Soviet Fleet Admiral Kuznetsov and Franklin Roosevelt on the base in
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Saky is an air base adjacent to the settlement of Novofedorivka, Crimea. It was initially built by the Soviet Union in the 1930s, and has been operated under both government of Ukraine, Ukrainian and government of Russia, Russian sovereignty since 1992.
Since 2014, following the start of the
Russo-Ukrainian War
The Russo-Ukrainian War; uk, російсько-українська війна, rosiisko-ukrainska viina. has been ongoing between Russia (alongside Russian separatists in Ukraine) and Ukraine since February 2014. Following Ukraine's Rev ...
and the
annexation of Crimea by Russia, the base has been operated by the
Russian Ministry of Defence
The Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation (russian: Министерство обороны Российской Федерации, Минобороны России, informally abbreviated as МО, МО РФ or Minoboron) is the govern ...
. The base is home of the operating
Sukhoi Su-24M/MR,
Sukhoi Su-30SM and
Tupolev Tu-134
The Tupolev Tu-134 (NATO reporting name: Crusty) is a twin-engined, narrow-body jet airliner built in the Soviet Union for short and medium-haul routes from 1966 to 1989. The original version featured a glazed-nose design and, like certain ot ...
4A-4 aircraft.
It is also the location of the Russian NITKA ("Scientific testing simulator for shipborne aviation") land-based aircraft carrier training and test simulator.
History
Soviet period
The first unpaved airfield was built in 1930s for the
Kachinsky School of Military Pilots.
During the
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
the occupying German forces expanded the airfield and paved the runways, ruins of which are still visible today.
At the time of the
Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference (codenamed Argonaut), also known as the Crimea Conference, held 4–11 February 1945, was the World War II meeting of the heads of government of the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union to discuss the post ...
in February 1944 president
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
's and prime minister
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...
's aircraft landed on the airfield. Later the airfield played an important role in the work of the
Center for Deep Space Communications
The State Space Agency of Ukraine (SSAU; uk, Державне космічне агентство України, ''Derzhavne kosmichne ahentstvo Ukrayiny'', ДКАУ, ''DKAU'') is the Ukrainian government agency responsible for space policy a ...
near
Yevpatoria
Yevpatoria ( uk, Євпаторія, Yevpatoriia; russian: Евпатория, Yevpatoriya; crh, , , gr, Ευπατορία) is a city of regional significance in Western Crimea, north of Kalamita Bay. Yevpatoria serves as the administrativ ...
.
The base was home to the:
*
16th Fighter Aviation Regiment
16 (sixteen) is the natural number following 15 and preceding 17. 16 is a composite number, and a square number, being 42 = 4 × 4. It is the smallest number with exactly five divisors, its proper divisors being , , and .
In English speech, ...
between September 1952 and January 1960
The
Soviet Navy's
Black Sea Fleet used Saky as a major air base. In 1945 the 30th independent Sevastopolskiy Red Banner Maritime Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment arrived, flying
Pe-2
The Petlyakov Pe-2 (russian: Петляков Пе-2) was a Soviet twin-engine dive bomber used during World War II. One of the outstanding tactical attack aircraft of the war,Ethell 1996, p. 152. it also proved successful as a heavy fighter, as ...
s. In the early 1950s four regiments of maritime torpedo aviation were at the bas
In September 1976, the 299th Instructor-Research Shipborne Aviation Regiment (
Military Unit Number
A Military Unit Number (Russian: Войсковая часть) is a numeric alternate designation for military units in the armed forces and internal troops of post-Soviet states, originally used by those of the Soviet Union
The Soviet ...
10535) was formed with
Yakovlev Yak-38
The Yakovlev Yak-38 (russian: Яковлев Як-38; NATO reporting name: "Forger") was the Soviet Naval Aviation's only operational VTOL strike fighter aircraft in addition to being its first operational carrier-based fixed-wing aircraft. It ...
and
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21s. A platform was built for practicing vertical takeoff and landing. A decision was made to build a training complex for carrier-based pilots for aircraft carriers under construction at
Mykolaiv
Mykolaiv ( uk, Миколаїв, ) is a city and municipality in Southern Ukraine, the administrative center of the Mykolaiv Oblast. Mykolaiv city, which provides Ukraine with access to the Black Sea, is the location of the most downriver brid ...
