Akhtubinsk is a town in Astrakhan Oblast

Astrakhan Oblast

Astrakhan Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Astrakhan.-Demographics:Population: Ethnic groups...

, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, located on the left bank of the Akhtuba River

Akhtuba River

The Akhtuba River ; also transliterated Achtuba on some maps)is a left distributary of the Volga River.The Akhtuba splits off the Volga above the city Volgograd , and flows towardthe Volga Delta and Caspian Sea....

 (a tributary

Tributary

A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...

 of the Volga

Volga River

The Volga is the largest river in Europe in terms of length, discharge, and watershed. It flows through central Russia, and is widely viewed as the national river of Russia. Out of the twenty largest cities of Russia, eleven, including the capital Moscow, are situated in the Volga's drainage...

), 292 kilometres (181.4 mi) north of Astrakhan

Astrakhan

Astrakhan is a major city in southern European Russia and the administrative center of Astrakhan Oblast. The city lies on the left bank of the Volga River, close to where it discharges into the Caspian Sea at an altitude of below the sea level. Population:...

. Population: 45,542 (2002 Census

Russian Census (2002)

Russian Census of 2002 was the first census of the Russian Federation carried out on October 9 through October 16, 2002. It was carried out by the Russian Federal Service of State Statistics .-Resident population:...

); 30,000 (1968).

Akhtubinsk was founded in 1959 by the merger of three settlements: Vladimirovka, Petropavlovskoye, and Akhtuba.

Railway stations Vladimirovka and Akhtuba on the Volgograd - Verkhny Baskunchak railway branch, terminal station Vladimirovskaya Quay. Cargo port on the Akhtuba River, military airbase. Automobile road Volgograd-Astrakhan.

Ship building and repair plant, milk factory, meat factory, bakery, mineral water plant.

Akhtubinsk is the transfer point for Bassol, the industrial complex which extracts salt from Baskunchak

Baskunchak

Lake Baskunchak is a salt lake of 115 km² in Astrakhan Oblast, Russia, located at , about 270 km north of the Caspian Sea, and 53 km east of the Volga. Since 1997 the area is strictly protected as nature reserve....

 salt-lake.

Military test centers

In Akhtubinsk, the 929 GLITs VVS named after Valery Chkalov

Valery Chkalov

Valery Pavlovich Chkalov was a Russian aircraft test pilot and a Hero of the Soviet Union .-Early life:...

 is located - a State Flight Testing Center. A previous name for the centre was the R&D Institute of the Air Force (NII VVS).

• 21 September 1920: Scientific-experimental airfield at the Main Agency of Workers' and Peasants' Red Air Fleet (Научно-опытный аэродром (НОА) при ГУ РККВФ)
• 6 October 1922 (24 October 1924): Scientific-experimental airfield of the Air Force of the USSR (Научно-опытный аэродром ВВС СССР)
• 12 (26) October 1926: R&D Institute of the Air Force of Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (НИИ ВВС РККА)
• 1 June 1944 (1 May 1944): The State Red-Banner R&D Institute of the Air Force (Государственный Краснознаменный (ГК) НИИ ВВС)
• 1965: The State R&D Institute, Red-Banner awarded, of the Air Force (ГНИКИ ВВС)
• 1967: The 8th State R&D Institute of the Air Force named after V.P. Chkalov
  Valery Chkalov
  Valery Pavlovich Chkalov was a Russian aircraft test pilot and a Hero of the Soviet Union .-Early life:...
  
   (8 ГНИИ ВВС им.Чкалова)
• 1990: The State Flight and Test Center of the Ministry of Defense of Russian Federation named after V.P. Chkalov (:ru:Государственный лётно-испытательный центр Министерства обороны имени В. П. Чкалова).

In addition to the 929 GLITS, to the north of the city, there is the Groshevo (Vladimirovka) military testing range.