Sormovo (or Gorkiy Sormovo) is an airfield in

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 on the outskirts of

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...

, some from the center city, just west of the

Sokol Aircraft Plant Sokol Aircraft Plant () is a manufacturer of MiG fighters, based in Nizhny Novgorod. It was founded in 1932 and is also known as "Aviation Plant Nr. 21", named after Sergo Ordzhonikidze. During 45 years of serial production the plant manufactured ...

. Legally, it is within the city's Moskovsky District ( Московский район), but it is commonly referred to by the name of the much better-known neighborhood of Sormovo, which is to the north of the airfield. Moreover, between 1956 and 1970 the airfield (and all of today's Moskovsky District) was in fact part of the Sormovsky District. According to the Western sources, it is a military base with

MiG-25 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 (; NATO reporting name: Foxbat) is a supersonic interceptor and reconnaissance aircraft that is among the fastest military aircraft to enter service. Designed by the Soviet Union's Mikoyan-Gurevich bureau, it is a ...

and

MiG-31 The Mikoyan MiG-31 (; NATO reporting name: Foxhound) is a supersonic interceptor aircraft developed for the Soviet Air Forces by the Mikoyan design bureau as a replacement for the earlier MiG-25 "Foxbat"; the MiG-31 is based on and shares de ...

aircraft. The runway dimensions suggest that this airfield was built in the 1950s as a bomber base. As of 2000,

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high-resolution satellite images showed 14

, 6

MiG-21 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet aircraft, jet fighter aircraft, fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan, Mikoyan-Gurevich OKB, Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. Its nicknames in ...

, and a small number of older fighters and fixed-wing aircraft. The west side of the runway has a 50-m (164-ft) displaced threshold; the actual runway dimension is 3000 m (9840 ft). Locally, the airfield is known as ''Airfield Nizhny Novgorod (Sormovo)'' () of the Nizhny Novgorod Sokol Aviation Plant (). According to Sokol's website, the plant currently manufactures MiG-31E fighter-interceptors, MiG-29UB fighter-trainers, and Yak-130 combat trainers; they also upgrade customers' MiG-21 BIS planes, and manufacture small civilian airplanes (M-101T, a light passenger turboprop, and Accord-201, an amphibious aircraft).Sokol Aircraft Plant
(official site) The factory premises are adjacent to the eastern end of the airfield.

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References

Buildings and structures in Nizhny Novgorod Airports in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast Military history of Nizhny Novgorod {{Russia-mil-stub