Category:PACT aircraft

This category applies to the aircraft of the Warsaw Pact, a diplomatic alliance established by the Soviet Union and its satellites in 1955 in response to the integration of West Germany into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, known as NATO. The Warsaw Pact made use of technology primarily developed by the Soviets, although the other nations built many designs under license and made domestic modifications to suit their needs. It never confronted NATO directly, but its units were measured up to those of NATO through proxy wars. Their aerial strategy was developed to contest NATO air supremacy over a war in Western Europe, countering carrier strike groups and escorting Soviet heavy bombers to strike NATO infrastructure. The Warsaw Pact began experiencing significant internal unrest in 1989 with the Polish solidarity movement, with East Germany withdrawing and reunifying into Germany in 1990, and the Pact formally dissolved on February 25, 1991.