. Thus the base became home for the only Soviet
aircraft carrier shore-based landing, trainer and test site, the NITKA ground-based test and training simulator for carrier operations, with
arresting gear
An arresting gear, or arrestor gear, is a mechanical system used to rapidly decelerate an aircraft as it lands. Arresting gear on aircraft carriers is an essential component of naval aviation, and it is most commonly used on CATOBAR and STOB ...
and a
ski-jump ramp. The ski jump was a full-sized replica of the
bow of the ''
Admiral Kuznetsov''.
In 1982, the carrier-based aviation training complex, part of the 23rd test site, was put into operation.
The
100th Independent Shipborne Fighter Aviation Regiment The 100th Separate Shipborne Fighter Aviation Regiment (100 ''okiap'') (; Military Unit Number 45782) is a fighter regiment of the Russian Naval Aviation, formed in 2015. Based at Severomorsk-3, the regiment is part of the 45th Air and Air Defen ...
was established on 10 March 1986 at Saki. In January 1992 many of the regiment's personnel refused to take the oath of allegiance to Ukraine, and left for Russia, leaving the equipment behind.
The flying unit at the base appears to have been the 1063rd Center for Combat Employment Shipborne Aviation from 1988 to 1992.
After Ukrainian independence
![Russian Naval Aviation aircraft at Novofedorovka airbase](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Russian_Naval_Aviation_aircraft_at_Novofedorovka_airbase.jpg)
Following
Ukrainian independence
Ukraine emerged as the concept of a nation, and the Ukrainians as a nationality, with the Ukrainian National Revival which began in the late 18th and early 19th century. The first wave of national revival is traditionally connected with the publ ...
in 1991, the base continued to be used by the
Russian Navy, and was formally leased by Russia after 1992.
The 299th Regiment, by now designated the
299th Tactical Aviation Brigade
The 299th Tactical Aviation Brigade ''"Lieutenant General Vasyl Nikiforov"'' is a formation of the Ukrainian Air Force based at Kulbakino Air Base. The unit is equipped with Sukhoi Su-25 attack aircraft and is tasked with providing close air suppo ...
flying solely
Sukhoi Su-25s, moved away to
Kulbakino Air Base
Kulbakino is an air base of the Ukrainian Air Force located near Mykolaiv, Mykolaiv Oblast, Ukraine.
The base is home to the 299th Tactical Aviation Brigade flying Sukhoi Su-24M, Sukhoi Su-25, Aero L-39C Albatros and Aero L-39M aircraft.
Aircr ...
in
Mykolaiv Oblast
Mykolaiv Oblast ( uk, Микола́ївська о́бласть, translit=Mykoláyivsʹka óblastʹ, ), also referred to as Mykolaivshchyna ( uk, Микола́ївщина, Mykoláivshchyna, ) is an oblast (province) of Ukraine. The administra ...
in 2005.
During the
2008 South Ossetia War
The 2008 Russo-Georgian WarThe war is known by a variety of other names, including Five-Day War, August War and Russian invasion of Georgia. was a war between Georgia, on one side, and Russia and the Russian-backed self-proclaimed republics of Sou ...
, Ukrainian president
Viktor Yushchenko
Viktor Andriyovych Yushchenko ( uk, Віктор Андрійович Ющенко, ; born 23 February 1954) is a Ukrainian politician who was the third president of Ukraine from 23 January 2005 to 25 February 2010.
As an informal leader of th ...
stopped Russian pilots from using the carrier training facilities. The decision was reversed in April 2010. Meanwhile, the Russian Navy had begun to build a similar facility at
Yeysk
Yeysk (russian: Ейск) is a port and a resort town in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, situated on the shore of the Taganrog Gulf of the Sea of Azov. The town is built primarily on the Yeysk Spit, which separates the Yeya River from the Sea of Azo ...
in the
Krasnodar
Krasnodar (; rus, Краснода́р, p=krəsnɐˈdar; ady, Краснодар), formerly Yekaterinodar (until 1920), is the largest city and the administrative centre of Krasnodar Krai, Russia. The city stands on the Kuban River in southe ...
region by the
Sea of Azov.
