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 APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200070015-2

1. Organization

The headquarters of the Air Forces and Air Defense Command is at Eggendorf. The commander's staff includes a first deputy, who is also Chief of Staff; a deputy for political matters, who is also chief of the political department; a deputy for logistics and support, who is also Chief of the Rear Services; a deputy for the air forces; and a deputy for air defense.

The deputy for the air forces concerns himself with plans, flight instruction, maintenance, research and development, transports and helicopters, and the direction of activities relating to air matters in the Society for Sport and Technology.

The deputy for air defense is administratively responsible for SAM units, AAA batteries, and ACW radar units.

As is the case of other non-Soviet Warsaw Pact nations, the entire country is an air defense district. Air defense district headquarters for the national air forces are at Strausberg/Eggendorf. Air defense district headquarters for the Group of Soviet Forces, Germany (GSFG), are at Wurnsdorf. Operations are closely coordinated between these two headquarters, each having specific areas of responsibility.

Within the air defense district for the national air forces are two air defense zones and two air defense sectors. Zone headquarters coordinate operations of aircraft, SAM, AAA, and ACW radar, and sector headquarters provide air surveillance and filtered warning information. Early warning data are received from the East German and Soviet radar networks, army field forces radar, observation posts, and passive detection sources.

The largest operational air unit is the air defense division, of which there are two (both were formerly designated as fighter divisions); one division is located in each of the military zones. There is also a training division with headquarters at Kurnenz.

Currently, one air defense division controls two wings, one located at Neubrandenburg, as is the division headquarters, and the other at Peenemunde Airfield. The second air defense division, with headquarters and a fighter wing at Cottbus Airfield, also has wings at Preschen, Marxwalde, and Drewitz Airfields.

Although the organizational strength of the two air defense divisions has remained at six wings, there has been a steady increase in capability in performing both air defense and ground support functions.

Other operational units include a transport unit at Marxwalde, a transport squadron at Dresden, a helicopter unit at Brandenburg/Briest, and SAM, AAA, and ACW radar regiments.

2. Strength, composition, and disposition

Personnel strength of the Air Forces and Air Defense Command is 19,500. In the aviation component there are 12,000 men, of whom slightly over 600 are pilots in operational units. Personnel in SAM units number about 4,700, and the ACW radar units have about 2,600. (In the GSFG, air personnel number about 32,700, and there are more than 10,000 SAM and ACW radar personnel.)

Elements of the two air defense divisions are located at six airfields on a north-south line fairly close to the Polish border. As of April 1973, there were 390 aircraft in operational units: 320 jet fighters, 30 transports, and 40 helicopters. Of the air forces fighter inventory, 90% is made up of the FISHBED (MiG-21), making East Germany foremost among Eastern European Communist countries in percentage of this type of aircraft. Almost 100% of these are the all-weather FISHBED D/F and J-export models.

As of April 1973, Soviet aircraft in East Germany totaled 982; 400 were all-weather jet fighters; 378 of which were FISHBED models (D/F, K, and J). Air elements consist of nine fighter regiments comprising three air divisions headquartered at Zerbst, Merseburg, and Putnitz. Main operating bases of the fighter regiments are Zerbst, Alt Lunnewitz, Juteborg, Putnitz, Kothen, Finow, Altenburg, Merseburg, and Wittstock. In addition, there are six attack fighter/bomber (FITTER, FRESCO A, B, C) regiments of two divisions headquartered at Grossenhain and Rechlin, and three reconnaissance regiments (BEAGLE, BREWER, and FISHBED II) with main operating bases at Allstedt, Welzow, and Werneuchen.

Hardened hangarette construction began in East Germany in 1968 at the Soviet Air Force airfields, but it was not until 1972 that hangarette construction began at the East German Air Force bases.

East German-manned SAM forces, equipped with the Soviet-manufactured high-altitude SA-2 missile system, are disposed in the northern and southeastern parts of the country. These forces are organized into seven SAM regiments consisting of 20 battalions. A battalion mans one site and is one fire unit. The GSFG has nine SA-2 SAM regiments consisting of 27 battalions and, together with the

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APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200070015-2