Sormovo (or Gorkiy Sormovo) is an airfield in

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 on the outskirts of

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət ), colloquially shortened to Nizhny, from the 13th to the 17th century Novgorod of the Lower Land, formerly known as Gork ...

, some from the center city, just west of the

Sokol Aircraft Plant Sokol Aircraft Plant (russian: Авиастроительный завод «Сокол», Aviastroitelny zavod Sokol, Sokol Aircraft-Building Plant) is a manufacturer of MiG fighters, based in Nizhny Novgorod. It was founded in 1932 and is also ...

. Legally, it is within the city's Moskovsky District ( Московский район), but it is commonly referred to by the name of the much better-known neighborhood of Sormovo, which is to the north of the airfield. Moreover, between 1956 and 1970 the airfield (and all of today's Moskovsky District) was in fact part of the Sormovsky District. According to the Western sources, it is a military base with

MiG-25 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-25; NATO reporting name: Foxbat) is a supersonic interceptor and reconnaissance aircraft that is among the fastest military aircraft to enter service. Designed by th ...

and

MiG-31 The Mikoyan MiG-31 (russian: link=no, Микоян МиГ-31; NATO reporting name: Foxhound) is a supersonic interceptor aircraft that was developed for use by the Soviet Air Forces. The aircraft was designed by the Mikoyan design bureau as a ...

aircraft. The runway dimensions suggest that this airfield was built in the 1950s as a bomber base. As of 2000,

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high-resolution satellite images showed 14

, 6

MiG-21 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-21; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. Its nickna ...

, and a small number of older fighters and fixed-wing aircraft. The west side of the runway has a 50-m (164-ft) displaced threshold; the actual runway dimension is 3000 m (9840 ft). Locally, the airfield is known as ''Airfield Nizhny Novgorod (Sormovo)'' (russian: аэродром Нижний Новгород (Сормово)) of the Nizhny Novgorod Sokol Aviation Plant (russian: Нижегородский авиационный завод «Сокол»). According to Sokol's website, the plant currently manufactures MiG-31E fighter-interceptors, MiG-29UB fighter-trainers, and Yak-130 combat trainers; they also upgrade customers' MiG-21 BIS planes, and manufacture small civilian airplanes (M-101T, a light passenger turboprop, and Accord-201, an amphibious aircraft).Sokol Aircraft Plant
(official site) The factory premises are adjacent to the eastern end of the airfield.

Notes

References

Soviet Air Force bases Russian Air Force bases Buildings and structures in Nizhny Novgorod Airports in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast {{Russia-mil-stub