Olenya (air base)
Encyclopedia
Reconnaissance
Reconnaissance is the military term for exploring beyond the area occupied by friendly forces to gain information about enemy forces or features of the environment....
base, located on the Kola Peninsula
Kola Peninsula
The Kola Peninsula is a peninsula in the far northwest of Russia. Constituting the bulk of the territory of Murmansk Oblast, it lies almost completely to the north of the Arctic Circle and is washed by the Barents Sea in the north and the White Sea in the east and southeast...
92 km south of Murmansk
Murmansk
Murmansk is a city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast, Russia. It serves as a seaport and is located in the extreme northwest part of Russia, on the Kola Bay, from the Barents Sea on the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula, not far from Russia's borders with Norway and Finland...
. The base and its staff settlement (known as Vysokiy; ) across the Lake Permusozero from the city of Olenegorsk, and are served by the Olenegorsk rail station (formerly, Olenya station).
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
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
era it has served as a forward deployment field for the Russian Air Force
Russian Air Force
The Russian Air Force is the air force of Russian Military. It is currently under the command of Colonel General Aleksandr Zelin. The Russian Navy has its own air arm, the Russian Naval Aviation, which is the former Soviet Aviatsiya Voyenno Morskogo Flota , or AV-MF).The Air Force was formed from...
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
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
to Havana
Havana
Havana is the capital city, province, major port, and leading commercial centre of Cuba. The city proper has a population of 2.1 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of — making it the largest city in the Caribbean region, and the most populous...
Tupolev Tu-114
Tupolev Tu-114
The Tupolev Tu-114 Rossiya is a turboprop-powered long-range airliner designed by the Tupolev design bureau and built in the USSR from May 1955....
route. As of 2006, Google Earth
Google Earth
Google Earth is a virtual globe, map and geographical information program that was originally called EarthViewer 3D, and was created by Keyhole, Inc, a Central Intelligence Agency funded company acquired by Google in 2004 . It maps the Earth by the superimposition of images obtained from satellite...
imagery showed nearly 40 Tupolev Tu-22M
Tupolev Tu-22M
The Tupolev Tu-22M is a supersonic, swing-wing, long-range strategic and maritime strike bomber developed by the Soviet Union. Significant numbers remain in service with the Russian Air Force....
bombers on the airfield.
Military operations
Units stationed at the airfield since the 1990s include:- 924 MRAP (924th Naval Reconnaissance Air Regiment), operating Tupolev Tu-22MTupolev Tu-22MThe Tupolev Tu-22M is a supersonic, swing-wing, long-range strategic and maritime strike bomber developed by the Soviet Union. Significant numbers remain in service with the Russian Air Force....
aircraft - 967 ODRAP (967th Long Range Air Reconnaissance Regiment), operating Tupolev Tu-22MTupolev Tu-22MThe Tupolev Tu-22M is a supersonic, swing-wing, long-range strategic and maritime strike bomber developed by the Soviet Union. Significant numbers remain in service with the Russian Air Force....
aircraft - 88 OMAPIB (88th Separate Fighter Bomber Regiment), operating MiG-27 aircraft
- OGA (Arctic Control Group), maintaining standby facilities for Tupolev Tu-95Tupolev Tu-95The Tupolev Tu-95 is a large, four-engine turboprop-powered strategic bomber and missile platform. First flown in 1952, the Tu-95 entered service with the former Soviet Union in 1956 and is expected to serve the Russian Air Force until at least 2040...
bomber aircraft - 458th IAP, MIG-31BM