Chuguyevka (russian: Чугуевка) is a military

air base An air base (sometimes referred to as a military air base, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base) is an aerodrome used as a military base by a military force for the operation ...

of the Russian Air Force in

Primorsky Krai Primorsky Krai (russian: Приморский край, r=Primorsky kray, p=prʲɪˈmorskʲɪj kraj), informally known as Primorye (, ), is a federal subject (a krai) of Russia, located in the Far East region of the country and is a part of t ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. It is located in

Chuguyevsky District Chuguyevsky District (russian: Чугу́евский райо́н) is an administrativeLaw #161-KZ and municipalLaw #147-KZ district (raion), one of the twenty-two in Primorsky Krai, Russia. It is located in the center of the krai. The area of ...

, near the towns of Chuguyevka and Bulyga-Fadeyevo, north-east of

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, c ...

. Chuguyevka Air Base's was built by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

with the primary objective of scrambling aircraft against Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird flights over Vladivostok. The primary operator of the base was the 530th Fighter Aviation Regiment (530 IAP) of the

11th Independent Air Defence Army 11 (eleven) is the natural number following 10 and preceding 12. It is the first repdigit. In English, it is the smallest positive integer whose name has three syllables. Name "Eleven" derives from the Old English ', which is first attested i ...

(11 OA PVO) of the

Soviet Air Defence Forces The Soviet Air Defence Forces (russian: войска ПВО, ''voyska protivovozdushnoy oborony'', ''voyska PVO'', ''V-PVO'', lit. ''Anti-Air Defence Troops''; and formerly ''protivovozdushnaya oborona strany'', ''PVO strany'', lit. ''Anti-Air De ...

. The base was also written in various references as Chuguevka, Sandagou, Sikharovka (erroneous), Sakharovka (erroneous), Sokolovka, and Bulyga-Fadeyevo. During the 1960s, Chuguyevka housed

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-17; NATO reporting name: Fresco) is a high-subsonic fighter aircraft produced in the Soviet Union from 1952 and was operated by air forces internationally. The MiG-17 ...

(NATO: Fresco) aircraft, and by 1972 a CIA analysis listed 43 MiG-17 Fresco interceptors and 10 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15UTI NATO: Midget) trainers operating at this airfield.OAK SUPPLEMENT PART 8 KH-9 MISSION 1204 11 OCTOBER - 17 DECEMBER 1972
(TOP SECRET), CIA-RDP78T04752A000100010005-1, Central Intelligence Agency, January 1, 1973. By the 1970s as SR-71 flights became an issue of concern, the base was assigned 36 new Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25P (NATO: Foxbat) planes. In September 1976, Chuguyevka Air Base rose to prominence when Viktor Belenko, a MiG-25 pilot stationed at the base, Defection of Viktor Belenko, defected to the United States by flying to

Hakodate is a city and port located in Oshima Subprefecture, Hokkaido, Japan. It is the capital city of Oshima Subprefecture. As of July 31, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 279,851 with 143,221 households, and a population density of 412.8 ...

, Japan. This incident was a major security breach for the Soviet Union, and one of the most publicized defections of the Cold War. Since the 1990s, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Chuguyevka Air Base has been operated by the Russian Air Force, and MiG-25s were phased out as the primary aircraft and replaced with

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-31 The Mikoyan MiG-31 (russian: link=no, Микоян МиГ-31; NATO reporting name: Foxhound) is a supersonic interceptor aircraft that was developed for use by the Soviet Air Forces. The aircraft was designed by the Mikoyan design bureau as a ...

References

RussianAirFields.com
Russian Air Force bases Soviet Air Force bases Soviet Air Defence Force bases {{Russia-mil-stub