Vorkuta Sovetsky (air base)

Vorkuta Sovetskiy (also known as Vorkuta East) is a military airfield in the Komi Republic, Russia, located 11 km east of Vorkuta. It was one of nine Air Army staging bases in the Arctic for Russian bomber units.^[1][2] It contains one of the largest runways in Russia's Arctic region.

TypeAir Base

OwnerMinistry of Defence

OperatorRussian Air Force

Coordinates67°27′56″N 64°18′28″E^[1]

Quick facts Site information, Type ...

Vorkuta Sovetsky
Vorkuta, Komi Republic in Russia
Tupolev Tu-95 bomber in 2011.
Site information
Type	Air Base
Owner	Ministry of Defence
Operator	Russian Air Force
Location
Vorkuta Sovetsky Shown within Komi Republic Show map of Komi Republic Vorkuta Sovetsky Vorkuta Sovetsky (Russia) Show map of Russia
Coordinates	67°27′56″N 64°18′28″E[1]
Site history
Built	1960 (1960)
In use	1960 - present
Airfield information
Identifiers	ICAO: XUYK
Elevation	192 metres (630 ft) AMSL
Runways Direction Length and surface 01/19 3,550 metres (11,647 ft) Concrete

Close

Sovetskiy was built in the early 1960s as a staging base for intercontinental Long-Range Aviation bomber strikes (as a so-called 'bounce' airdrome). The airfield was first identified by Western intelligence in 1961.^[3] It is maintained by OGA (Arctic Control Group). The 364 OSAE (364h Independent Mixed Aviation Squadron) was based here between 1980 and 1994 with the Antonov An-12 (NATO: Cub), Antonov An-26 (NATO: Curl) and Mil Mi-8 (NATO: Hip).^[4]