Russo-Ukrainian War
During the
2014 annexation of Crimea, Russian forces occupied the base. The Ukrainian 10th Saky Naval Aviation Brigade, controlling all the
Ukrainian Navy
The Military Naval Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine ( uk, Військо́во-морські́ си́ли Збро́йних сил Украї́ни, ВМС ЗСУ) is the maritime forces of Ukraine and one of the five branches of the Ar ...
's air units, managed to get a number of its aircraft airborne to bases in mainland Ukraine on March 5. However, more than a dozen aircraft and helicopters undergoing maintenance had to be abandoned.
On 1 July 2014, the 43rd independent Naval Assault Aviation Regiment arrived at the base from
Gvardeyskoye, also in the Crimea. In turn, the regiment had arrived from
Choibalsan in Mongolia in June 1990.
Murder of Stanislav Karachevsky
On 7 April 2014, the Ukrainian defense ministry announced that a Ukrainian Naval officer had been shot dead in the village of Novofedorivka. The incident took place outside the Novofedorivka Air Base in the military dormitory building, which was occupied by Ukrainian servicemen and their families that were awaiting relocation to mainland Ukraine.
While Ukrainian Navy Major
Stanislav Karachevsky of military unit No. 1100 was preparing his belongings in preparation to leave Crimea, a conflict between him and several soldiers on both sides broke out. The fight escalated to where Junior Sergeant
Yevheniy S. Zaytsev of the Black Sea Fleet shot the unarmed officer twice in the head and chest at point blank range with an
AK-74
The AK-74 ( Russian: , tr. ''Avtomat Kalashnikova obraztsa 1974 goda'', lit. 'Kalashnikov assault rifle model 1974) is an assault rifle designed by small arms designer Mikhail Kalashnikov in 1974. While primarily associated with the Soviet ...
assault rifle on the fifth floor of the dormitory building where Russian soldiers were evacuating the troops. Karachevsky died immediately. A second Ukrainian officer, Captain Artem Yermolenko, was beaten and abducted by Russian soldiers. The major's body was reportedly taken by Russian troops.
Russian sources confirmed the killing, but said that it was an incident where a group of drunk Ukrainian soldiers on their way to the sleeping quarters encountered Russian soldiers manning a checkpoint on the road to the air base where they were previously stationed. The Ukrainian armed forces says that Russian soldiers pursued the unarmed Ukrainian into the barracks, shot him dead, and then moved the body.
Zaytsev was convicted by a Russian military court for murder and sentenced to two years imprisonment.
August 2022 explosions
On 9 August 2022, during the
Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...
, several explosions occurred at the military airbase.
Satellite images showed that the explosions destroyed "at least eight aircraft... with several craters visible... Most of the damaged or destroyed aircraft
erein a specific area of the base where a large number of planes were parked out in the open - away from the cover of hangars."
By 19 August, Reuters reported that an unnamed Western official said that "
now assess that the events of... August 9 put more than half of
heBlack Sea fleet's naval aviation combat jets out of use."
Layout
The base has two, parallel, southwest–northeast runways, a smaller east–west carrier landing facility, and an extensive
dispersal complex to the north and west. The main base
hangar
A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...
s and workshops are to the west of the runway complex.
The carrier take-off trainer faces northeast on the northern parallel runway. The carrier landing trainer is on the southwest end of that runway.
Gallery
НІТКА.JPG, Diagram
Springboard. Side view.png, Ski-jump. Side view
Take off from the springboard.png, Take off from the ski-jump
References
*
* Story originally dated 9 April 2014.
External links
Saki AB Airport Flight Arrivals, Saki AB, Ukraine{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402163511/http://flight-arrivals.airportguide.com/Ukraine/Saki_Ab-UKFI/ , date=2012-04-02
Saky Raion
Airports in Crimea
Military facilities in Crimea
Russian Air Force bases
Buildings and structures destroyed during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
Russian and Soviet Navy bases
Ukrainian airbases
Ukraine Navy facilities
Installations of the Russian Navy