Orlovka (also given as Orlovke or Vernoye) was an airbase of the

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 ...

Amur Oblast Amur Oblast () is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located on the banks of the Amur and Zeya rivers in the Russian Far East. The oblast borders Heilongjiang province of the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the south. The administrati ...

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 8 km north of Vernoye, in the

Svobodny, Amur Oblast Svobodny () is a town in Amur Oblast, Russia, located on the right bank of the Zeya River, north of Blagoveshchensk, the administrative center of the oblast. Population: 63,889 ( 2002 Census); History It was founded in 1912 in conjunction wi ...

area. It is close to Ukrainka, a Long Range Aviation strategic bomber base. In the 1960s Orlovka was a deployment and dispersal airfield, then was upgraded in the early 1970s following an increase in military forces near the Chinese border after the

Sino-Soviet split The Sino-Soviet split was the gradual worsening of relations between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) during the Cold War. This was primarily caused by divergences that arose from their ...

. Orlovka is a hardened airfield with a large central tarmac area. The base was closed in 2001 and is since abandoned. Units stationed at Orlovka included: * 404th Fighter Aviation Regiment (404 IAP) equipped with

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, ...

P (ASCC: Flogger) and then

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 ...

(ASCC: Flanker). The regiment moved in from Ozernaya Pad - Kremovo, Primorskiy Kray in 1973; it was established originally in 1944. The regiment was disbanded in 2001 and its awards and honors transferred to the 23rd Fighter Aviation Regiment at

Dzemgi Dzyomgi Airport () is an air base in Khabarovsk Krai, Russia, located northeast of Komsomolsk-na-Amure. Dzyomgi is Komsomolsk-na-Amure's northeast side airport, handling small airliner traffic. On May 7, 1939, at the airfield, the formation of t ...

References

Soviet Frontal Aviation Soviet Air Defence Force bases Russian Air Force bases {{Russia-mil-stub