Smolensk North Airport (russian: военный аэродром "Смоленск-Северный", "Smolensk North Military Aerodrome") is a decommissioned

military airbase 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 ...

Smolensk Oblast Smolensk Oblast (russian: Смоле́нская о́бласть, ''Smolenskaya oblast''; informal name — ''Smolenschina'' (russian: Смоле́нщина)) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative centre is the city of ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, located 4 km north of the city of

Smolensk Smolensk ( rus, Смоленск, p=smɐˈlʲensk, a=smolensk_ru.ogg) is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest c ...

. It is now used as Smolensk's sole airport for civil and military flights. It has a remote

revetment A revetment in stream restoration, river engineering or coastal engineering is a facing of impact-resistant material (such as stone, concrete, sandbags, or wooden piles) applied to a bank or wall in order to absorb the energy of incoming water ...

area with 8 pads and a

Yakovlev The JSC A.S. Yakovlev Design Bureau (russian: ОАО Опытно-конструкторское бюро им. А.С. Яковлева) is a Russian aircraft designer and manufacturer (design office prefix Yak). Its head office is in Aeroport D ...

factory at the southeast side of the airfield, the

Smolensk Aviation Plant The Smolensk Aviation Plant (SmAZ) is a Russian aircraft production and servicing company. Founded in 1926, since 1993 it has been a Joint stock company. History The facility was founded in 1926 as "Aviation Repair Plant No.3", in 1928 it was r ...

. The airport was originally built in the 1920s, and it eventually became a class 1 airfield with a runway 2500 m long and 49 m wide, capable of handling planes over 75 tons in weight. Prior to 1991, it was home to the 401 IAP (401st Interceptor Aviation Regiment, disbanded around 1990), flying

MiG-23 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-23; NATO reporting name: Flogger) is a variable-geometry fighter aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau in the Soviet Union. It is a third-generatio ...

P aircraft, and the 871 IAP, flying MiG-23 and

Su-27 The Sukhoi Su-27 (russian: Сухой Су-27; NATO reporting name: Flanker) is a Soviet-origin twin-engine supermaneuverable fighter aircraft designed by Sukhoi. It was intended as a direct competitor for the large US fourth-generation jet ...

. From 1946 until 2009, the base hosted an airlift unit, the 103 Gv VTAP (''103rd Guards Military Air Transport Regiment'', full name in Russian: ), flying

Ilyushin Il-76 The Ilyushin Il-76 (russian: Илью́шин Ил-76; NATO reporting name: Candid) is a multi-purpose, fixed-wing, four-engine turbofan strategic airlifter designed by the Soviet Union's Ilyushin design bureau. It was first planned as a comm ...

jets. At one point, about 28 Il-76 aircraft were based there. The regiment was disbanded in late 2009, and since then there have been no active units at the base except for a small airbase command post. The airfield has been functioning in part as a civilian airport since October 2009. On August 15, 2014, by order of the Government of the Russian Federation, the airfield was transferred from the state to the experimental one and under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation. (In fact, the transfer of the airfield began in 2019). Soviet-built radar in Azerbaijani

Accidents and incidents

A Polish government Tu-154M Lux carrying

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Lech Kaczyński Lech Aleksander Kaczyński (; 18 June 194910 April 2010) was a Polish politician who served as the city mayor of Warsaw from 2002 until 2005, and as President of Poland from 2005 until his death in 2010. Before his tenure as president, he prev ...

, his wife, and an official delegation crashed during the final approach to the airport on 10 April 2010. All 96 aboard perished.Golloher, Jessica (10 April 2010)
Polish President, 95 Others Killed in Plane Crash
, ''

VOA News Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is the state-owned news network and international radio broadcaster of the United States of America. It is the largest and oldest U.S.-funded international broadcaster. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content ...

'', 10 April 2010, Retrieved April 10, 2010

References

External links

History of the 103rd Guards Military Transport Aviation Regiment
accessed 7 June 2010 {{authority control Soviet Air Force bases Soviet Military Transport Aviation

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 ...

Soviet Air Defence Force bases Russian Air Force bases Smolensk air disaster Airports in Smolensk Oblast