Lipetsk Air Base (also given as ''Lipetskiy'', ''Lipetsky'', ''Lipetsk-2'', ''Shakhm 10'', and ''Lipetsk West'') is an air base in

Lipetsk Oblast Lipetsk Oblast () is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Lipetsk. As of the Russian Census (2021), 2021 Census, its population was&n ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

located 12 km northwest of

Lipetsk Lipetsk (, ), also Romanization of Russian, romanized as Lipeck, is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Lipetsk Oblast, Russia, located on the banks of the Voronezh (river), Voronezh River in the Do ...

. It is the chief combat training center of the

Russian Aerospace Forces The Russian Aerospace Forces or Russian Air and Space Forces (VKS) comprise the air force, aerial, space force, space warfare, and Missile defense, missile defence Military branch, branches of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. It was ...

, analogous to the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

Nellis Air Force Base Nellis Air Force Base ("Nellis" colloquialism, colloq.) is a United States Air Force military installation, installation in southern Nevada. Nellis hosts Aerial warfare, air combat exercises such as Exercise Red Flag and close air support exerc ...

. The base is made up of two medium-sized airfields joined together. The base is home to the 4th State Centre for Aircrew Training and Field Tests (4th GTsPAPVI), formerly the 4th Centre for Combat Application and Crew Training. Components of the 4th Centre include the 968th Instructor-Research Aviation Regiment (968th IISAP) and the 237th Air Force Display Centre of the Russian Air Force. I. N. Kozheduba - Russian Falcons.

History

In 1925, the Soviet government allowed

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic, officially known as the German Reich, was the German Reich, German state from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history; hence it is also referred to, and unofficially proclai ...

Germany to open an air combat school at Lipetsk:

Lipetsk fighter-pilot school The Lipetsk fighter-pilot school (), also known as WIWUPAL from its German codename ''Wissenschaftliche Versuchs- und Personalausbildungsstation'' "Scientific Experimental and Personnel Training Station", was a secret training school for fighter pi ...

. That permitted Germany to evade treaty restrictions on the development of military aviation, while the

Soviet Air Forces The Soviet Air Forces (, VVS SSSR; literally "Military Air Forces of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics"; initialism VVS, sometimes referred to as the "Red Air Force") were one of the air forces of the Soviet Union. The other was the Sovie ...

received technical advice and access to test results. By 1933, the Soviets concluded that the arrangement was not worthwhile, and the new German government agreed (for different reasons). The school was closed. The 4th Center of Combat Application and Conversion of Frontline Aviation, Russia's Top Gun school since around the 1960s, is the most well known unit on the base. Its chief, Col. Kharchevski, became famous after air combat exercises in the US and has become the personal pilot of President Putin. From the 1960s to 1990, units stationed at Lipetsk include: * 4th Centre for Combat Employment and Retraining of Personnel (4 TsBP i PLS) * 760th Composite Training and Research Aviation Regiment (760 IISAP) flying 14

Mikoyan MiG-29 The Mikoyan MiG-29 (; NATO reporting name: Fulcrum) is a twin-engine fighter aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. Developed by the Mikoyan design bureau as an air superiority fighter during the 1970s, the MiG-29, along with the larger Suk ...

E, 13 Sukhoi Su-17, 16 Sukhoi Su-25, and a number of

Sukhoi Su-24 The Sukhoi Su-24 (NATO reporting name: Fencer) is a supersonic, night fighter, all-weather tactical bomber developed in the Soviet Union. The aircraft has a variable-sweep wing, Twinjet, twin engines and a side-by-side seating arrangement for it ...

Sukhoi Su-27 The Sukhoi Su-27 (; NATO reporting name: Flanker) is a Soviet Union, Soviet-origin twinjet, twin-engine supersonic Supermaneuverability, supermaneuverable fighter aircraft designed by Sukhoi. It was intended as a direct competitor for the lar ...

, and Mi-8 aircraft as of the early 1990s. * 91st Training and Research Regiment (91 IIAP) flying

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 (; NATO reporting name: Flogger) is a variable-sweep wing, variable-geometry fighter aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan, Mikoyan-Gurevich OKB, design bureau in the Soviet Union. It is a third-generation jet fighter, ...

, 23

, and 15

aircraft as of the early 1990s In 1992, the 968th Fighter Aviation Regiment arrived from Falkenberg in East Germany. It was flying

and

aircraft in the mid-1990s. In 1992-1993 it became first a Research-Instructor Fighter Aviation Regiment and then a Research-Instructor Mixed Aviation Regiment. Flying solely MiG-29s by 2004, it later also flew

M aircraft. NASA FIRMS 2024-08-09 Lipetsk

On 8 August 2024, during the

Russo-Ukrainian War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia Russian occupation of Crimea, occupied and Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation, annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then ...

, the airbase was struck by a large-scale Ukrainian drone attack that caused numerous explosions and fires. A warehouse containing guided aerial bombs and other facilities near the airbase were hit, with multiple sources of ignition resulting in a massive fire and multiple detonations, according to the Ukrainian general staff. Damage to the aircraft at the base was still being assessed the morning after the attack. The governor of Lipetsk reported detonations and said that six people had been injured. The fire at the air base facility was confirmed by

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

's FIRMS. On 20 October 2024, the air base was attacked by Ukrainian drones with Ukrainian officials reporting that the attack was aimed at fuel, equipment and ammunition stored on the base.

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References

External links

*{{commons category-inline, Lipetsk Air Base 1960 establishments in the Soviet Union Military installations established in 1960 Soviet Air Forces education and training Russian Air Force bases Airbases in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic

Air base An airbase (stylised air base in American English), sometimes referred to as a military airbase, military airfield, military airport, air station, naval air station, air force station, or air force base, is an aerodrome or airport used as a mi ...

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links