Soltsy-2 (also spelled Sol'tsy, Soltsy, Solcy, Solcy 2) is an air base in
Novgorod Oblast
Novgorod Oblast (russian: Новгоро́дская о́бласть, ''Novgorodskaya oblast'') is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Veliky Novgorod. Some of the oldest Russian cities, includi ...
,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...
located 2 km north of
Soltsy and 72 km southwest of
Novgorod
Veliky Novgorod ( rus, links=no, Великий Новгород, t=Great Newtown, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪj ˈnovɡərət), also known as just Novgorod (), is the largest city and administrative centre of Novgorod Oblast, Russia. It is one of the o ...
. It contains large aircraft revetments, with a separate compound of 9 hardened areas about 1 mile from the airfield.
The base is home to the 40th Composite Aviation Regiment which flies the
Tu-22M
The Tupolev Tu-22M (russian: Туполев Ту-22М; NATO reporting name: Backfire) is a supersonic, variable-sweep wing, long-range strategic and maritime strike bomber developed by the Tupolev Design Bureau in the 1960s. According to some ...
as part of the
22nd Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Division.
In 1992, the headquarters of the
326th Heavy Bomber Aviation Division (326 TBAD) arrived from
Tartu
Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after the Northern European country's political and financial capital, Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 91,407 (as of 2021). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast o ...
Raadi Airfield
Raadi Airfield (Tartu Air Base) is a former air base in Estonia located northeast of Tartu. The land once belonged to Raadi Manor and is now designated as the new site of the Estonian National Museum.
History
In 1940 were requisitioned f ...
in newly independent
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and t ...
. In 1998 the division headquarters was moved to
Ukrainka in the Far East.
The 840th Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment (840 TBAP) flew
Tupolev Tu-22M
The Tupolev Tu-22M (russian: Туполев Ту-22М; NATO reporting name: Backfire) is a supersonic, variable-sweep wing, long-range strategic and maritime strike bomber developed by the Tupolev Design Bureau in the 1960s. According to so ...
aircraft from November 1951 through to 2010. The regiment was disbanded in 2010 following the changes initiated by the
Russian military reforms from 2008.
Airfield is properly maintained for occasional training of Russian Air Force and to service governmental flights in Novgorod region.
Natural Resources Defense Council
The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is a United States-based 501(c)(3) non-profit international environmental advocacy group, with its headquarters in New York City and offices in Washington D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, ...
lists Soltsy-2 as a nuclear weapons facility.
References
External links
*http://airbase.ru/squad/russia/da/
Soviet Air Force bases
Soviet Long Range Aviation
Russian Air Force bases
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