Olenya

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Olenya
IATA: - ICAO:
Summary
Airport type Military
Operator Russian Navy
Serves Olenegorsk
Elevation AMSL 702 ft (214 m)
Coordinates 68°09′06″N, 033°28′12″E
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
18/36 11,483 3,500 Concrete

Olenya (also Olenegorsk) is a major Russian Navy reconnaissance base, located on the Kola Peninsula 92 km south of Murmansk. Olenya serves as the headquarters for 5 MRAD (Naval Reconnaissance Air Division) and is host to two reconnaissance regiments. Its 3500 meter runway is the longest on the Kola Peninsula, making it a key facility for intercontinental flights across the North Atlantic basin. Since the Cold War era it has served as a forward deployment field for the Russian Air Force and would have been a staging facility for nuclear strikes on the United States. During the 1960s Olenya was used as a refueling stop on the Moscow to Havana Tupolev Tu-114 route. As of 2006, Google Earth imagery showed nearly 40 Tupolev Tu-22M bombers on the airfield.

[edit] Military operations

Units stationed at the airfield since the 1990s include:[1]

  • 924 MRAP (924th Naval Reconnaissance Air Regiment), operating Tupolev Tu-22M and Tupolev Tu-16 aircraft
  • 967 ODRAP (967th Long Range Air Reconnaissance Regiment), operating Tupolev Tu-22M aircraft
  • 88 OMAPIB (88th Separate Fighter Bomber Regiment), operating MiG-27 aircraft
  • OGA (Arctic Control Group), maintaining standby facilities for Tupolev Tu-95 bomber aircraft

[edit] References

  1. ^ Aviatsiya VMF. Aviabaza KPOI..