Airport type Public / Military Location Kant, Kyrgyzstan 11/29 2,700 Elevation 777 m | Operator Russian Air Force Elevation AMSL 2,549 ft / 777 m 2,700 8,859 Owner Ministry of Defence | |
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Kant Air Base (Russian: Авиабаза Кант Aviabaza Kant) is a military air base in Ysyk-Ata District of Chuy Oblast in Kyrgyzstan. It is located just south of the city of Kant, some 20 km east of downtown Bishkek.
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History
In 1941, a Soviet Air Force base and pilot training school were set up near the city of Kant, based on a school evacuated from Odessa.
During World War II, 1507 Soviet military pilots were trained there and from 1956, the school also trained foreign pilots. Among its graduates were Egyptian former president Hosni Mubarak and the late Syrian president Hafez al-Assad, as well as India's Air Chief Marshal Dilbagh Singh and South Yemen Colonel Pilot Shakeeb Khobani.
In 1992, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, control of the air base was transferred to Kyrgyzstan.
Present-day Russian base
In accordance with a bilateral agreement between Russia and Kyrgyzstan signed on 22 September 2003, the air base hosts Russian Air Force units. The official opening took place on 23 October 2003, making the facility the first new air base Russia opened abroad since 1991. The unit stationed there has been described as Russian Air Force's 5th Air Army's 999th Air Base.
In December 2012, Kyrgyzstan agreed to lease the base to Russia for fifteen years (with an option for an automatic extension for an additional five years) after the Russian government agreed to reduce some Kyrgyz debt by some $500 million.