Smirnykh (russian: Смирных) is an abandoned Russian Air Force airbase in

Sakhalin Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, r=Sakhalín, p=səxɐˈlʲin; ja, 樺太 ''Karafuto''; zh, c=, p=Kùyèdǎo, s=库页岛, t=庫頁島; Manchu: ᠰᠠᡥᠠᠯᡳᠶᠠᠨ, ''Sahaliyan''; Orok: Бугата на̄, ''Bugata nā''; Nivkh ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

located 2 km east of the village of the same name. It appeared in June 1966

KH-7 BYEMAN codenamed GAMBIT, the KH-7 (Air Force Program 206) was a reconnaissance satellite used by the United States from July 1963 to June 1967. Like the older CORONA system, it acquired imagery intelligence by taking photographs and returnin ...

imagery with a runway length of 2,000 m. It was expanded sometime after this to 2,500 m with a new extension of revetments added.

History

The base was originally built near the town of Smirnykh, a coaling and watering station for the Sakhalin railway. The airfield was built by the

Imperial Japanese Army The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emperor o ...

in the early 20th century and was called Keton. After the Second World War, Southern Sakhalin was handed over to the Soviet Union, and the airbase was then expanded. The airfield was first detected by Western intelligence around 1962. By 1965 19

Yakovlev Yak-28 The Yakovlev Yak-28 (russian: Яковлев Як-28) is a swept wing, turbojet-powered combat aircraft used by the Soviet Union. Produced initially as a tactical bomber, it was also manufactured in reconnaissance, electronic warfare, interce ...

P (ASCC: Firebar) were known to be stationed at the airfield. In October 1972 a US reconnaissance satellite assessment showed 17 Yak-28P long-range interceptors, 2

Antonov An-24 The Antonov An-24 (Russian/Ukrainian: Антонов Ан-24) ( NATO reporting name: Coke) is a 44-seat twin turboprop transport/passenger aircraft designed in 1957 in the Soviet Union by the Antonov Design Bureau and manufactured by Kyiv, Ir ...

(ASCC: Coke) transports, and 1

Lisunov Li-2 The Lisunov Li-2 (NATO reporting name: Cab), originally designated PS-84, was a license-built Soviet-version of the Douglas DC-3. It was produced by Factory #84 in Moscow-Khimki and, after evacuation in 1941, at TAPO in Tashkent. The pro ...

(ASCC: Cab) (DC-3 copy) transport. By the 1980s Smirnykh was home to a

Mikoyan-Gurevich 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-generati ...

(ASCC: Flogger-G) interceptor regiment An ICAO report on the 1983 downing of

Korean Air Lines Flight 007 Korean Air Lines Flight 007 (KE007/KAL007)The flight number KAL 007 was used by air traffic control, while the public flight booking system used KE 007 was a scheduled Korean Air Lines flight from New York City to Seoul via Anchorage, Alas ...

indicated

Soviet Air Defence Forces The Soviet Air Defence Forces (russian: войска ПВО, ''voyska protivovozdushnoy oborony'', ''voyska PVO'', ''V-PVO'', lit. ''Anti-Air Defence Troops''; and formerly ''protivovozdushnaya oborona strany'', ''PVO strany'', lit. ''Anti-Air De ...

(PVO) MiG-23 fighter aircraft from Smirnykh were scrambled, but it was an Sukhoi Su-15 (ASCC: Flagon) jet from Dolinsk-Sokol which carried out the shootdown. The airfield is no longer in use and the runways have not been maintained in decades. The base was used by the: * 132nd Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment between 1945 and 1951 with the

Tupolev Tu-2 The Tupolev Tu-2 (development names ANT-58 and 103; NATO reporting name Bat) was a twin-engine Soviet high-speed daylight and frontline (SDB and FB) bomber aircraft of World War II vintage. The Tu-2 was tailored to meet a requirement for a hig ...

(ASCC: Bat) * 301st Fighter Aviation Regiment during 1972 with the

Sukhoi Su-9 The Sukhoi Su-9 (NATO reporting name: Fishpot) was a single-engine, all-weather, missile-armed interceptor aircraft developed by the Soviet Union. Development The Su-9 emerged from aerodynamic studies by TsAGI, the Soviet aerodynamic center, ...

(ASCC: Fishpot) * 454th Bomber Aviation Regiment between 1945 and 1951 with the Tu-2 * 528th Fighter Aviation Regiment between 1945 and 1994

References

{{authority control Defunct airports Soviet Air Defence Force bases Sakhalin Airports in Sakhalin Oblast Airports built in the Soviet Union