Orsha Airport (previously named Balbasovo Airbase, given as Balbasava, Bolbasovo, Orsha Southwest, and Orsha) is a commercial airport in
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...
, located 11 km southwest of
Orsha
Orsha ( be, О́рша, Во́рша, Orša, Vorša; russian: О́рша ; lt, Orša, pl, Orsza) is a city in Belarus in the Vitebsk Region, on the fork of the Dnieper and Arshytsa rivers.
History
Orsha was first mentioned in 1067 as Rsha ...
. It has a long runway, large tarmac area, a terminal building, 3 commercial remote stands, and 30 large revetments. A remote revetment area contains 5 bomber pads and probably 5 fighter pads.
The airport is also home to the Orsha Aircraft Repair Plant (OARP).
It was home to 402nd Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment (402 TBAP) flying
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 Design Bureau in the 1960s. According to so ...
3 (ASCC: Backfire) aircraft as recently as 1993.
The 402 TBAP's division headquarters were 326 TBAD at
Soltsy-2.
Its IATA code TXC was assigned in late 2021, in preparation of taking up commercial air transport operations.
References
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Airports in Belarus
Soviet Air Force bases
Soviet Long Range Aviation
Military installations of Belarus
Belarusian Air Force