Olenya airfield, located in Russia, is used for the departure of military aircraft that bomb Ukraine.
What is known about the Olenya airfield, what is the distance from it to Ukraine and Kyiv – read in the ICTV Facts material.
What is known about Olenya airfield
Deer– long-range aviation airfield, located on the Kola Peninsula, 92 km south of Murmansk, near the city of Olenegorsk.
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The airfield was built in the mid-1950s on the western gentle slope of a hill at an altitude of about 200 m. The surrounding area is mountainous. The height of the flight circle is 700 m. The runway has the shape of a saddle. Initially, it did not have end or side safety strips, and the ground between the concrete surface of the airfield was covered with boulders.
In 1957, the newly formed 34th separate heavy bomber special purpose aviation squadron arrived at Olenya airfield. Its task was weather reconnaissance and practical research into the characteristics of flights at high latitudes. The composition included 10 Tu-16 aircraft and one Mi-4 helicopter.
From September 1957 until the end of 1962, the special group of the 71st Air Force test site (Bagerovo airfield) began to be located at the Olenya airfield and conduct aerial nuclear tests, and other aviation units were also based.
October 30, 1961, a Tu-95B plane took off from the Olenya airfield, carrying a thermonuclear bomb with a yield of 57 megatons for special tests.
On August 2, 1962, the crew, taking off from the Olenya airfield, carried out a real launch of a K-10S cruise missile with a nuclear warhead at a target on Novaya Zemlya.
In 1990, a separate naval aviation regiment of fighter-bombers, armed with MiG-27 and MiG-23 aircraft, flew to the airfield.
Screenshot from uk.wikipedia.org
What aircraft are based at the Olenya airbase
Since the beginning of the war, the Olenya airbase is often used by Russia to launch missile attacks on the territory of Ukraine.
According to Monitoring, as of February 7, 2024 (date of the image) there were:
at the airfield
- 10 Tu-95ms (the picture shows 8.2 units in the air during satellite photography);
- 35 Tu-22m3 (30 of which are donors, not used for a long time);
- 4 An-12;
- 4 Mi-8;
- 1 IL-76/78;
- 1 Tu-134UBL/UBK.
Satellite data/t.me/monitorwarr
Where is the Olenya airfield and what is the distance to Ukraine
Olenya Air Base is located on the Kola Peninsula near the border with Finland. Note that the shortest distance to the Finnish border is about 150 km.
The Russian Olenya airfield is located about 1,788 km from the northern border of Ukraine.
Russia is now moving its largest and most powerful bomber equipment there. In this way, the Russian Federation wants to protect its strategic aircraft Tu-95 and Tu-160, the An-22 transport aircraft and the Tu-22M3 supersonic bomber from attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
As reported by the Barents Observer, the activation of the base took place last year when Ukraine carried out a sensational attack on Engels Air Base, some 600 km from the Ukrainian border, in December. After this, Russia moved equipment from Engels further away from Ukrainian troops.
Despite the distance, strategic bombers regularly take off from Olenya airbase to attack Ukrainian territory. After launching the missiles, they fly for hours back to their base.
