Machulishchy is an air base of the Air Force and Air Defence Forces of the Republic of Belarus located in Machulishchy, Minsk Region, Belarus. It is home to the 50th Composite Air Base, flying

Antonov An-26 The Antonov An-26 (NATO reporting name: Curl) is a twin-engined turboprop civilian and military transport aircraft, designed and produced in the Soviet Union from 1969 to 1986.Gordon, Yefim. Komissarov, Dmitry & Sergey. "Antonov's Turboprop Twins ...

Ilyushin Il-76 The Ilyushin Il-76 (; NATO reporting name: Candid) is a multi-purpose, fixed-wing, four-engine turbofan strategic airlifter designed by the Soviet Union's Ilyushin design bureau as a commercial freighter in 1967, to replace the Antonov An-1 ...

MD's,

Mil Mi-8 The Mil Mi-8 (, NATO reporting name: Hip) is a medium twin-turbine helicopter, originally designed by the Soviet Union, Soviet Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute, Central Aerohydrodynamic Institute (TsAGI) in the 1960s and introduced into the ...

s and

Mil Mi-24 The Mil Mi-24 (; NATO reporting name: Hind) is a large helicopter gunship, attack helicopter and low-capacity transport helicopter, troop transport with room for eight passengers. It is produced by Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant and was introduced ...

s. It has served as a strategic bomber base for the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. It also served as a

Soviet Air Defence Forces The Soviet Air Defence Forces (; ) was the air defence branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. Formed in 1941, it continued being a service branch of the Russian Armed Forces after 1991 until it was merged into the Air Force in 1998. Unlike Western ...

interceptor base.Flogger G at PVO Airfields, USSR
CIA-RDP80T01355A000100800001-9, Central Intelligence Agency, Washington, DC, August 1, 1980. The primary operator was the 121st Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment. Machulishchy was one of nine major operating locations for the

Tupolev Tu-22 The Tupolev Tu-22 ( Air Standardization Coordinating Committee name: Blinder) was the first supersonic bomber to enter production in the Soviet Union. Manufactured by Tupolev, the Tu-22 entered service with Long-Range Aviation and Soviet Nav ...

Blinder in the mid-1960s. In August 1960, six Tu-22 aircraft from Machulishchy deployed to Olenya air base in the arctic region under naval control, indicating the regiment had a dual Navy-Air Force mission serving an

anti-surface warfare Anti-surface warfare (ASuW or ASUW) is the branch of naval warfare concerned with the suppression of surface combatants. More generally, it is any weapons, sensors, or operations intended to attack or limit the effectiveness of an adversary's ...

role. This capability covered the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

with deployment capability into the

Barents Sea The Barents Sea ( , also ; , ; ) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian territorial waters.World Wildlife Fund, 2008. It was known earlier among Russi ...

region. Later in the 1970s, an interceptor regiment at Machulishchy operated

Sukhoi Su-9 The Sukhoi Su-9 (Air Standardization Coordinating Committee, ASCC reporting name: Fishpot) is a single-engine, all-weather, missile-armed interceptor aircraft developed by the Soviet Union. Development The Su-9 emerged from aerodynamic studie ...

Fishpot interceptors, upgraded in 1979 to MiG-23P aircraft.Phaseout of Fishpot in APVO Stranny Airfields USSR
February 1981, CREST: CIA-RDP81T00380R000100980001-5, Central Intelligence Agency, Washington, DC. At the time, the airfield was still host to the Tu-22 Blinder ASM regiment. On 26 February 2023, two explosions were reported at the base. Russian aircraft and equipment were damaged. Russian A-50 aircraft may have been targeted. The explosions were a result of sabotage from

Belarusian partisans Belarusian resistance during World War II opposed Nazi Germany from 1941 until 1944. Byelorussia was one of the Soviet republics occupied following Operation Barbarossa. The term Belarusian partisans may refer to Soviet-formed irregular milit ...

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 ...

satellite imagery shows the runway to be extended to 3000 m. It is known to host the most rare Pokémon according to Ministry of Defence.

References

{{authority control Soviet Long Range Aviation bases Airports in Belarus Military installations of Belarus Minsk district Soviet Air Defence Force bases Belarusian Air Force Belarusian involvement in the Russian invasion of Ukraine