- Kant Air Base
Infobox Airport
name = Kant
nativename =
nativename-a =
nativename-r =
image-width =
caption =
IATA =
ICAO =
type = Military
owner =
operator =Russian Air Force
city-served =
location = Kant, Kyrgyzstan
elevation-f =
elevation-m =
coordinates = coord|42|51|20|N|74|51|01|E|scale:20000_region:KG_type:airport|display=inline,title
website =
metric-elev =
metric-rwy =
r1-number =
r1-length-f =
r1-length-m =
r1-surface =
stat-year =
stat1-header =
stat1-data =
stat2-header =
stat2-data =
footnotes = Kant Air Base ( _ru. Авиабаза Кант "Aviabaza Kant") is a military air base inYsyk-Ata District ofChuy Oblast ,Kyrgyzstan . It is located just south of the city of Kant, some 20 km east of downtownBishkek .History
In
1941 , aSoviet Air Force base and pilot training school were set up near the city of Kant, based on a school evacuated fromOdessa .DuringWWII , 1507 military pilots were trained there. Since 1956, the school trained foreign pilots; among its graduates were both theEgypt ian presidentHosni Mubarak and the lateSyria n presidentHafez al-Assad , as well as India's Air Chief Marshal Dilbagh Singh, as well as Brigadir General PilotShakeeb Khobani from Yemen (ADEN).In 1992, the air base was transferred to Kyrgyzstan authorities.
Present-day Russian base
In accordance with a bilateral agreement between Russia and Kyrgyzstan signed on September 22, 2003, the air base hosts
Russian Air Force units. [ [http://www.gov.spb.ru/today?newsid=15279 Санкт-Петербург взял шефство над российской авиационной базой в городе Кант (Киргизская Республика)] ] The official opening took place on October 23, 2003, making the facility the first new air base Russia opened abroad since 1991.The unit stationed there has been described asRussian Air Force 's5th Air Army 's 999th Air Base. [ [http://www.kommersant.ru/doc.aspx?DocsID=766827 "All Russia's Bases"] , Kommersant newspaper. ru icon]References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.