"Since the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russian's air strength has declined from some 13,000 aircraft to no more than 2,000 aircraft today. This paper offers a status report on the overall conditions and vector of Russian air power at the beginning of the 21st century. It begins with an overview of the organizational changes that were occasioned by the merger in 1998 of the former Soviet Air Force (Voenno-vozdushnye sily, or VVS) and Russia's separate and independent Air Defense Forces (Voiska protivivozdushnoi oborony, or VPVO). The paper examines trends in force development and modernization, followed by overviews of evolving doctrine and concepts of operations and day-to-day training at the unit level. It also offers highlights of air combat activity during Moscow's second war in Chechnya. The paper concludes with some thoughts on why any serious consideration of possible NATO cooperative operational ventures with the VVS would be premature at this time."--Rand abstracts.