Belarus: de president over de vernietiging van luchtdoelen vanuit Oekraïne (10 augustus 2024)Kop en fragment gelezen via de zoekfunctie van mil.by op 30 september 2026; de artikelpagina zelf kon niet worden geladen tijdens dit onderzoek. Lukashenko: om 18:10 uur de vorige dag werden de luchtmacht en de luchtverdediging in verhoogde staat van paraatheid gebracht.
- Ministerie van Defensie van Belarus: Briefing van de minister van Defensie (10 augustus 2024)Kop en fragment gelezen via de zoekfunctie van mil.by op 30 september 2026; de artikelpagina zelf kon niet worden geladen voor dit onderzoek. Een deel van de luchtvaartuigen vernietigd; de rest bevond zich buiten het bereik van de luchtverdediging.
- Ministerie van Defensie van Belarus: verklaring van kolonel Sergei Frolov over een schending van de staatsgrens (5 september 2024)Kop en fragment gelezen via de zoekfunctie van mil.by op 30 september 2026; de artikelpagina zelf kon niet worden geladen voor dit onderzoek. Alle indringende doelen vernietigd door de luchtverdedigingstroepen, aldus de verklaring.
- Ministerie van Defensie van Belarus: verklaring van de chef van de generale staf (10 september 2025)Kop en fragment gelezen via de zoekfunctie van mil.by op 30 september 2026; de artikelpagina zelf kon niet worden geladen voor dit onderzoek. Belarus gaf lucht- en radarinformatie door aan de alarmerende strijdkrachten van Polen en Litouwen, waarin ze werden gewaarschuwd voor naderende onbekende drones.
- Ministerie van Defensie van Belarus (afdeling bso): Officiersclub in Rossony (17 april 2023)Kop en fragment gevonden via de zoekfunctie van mil.by op 30 september 2026; de artikelpagina zelf kon niet worden geladen tijdens dit onderzoek. Verwijst naar een incident op een vliegveld en naar de arrestatie van personen die in verband worden gebracht met de Oekraïense geheime diensten.
- Kanselarij van de premier van Polen: Polen wil artikel 4 van het NAVO-verdrag inroepen (10 september 2025)Vannacht 19 schendingen van het luchtruim door Russische drones; drones die een directe bedreiging vormden, zijn neergehaald. Deze gegevens zijn afkomstig uit de Poolse dataset 'Order of Battle' van dit project en zijn niet opnieuw opgevraagd voor deze pagina.
- EUR-Lex: Uitvoeringsverordening (EU) 2021/997 van de Raad van 21 juni 2021 (Beperkende maatregelen voor Belarus)Inschrijvingen 160-163: Minister van Defensie Khrenin, commandant van de luchtmacht en luchtverdediging Ihar Holub en chef van de generale staf Andrei Gurtsevich staan vermeld voor het sturen van militaire vliegtuigen om FR4978 te "escorteren" op 23 mei 2021; directeur van Belaeronavigatsia Leanid Churo.
Cijfers geverifieerd op 30-09-2026. Back to the Air Force and Air Defence Forces of the Republic of Belarus.