Olenya (air base)

Olenya
IATA: none – ICAO: XLMO
Summary
Airport type		Military Northern Fleet
Operator		Russian Navy
Location		Olenegorsk, Murmansk Oblast
Elevation AMSL		702 ft / 214 m
Coordinates		68°09′06″N 033°28′12″E / 68.15167°N 33.47°E / 68.15167; 33.47Coordinates: 68°09′06″N 033°28′12″E / 68.15167°N 33.47°E / 68.15167; 33.47
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. The base and its staff settlement (known as Vysokiy; Russian: Высокий) 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 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.

Military operations

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

• 924 MRAP (924th Naval Reconnaissance Air Regiment), operating Tupolev Tu-22M 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
• 458th IAP, MIG-31BM

References

1. ^ "Aviatsiya VMF". Aviabaza KPOI.. http://airbase.ru/squad/russia/sea/.