Kant Air Base (russian: Авиабаза Кант ''Aviabaza Kant'') 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 ...
in
Ysyk-Ata District
Ysyk-Ata District ( ky, Ысык-Ата району, russian: Ысык–Атинский район) is one of the eight districts of the Chüy Region in northern Kyrgyzstan with an area of . The district's resident population was 154,340 in ...
of
Chüy Region
Chüy Region ( ky, Чүй облусу, Chüy oblusu; russian: Чуйская область, Chuyskaya oblast) is the northernmost region (''oblast'') of the Kyrgyz Republic. This region surrounds the national capital of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek. It ...
in
Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the east. ...
. It is located just south of
Kant
Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German Philosophy, philosopher and one of the central Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemolo ...
, around 20 km east of
Bishkek
Bishkek ( ky, Бишкек), ), formerly Pishpek and Frunze, is the capital and largest city of Kyrgyzstan. Bishkek is also the administrative centre of the Chüy Region. The region surrounds the city, although the city itself is not part of ...
and is home to the Russian Air Force's 999th Air Base.
History
The history of the airfield in Kant goes back to
1941
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
January
* January–August – 10,072 men, women and children with mental and physical disabilities are asphyxiated with carbon monoxide in a gas chamber, at Hadamar Eu ...
, when the Odessa Military Aviation School of Pilots was evacuated to Kyrgyzstan. The School had been formed by an order of the
People's Commissar of Defence of the USSR dated February 23, 1941. After
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...
, the German invasion of the Soviet Union beginning on June 22, 1941, the school stopped training sessions, and its cadets began to perform combat missions on
I-15 aircraft to cover Odessa from air strikes by the Nazi German
Luftwaffe
The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...
. In July 1941, the aviation school moved to
Stalingrad
Volgograd ( rus, Волгогра́д, a=ru-Volgograd.ogg, p=vəɫɡɐˈɡrat), geographical renaming, formerly Tsaritsyn (russian: Цари́цын, Tsarítsyn, label=none; ) (1589–1925), and Stalingrad (russian: Сталингра́д, Stal ...
, and then to the suburbs of the city
Frunze, where military pilots were trained for the front. During the war years, 1507 pilots were trained at the aviation school, 7 of which were awarded the title
Hero of the Soviet Union
The title Hero of the Soviet Union (russian: Герой Советского Союза, translit=Geroy Sovietskogo Soyuza) was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded together with the Order of Lenin personally or collectively for ...
.
[ (CC BY 4.0).]
Subsequently, in
1947
It was the first year of the Cold War, which would last until 1991, ending with the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Events
January
* January–February – Winter of 1946–47 in the United Kingdom: The worst snowfall in the country in ...
, the school in Kyrgyzstan was renamed the
Frunze Military Aviation School for Pilots of the USSR Air Force.
A training
Aviation Regiment was formed in 1951.
From 1956, the school also trained foreign pilots. Among its graduates were
Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
ian former president
Hosni Mubarak
Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak, (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011.
Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in t ...
and the late
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
n president
Hafez al-Assad
Hafez al-Assad ', , (, 6 October 1930 – 10 June 2000) was a Syrian statesman and military officer who served as President of Syria from taking power in 1971 until his death in 2000. He was also Prime Minister of Syria from 1970 to 1 ...
, as well as
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
's Air Chief Marshal
Dilbagh Singh
Air Chief Marshal Dilbagh Singh, PVSM, AVSM, VM (10 March 1926 – 9 February 2001) was the head of the Indian Air Force from 1981 to 1984, as Chief of the Air Staff. He was the second Sikh to hold that position.
Dilbagh Singh was commissio ...
, and South Yemen Brigadier Pilot Shakib Khobani.
In 1992, following the
dissolution of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...
, control of the air base was transferred to Kyrgyzstan.
Present-day Russian base
In accordance with a bilateral agreement between Russia and Kyrgyzstan signed on 22 September 2003, the air base hosts
Russian Air Force
" Air March"
, mascot =
, anniversaries = 12 August
, equipment =
, equipment_label =
, battles =
, decorations =
, bat ...
units. The official opening took place on 23 October 2003, making the facility the first new air base Russia opened abroad since 1991. The unit stationed there has been described as
Russian Air Force
" Air March"
, mascot =
, anniversaries = 12 August
, equipment =
, equipment_label =
, battles =
, decorations =
, bat ...
's
5th Air and Air Defence Forces Army
The 5th Army of VVS and PVO (''5-я Краснознамённая армия военно-воздушных сил и противовоздушной обороны'') was the Russian Air Force's smallest Air Army, with the headquarters located ...
's 999th Air Base.
In December 2012, Kyrgyzstan agreed to lease the base to Russia for fifteen years (with an option for an automatic extension for an additional five years) after the Russian government agreed to reduce Kyrgyz debt by $500 million.
[Olga Dzyubenko]
U.S. vacates base in Central Asia as Russia's clout rises
Reuters (June 3, 2014).
References
External links
*
* [https://function.mil.ru/news_page/country/more.htm?id=12320901@egNews В Киргизии отметили годовщину со дня образования объединенной российской военной базы «Кант»]
Справка о базе на сайте посольства России в КиргизииЛичному составу российской авиабазы «Кант» (Киргизия) придан статус неприкосновенностиКыргызская авиабаза «Кант» будет аэродром «подскока» для стратегической авиации РоссииСоглашение между Российской Федерацией и Киргизской Республикой о статусе и условиях пребывания объединенной российской военной базы на территории Киргизской Республики
{{authority control
Airports in Kyrgyzstan
Russian Air Force bases
Soviet Air Force bases
Chüy Region
Soviet Air Forces education and training
Military installations of Russia in other countries
Military airbases established in 1941