Dolon Southwest was a dispersal bomber base in

Semipalatinsk Semey ( kk, Семей, Semei, سەمەي; cyrl, Семей ), until 2007 known as Semipalatinsk (russian: Семипала́тинск) and in 1917–1920 as Alash-kala ( kk, Алаш-қала, ''Alaş-qala''), is a city in eastern Kazakhst ...

, Kazakhstan, located 43 km south-west of

Dolon (air base) Dolon (also known as Chagan and Semipalitinsk Dolon) is an air base in Semipalatinsk (modern Semey), Kazakhstan, that served as a major Cold War bomber base under the 37th Air Army, Soviet Long Range Aviation. It contains significant tarmac spa ...

. It was part of the Far East command of

Soviet Air Forces The Soviet Air Forces ( rus, Военно-воздушные силы, r=Voyenno-vozdushnyye sily, VVS; literally "Military Air Forces") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Soviet Air Defence Forces. The Air Forces ...

Long Range Aviation Long-Range Aviation ( rus, Авиация Дальнего Действия, r=Aviatsiya dal'nego deystviya, abbr. to AДД, or ADD, and literally ''Aviation of Distant Action'') is a branch of the Russian Aerospace Forces responsible for delive ...

. A

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

document listed the coordinates of the airfield while referencing a 1968 deployment of 21

Tupolev Tu-16 The Tupolev Tu-16 ( NATO reporting name: Badger) is a twin-engined jet strategic heavy bomber used by the Soviet Union. It has been flown for almost 70 years, and the Chinese license-built Xian H-6 remains in service with the People's Liberatio ...

"Badger" bombers, the first deployment of this aircraft at the airfield.BADGER DEPLOYMENT DOLON AIRFIELD SOUTHWEST USSR, October 8, 1968, CIA-RDP78T05929A003300070002, Central Intelligence Agency, Washington, DC.
/ref> Dolon was listed as having eight support buildings, a refueling facility, an

instrument landing In aviation, the instrument landing system (ILS) is a precision radio navigation system that provides short-range guidance to aircraft to allow them to approach a runway at night or in bad weather. In its original form, it allows an aircraft to ...

system, and

ground controlled approach In aviation a ground-controlled approach (GCA), is a type of service provided by air-traffic controllers whereby they guide aircraft to a safe landing, including in adverse weather conditions, based on primary radar images. Most commonly a GCA uses ...

(GCA). Almost no trace remains of the base.

References

Airports in Kazakhstan Former Soviet military air bases in Kazakhstan Military installations closed in the 1990s {{Russia-mil-stub