Rūdininkai or Rūdninkai airbase is a former Soviet airbase in Lithuania located southwest of

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

and only from the border with

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

. It is surrounded by Rūdininkai Forest, the fifth largest forest in Lithuania. It was part of a larger training complex encompassing about . Bomber pilots from various

Soviet republics The Republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or the Union Republics ( rus, Сою́зные Респу́блики, r=Soyúznye Respúbliki) were national-based administrative units of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( ...

were trained to accurately bombard rows of obsolete military equipment, cars, tanks, even airplanes. Various explosives, usually air-dropped bombs weighing , are still found in the abandoned facility. The largest bomb, detonated in 2007, weighed . Rūdininkai airbase is the largest territory of 222 areas in Lithuania, covering the total of , that are still contaminated by old explosives.

References

Lithuanian airbases Military facilities of the Soviet Union in Lithuania Buildings and structures in Vilnius County Soviet Air Forces education and training {{europe-airport-stub