Russian Naval Aviation aircraft at Novofedorovka airbase

A shore-based test facility (SBTF), also known as a land-based test facility, is used for the flight testing of aircraft that operate from

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a fleet, as it allows a ...

s. They are also used for the training of the pilots who will operate the aircraft from the aircraft carriers. Only four countries in the world have SBTF or LBTF; they are

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

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 ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

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 ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

China

China's

People's Liberation Army Navy The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN; ), also known as the People's Navy, Chinese Navy, or PLA Navy, is the maritime service branch of the People's Liberation Army. The PLAN traces its lineage to naval units fighting during the Chinese ...

has two test centers, one at Wuhan and one at Huludao.

India

The

Indian Navy The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates sig ...

's SBTF is located at

INS Hansa INS Hansa, is an Indian naval air station located near Dabolim in Goa, India. Data current as of October 2006. It is India's biggest naval airbase. The military air base has a civil enclave, that operates as Dabolim Airport. History ''INS Ha ...

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

, and is used to train and certify navy pilots of the

Mikoyan MiG-29K The Mikoyan MiG-29K (russian: Микоян МиГ-29K; NATO reporting name: Fulcrum-D) is a Russian all-weather carrier-based multirole fighter aircraft developed by the Mikoyan Design Bureau. The MiG-29K was developed in the late 1980s from ...

for the aircraft carrier INS ''Vikramaditya'', and for the developmental trials of the naval

HAL Tejas The HAL Tejas is an Indian, single engine, delta wing, light multirole fighter designed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) in collaboration with Aircraft Research and Design Centre (ARDC) of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for t ...

. This SBTF was designed by Nevskoye Design Bureau (NDB) of Russia for Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA). The ski-jump resembles part of a parabola and has an inclination of 14 degrees. The highest point of the ski-jump is at 5.71 metres from the ground.

Ukraine/Russia

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 Arme ...

inherited a former

Soviet Naval Aviation Soviet Naval Aviation (AV-MF, for ''Авиация военно-морского флота'' in Russian, or ''Aviatsiya voyenno-morskogo flota'', literally "aviation of the military maritime fleet") was the naval aviation arm of the Soviet Nav ...

base at

Novofedorivka Novofedorivka ( uk, Новофедорівка) or Novofyodorovka (russian: Новофёдоровка; crh, Novofödorovka) is an urban-type settlement. It is located about south of the regional centre of Saky, and about north of Sevastopol ...

. This base now hosts the Nitka Naval Pilot Training Center, which is used by the Russian Navy to train their carrier pilots. This base, being in

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

, is now in Russian control.

United States

The

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

has been testing the new

Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System The Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) is a type of aircraft launching system developed by General Atomics for the United States Navy. The system launches carrier-based aircraft by means of a catapult employing a linear induction ...

from the land based launch facility at

Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst A joint or articulation (or articular surface) is the connection made between bones, ossicles, or other hard structures in the body which link an animal's skeletal system into a functional whole.Saladin, Ken. Anatomy & Physiology. 7th ed. McGraw- ...

References

{{reflist Naval aviation services Indian Navy People's Liberation Army Navy Ukraine Navy facilities United States Navy