Chagan (also known as Dolon and Semipalatinsk-2) was an air base in Semipalatinsk (modern

Semey Semey (; , formerly known as Semipalatinsk ( ) until 2007 and as Alash-Qala ( ) from 1917 to 1920, is a city in eastern Kazakhstan, in the Kazakh part of Siberia. When Abai Region was created in 2022, Semey became its administrative centre. I ...

), Kazakhstan, that served as a major Cold War bomber base under the

37th Air Army The 37th Air Army () of the High Supreme Command (Strategic Purpose) was the strategic bomber force of the Russian Air Force from 1998 to 2009. It was equipped with Tupolev Tu-95MS and Tu-160 armed with nuclear cruise missiles, and the intermediat ...

, Soviet Long Range Aviation. It contains significant tarmac space and over 50

revetment A revetment in stream restoration, river engineering or coastal engineering is a facing of impact-resistant material (such as stone, concrete, sandbags, or wooden piles) applied to a bank or wall in order to absorb the energy of incoming water an ...

s. Until at least 1980 it served as one of three bases for the Soviet Union's

Tupolev Tu-95 The Tupolev Tu-95 (; NATO reporting name: "Bear") is a large, four-engine turboprop-powered strategic bomber and missile platform. Maiden flight, First flown in 1952, the Tu-95 entered service with the Soviet Long Range Aviation, Long-Range Avia ...

"Bear" long-range bomber fleet. The nearby

Dolon Southwest Dolon Southwest was a dispersal bomber base in Semipalatinsk Oblast, Kazakhstan, located 43 km south-west of Dolon (air base). It was probably associated with the 8th independent Heavy Bomber Aviation Corps (1960 - 1980) and then the 37t ...

, a former airfield 32 km to the south, was probably a dispersal field and no longer exists. The airbase was built in the 1950s and abandoned in the 1990s. In 1955, Dolon was one of only six Soviet bases capable of handling the

Myasishchev M-4 The Myasishchev M-4 ''Molot'' (), USAF/DoD reporting name "Type 37", Air Standardization Coordinating Committee, ASCC reporting name Bison) was a four-engined strategic bomber designed by Myasishchev, Vladimir Mikhailovich Myasishchev and manufa ...

(Bison) bomber. The 79th Heavy Bomber Aviation Division was created at Dolon in 1957. The

Tupolev Tu-160 The Tupolev Tu-160 (; NATO reporting name: Blackjack) is a supersonic, variable-sweep wing nuclear-capable heavy strategic bomber and airborne missile platform designed by the Tupolev Design Bureau in the Soviet Union in the 1970s. The aircra ...

(Blackjack) was temporarily deployed to Dolon in the late 1980s. In 1990, Dolon had 40

(Bear) aircraft, which were eliminated by 1994, ending the base's strategic bomber role. Units based at Dolon included: *79th Heavy Bomber Aviation Division * 1023rd Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment (1023 TBAP) flying

Tu-95 The Tupolev Tu-95 (; NATO reporting name: "Bear") is a large, four-engine turboprop-powered strategic bomber and missile platform. First flown in 1952, the Tu-95 entered service with the Long-Range Aviation of the Soviet Air Forces in 1956 and ...

and Tu-95M aircraft (1957–62), Tu-95K (1960–83), and

MS aircraft (1983–92). * 1226th Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment (1226 TBAP) flying

and Tu-95M aircraft (1957–62), Tu-95K and

MS aircraft (1984–92). The 79th TBAD was under the control of Long Range Aviation from 1957 to 1960, the 8th independent Heavy Bomber Aviation Corps (later to become the

30th Air Army The 30th Air Army was a military formation of the Soviet Air Forces, active in two periods. From 1949-68 the Frontal Aviation forces in the Baltic Military District, formerly the 15th Air Army, were designated the 30th Air Army. The "15th" desi ...

) from 1960 until 1980, and finally, the

from 1980 until 1992. Both regiments were taken over by

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

in 1992 and the aircraft were withdrawn to the Russian Federation."All Strategic Bombers Out Of Kazakhstan; Talks On Those In Ukraine,"

RFE/RL Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a media organization broadcasting news and analyses in 27 languages to 23 countries across Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Middle East. Headquartered in Prague since 1995, RFE/RL ...

News Briefs, Vol. 3, No. 9, 21–25 February 1994, via

Nuclear Threat Initiative The Nuclear Threat Initiative, generally referred to as NTI, is a non-profit organization located in Washington, D.C. NTI was founded in 2001 by former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn and philanthropist Ted Turner and describes itself as a "a nonprofit, ...

References

* Soviet Long Range Aviation bases Airbases in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic Military installations closed in the 1990s {{AbaiRegion-geo-stub