Orlovka (air base)

For the town in Kyrgyzstan, see Orlovka, Kyrgyzstan.

Orlovka (also given as Orlovke or Vernoye) was an airbase of the Soviet Air Defence Forces in Amur Oblast, Russia located 8 km north of Vernoye, in the Svobodny, Amur Oblast 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.^[1][2] Orlovka is a hardened airfield with a large central tarmac area.

Orlovka
Svobodny, Amur Oblast in Russia
Orlovka Shown within Amur Oblast Show map of Amur Oblast Orlovka Orlovka (Russia) Show map of Russia
Coordinates	51°15′48″N 128°43′12″E
Type	Air Base
Site information
Owner	Ministry of Defence
Operator	Russian Air Force
Site history
In use	1960 - 2001 (2001)
Airfield information
Identifiers	ICAO: XHBO
Elevation	259 metres (850 ft) AMSL
Runways Direction Length and surface 15/33 2,500 metres (8,202 ft) Concrete

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-23P (ASCC: Flogger) and then Sukhoi Su-27 (ASCC: Flanker). The regiment moved in from Ozernaya Pad - Kremovo, Primorskiy Kray in 1973; it was established originally in 1944.^[3] The regiment was disbanded in 2001 and its awards and honors transferred to the 23rd Fighter Aviation Regiment at Dzemgi.

References

1. SOVIET DEPLOYMENT AND DISPERSAL AIRFIELDS ALONG THE CHINA BORDER AND IN MONGOLIA, CIA-RDP78T05162A000200010005-4, Central Intelligence Agency, Washington, DC, August 1, 1971.
2. CABLE (SANITIZED) FROM NPIC, CIA-RDP78B03826A000500020069-3, Central Intelligence Agency, Washington, DC, July 16, 1971.
3. "404th Tallinskiy order of Kutuzov Fighter Aviation Regiment".