Soltsy-2 (also spelled Sol'tsy, Soltsy, Solcy, Solcy 2) is an air base in

Novgorod Oblast Novgorod Oblast (russian: Новгоро́дская о́бласть, ''Novgorodskaya oblast'') is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Veliky Novgorod. Some of the oldest Russian cities, including ...

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 2 km north of

Soltsy Soltsy (russian: Сольцы́) is a town and the administrative center of Soletsky District in Novgorod Oblast, Russia, located on the left bank of the Shelon River, southwest of Veliky Novgorod, the administrative center of the oblast. Populat ...

and 72 km southwest of

Novgorod Veliky Novgorod ( rus, links=no, Великий Новгород, t=Great Newtown, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət), also known as just Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the ol ...

. It contains large aircraft revetments, with a separate compound of 9 hardened areas about 1 mile from the airfield. The base is home to the 40th Composite Aviation Regiment which flies the

Tu-22M The Tupolev Tu-22M (russian: Туполев Ту-22М; NATO reporting name: Backfire) is a supersonic, variable-sweep wing, long-range strategic and maritime strike bomber developed by the Tupolev Design Bureau in the 1960s. According to some s ...

as part of the

22nd Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Division The 22nd Guards Donbass Red Banner Heavy Bomber Aviation Division is a division of the Russian Aerospace Force's Long-Range Aviation branch having previously been a Soviet Air Forces formation. It was a Long Range Aviation division active from 194 ...

. In 1992, the headquarters of the

326th Heavy Bomber Aviation Division 326th Tarnopolsky Order of Kutuzov Heavy Bomber Air Division (326 TBAD) is an Aviation Division of the Long Range Aviation of Russia. It was previously part of the 37th Air Army of the Supreme High Command. It was originally formed as the 326th Nig ...

(326 TBAD) arrived from

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after the Northern European country's political and financial capital, Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 91,407 (as of 2021). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of ...

Raadi Airfield Raadi Airfield (Tartu Air Base) is a former air base in Estonia located northeast of Tartu. The land once belonged to Raadi Manor and is now designated as the new site of the Estonian National Museum. History In 1940 were requisitioned fro ...

in newly independent

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

. In 1998 the division headquarters was moved to Ukrainka in the Far East. The 840th Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment (840 TBAP) flew

Tupolev Tu-22M The Tupolev Tu-22M (russian: Туполев Ту-22М; NATO reporting name: Backfire) is a supersonic, variable-sweep wing, long-range strategic and maritime strike bomber developed by the Tupolev, Tupolev Design Bureau in the 1960s. According ...

aircraft from November 1951 through to 2010. The regiment was disbanded in 2010 following the changes initiated by the

Russian military reform The Serdyukov reform (), named after its originator, Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, was a major structural reorganisation of the Russian Armed Forces that began in 2009. Significant reforms of the Russian Armed Forces were announced in Oc ...

s from 2008. Airfield is properly maintained for occasional training of Russian Air Force and to service governmental flights in Novgorod region.

Natural Resources Defense Council The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is a United States-based 501(c)(3) non-profit international environmental advocacy group, with its headquarters in New York City and offices in Washington D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Bo ...

lists Soltsy-2 as a nuclear weapons facility.

References

External links

*http://airbase.ru/squad/russia/da/ Soviet Air Force bases Soviet Long Range Aviation Russian Air Force bases {{Russia-mil-stub