Elevation AMSL 702 ft / 214 m 11,483 3,500 Elevation 214 m | 18/36 11,483 3,500 Concrete Operator Russian Navy | |
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Airport type Military Northern Fleet Location Olenegorsk, Murmansk Oblast | ||
Olenya (also Olenegorsk) is a major Russian Navy reconnaissance base, located on the Kola Peninsula 92 km south of Murmansk. The base and its staff settlement (known as Vysokiy; Russian: Высокий) across the Lake Permusozero from the city of Olenegorsk, and are served by the Olenegorsk rail station (formerly, Olenya station).
Olenya serves as the headquarters for 5 MRAD (Naval Reconnaissance Air Division) and is host to two reconnaissance regiments. Its 3500-meter runway is the longest on the Kola Peninsula, making it a key facility for intercontinental flights across the North Atlantic basin. Since the Cold War era it has served as a forward deployment field for the Russian Air Force and would have been a staging facility for nuclear strikes on the United States. During the 1960s Olenya was used as a refueling stop on the Moscow to Havana Tupolev Tu-114 route. As of 2006, Google Earth imagery showed nearly 40 Tupolev Tu-22M bombers on the airfield.
Military operations
Units stationed at the airfield since the 1990s include: