Severomorsk-3 (also referred to as Malyavr or Murmansk Northeast) is an

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 ...

of the

Russian Navy The Russian Navy is the Navy, naval arm of the Russian Armed Forces. It has existed in various forms since 1696. Its present iteration was formed in January 1992 when it succeeded the Navy of the Commonwealth of Independent States (which had i ...

Northern Fleet The Northern Fleet (, ''Severnyy flot'') is the Naval fleet, fleet of the Russian Navy in the Arctic. According to the Russian ministry of defence: "The Northern Fleet dates its history back to a squadron created in 1733 to protect the terri ...

Murmansk Oblast Murmansk Oblast is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (an oblast) of Russia, located in the northwestern part of the country, with a total land area of . Its only internal border is the Republic of Karelia to the south, and it is bor ...

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 ...

. It is located east of

Murmansk Murmansk () is a port city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast in the far Far North (Russia), northwest part of Russia. It is the world's largest city north of the Arctic Circle and sits on both slopes and banks of a modest fjord, Ko ...

, next to Lake Malyavr in the west of the

Kola Peninsula The Kola Peninsula (; ) is a peninsula in the extreme northwest of Russia, and one of the largest peninsulas of Europe. Constituting the bulk of the territory of Murmansk Oblast, it lies almost completely inside the Arctic Circle and is border ...

. The base is home to the 100th Independent Shipborne Fighter Aviation Regiment with the

Mikoyan MiG-29K The Mikoyan MiG-29K (; NATO reporting name: Fulcrum-D) is a Russian all-weather carrier-based multirole fighter aircraft developed by the Mikoyan Design Bureau. The MiG-29K was developed in the late 1980s from the MiG-29M. Mikoyan describes ...

R/KUBR (ASCC: Fulcrum-D) and the 279th Independent Shipborne Fighter Aviation Regiment with the

Kamov Ka-52 The Kamov Ka-50 "Black Shark" (, English: kitefin shark), NATO reporting name Hokum A, is a Soviet/Russian single-seat attack helicopter with the distinctive coaxial rotor system of the Kamov design bureau. It was designed in the 1980s an ...

K "Katran",

Sukhoi Su-25 The Sukhoi Su-25 ''Grach'' ( ('' rook''); NATO reporting name: Frogfoot) is a subsonic, single-seat, twin-engine jet aircraft developed in the Soviet Union by Sukhoi. It was designed to provide close air support for Soviet Ground Forces. Th ...

UTG (ASCC: Frogfoot), and

Sukhoi Su-33 The Sukhoi Su-33 (-33; NATO reporting name: Flanker-D) is a Soviet/Russian all-weather carrier-based twin-engine air superiority fighter designed by Sukhoi and manufactured by Komsomolsk-on-Amur Aircraft Production Association, derived f ...

(ASCC: Flanker-D).

History

The base was used by the: * 987th Maritime Missile Aviation Regiment between 1952 and 1993 with the Tu-16. In the late 1950s, Severomorsk-3 was an operating location for

Tupolev Tu-16 The Tupolev Tu-16 (USAF/DOD reporting name Type 39; NATO reporting name: Badger) is a twin-engined jet strategic heavy bomber used by the Soviet Union. It has been flown for almost 70 years. While many aircraft in Soviet service were retired af ...

Badger medium bombers and featured an 8200 ft (2500 m) concrete runway. In 1970 and 1971, Tu-16 jets in Egyptian Air Force markings were observed conducting training flights at Severomorsk-3. During the 1970s, the airfield was designated as a

Yakovlev Yak-38 The Yakovlev Yak-38 (; NATO reporting name: "Forger") was Soviet Naval Aviation's only operational VTOL strike fighter aircraft in addition to being its first operational carrier-based fixed-wing aircraft. It was developed specifically for, and ...

Forger base for the Murmansk area whenever its parent

Kiev-class aircraft carrier The ''Kiev'' class, Soviet designation Project 1143 ''Krechyet'' (gyrfalcon), was the first class of fixed-wing aircraft, fixed-wing aircraft carriers (heavy aircraft cruiser, aviation cruiser in Soviet classification) built in the Soviet Union ...

was in port.CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY AT SOVIET FORGER-RELATED AIRFIELDS
CIA-RDP80T01782R000300300001-1, Central Intelligence Agency, Washington, DC, November 1, 1980. Extensive

Marston Mat Marston Mat, more properly called pierced (or perforated) steel planking (PSP), is standardized, perforated steel matting material developed by the United States at the Waterways Experiment Station shortly before World War II, primarily for the ...

planking was laid at the base in the late 1970s to support the Yak-38's VTOL requirements. After the USSR's breakup, the main operator of Severomorsk-3 was the 279th Independent Naval Shturmovik Aviation Regiment (279 OMShAP) which joined the base during October 1976, operating at least 41

aircraft in 1992, with 4 Su-25UB and 5 Su-25UTG trainers, plus 27

and 1 Yak-38U aircraft. The unit changed its name to the 279th Independent Shipborne Fighter Aviation Regiment (279 OKIAP) of

Russian Naval Aviation The Russian Naval Aviation () is the air arm of the Russian Navy, a successor of Soviet Naval Aviation. The Russian Navy is divided into four fleets and one flotilla: Northern Fleet, Pacific Fleet (Russia), Pacific Fleet, Baltic Fleet, Black Sea ...

sometime between 1992 and 2016 and it made up of two fighter and one training squadrons operating the

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 ...

UB, and Su-25UTG. The Russian Navy's ZEVS-ELF Transmitter is located directly south of Severomorsk-3.

References

Installations of the Russian Navy Soviet Naval Aviation bases Airports in Murmansk Oblast {{Russia-mil-stub

History

See also

References