Prior to 1910 Russian interest in aircraft had been limited to observation balloons used by the army.  These balloons had been in use since 1885 when a special airfield was constructed for them.  Balloons were normally used for fortress defense where they could assist in artillery spotting.  One such balloon was used at Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese war.

Following the Russo-Japanese war the Russian army continued to expand its lighter-than-air balloon fleet.  Ten balloon battalions were formed in 1906, and they were increased again the following year.  

The Russian military only began to show serious interest in heavier-than-air flight in 1909 when Louis Bleriot successfully flew across the English Channel.  Among the more influential aircraft advocates was the cousin of the Tsar, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, who helped establish the Department of the Air Fleet in January of 1910.  He would serve as the chairman of the Department which was soon known as the Imperial Russian Air Service.

The first aircraft that the air service would use were Bleriot and Farman aircraft that the Grand Duke purchased using some two million rubles that had been donated during the Russo-Japanese war for the purpose of buying new torpedo boats.  Soon after these aircraft were purchased a group of officers were sent to France for flight training.

Despite resistance by the army, the old army balloon field (Volkov Field) was enlarged in 1911 to accommodate the heavier-than-air aircraft of the new air service.  The army soon opened the Gatchina military flying school 25 miles from St. Petersburg.  Operations on the Gatchina airfield were limited by the severe Russian winters, this lead the Grand Duke to open the Sevastopol School of Aeronautics in the Crimea where operations could be conducted all year long.  These early efforts were small in scale.  The Sevastopol school only operated 8 aircraft when it opened, but the air service would grow rapidly over the next few years.

Filled with growing confidence the Russians held the "First All-Russian Aeronautical Exhibition" in 1911.  A number of foreign aircraft manufacturers attended the event which marked Russia's entry into the international aviation community.

Later that year the Russian army determined that the air service would have to be organized into 10 aerial detachments.  These groups would go into service in 1912.  At first the air service experienced problems with recruiting enough officers to serve as pilots to meet its requirements.  To remedy this the air service allowed non-commissioned officers to join.  In 31 December 1911 a recruiting center known as the Siberian Aeronautics Company was opened in Kiev.  This proved to be highly successful so that a in June 1912 a second recruiting center known as the 7th Aeronautics Company was also opened there.  

By this time the air service had cooperated in several major army exercises, and in July of 1912 it placed under the command of the General Staff.  This assured the new force a permanent place in the Russian military hierarchy.

The air service would push to meet these requirements, but would fail to keep up with the latest in aviation technology.  So even though the Russians would have 250 aircraft by August 1914 (almost the same as Germany) they were mostly older Farmans, Voisins, and Morane-Saulnier types that would be outclassed by those flown by the Central Powers when war broke out.  Even so, the overall front line aviation strength was impressive for a nation that had no heavier-than-air aircraft just a decade before.