Chuguyevka (air base)

Chuguyevka (also written in various references as Chuguevka, Sandagou, Sikharovka (erroneous), Sakharovka (erroneous), Sokolovka, and Bulyga-Fadeyevo) is a military air base in Primorski Krai, Russia. The base's primary objective was to scramble aircraft against SR-71 flights over Vladivostok. The primary operator was 530 IAP (530th Interceptor Aviation Regiment) of the 11 OA PVO. During the 1960s it flew MiG-17 aircraft, and by the 1970s as SR-71 flights became an issue of concern it acquired 36 MiG-25P Foxbat planes. By the 1990s it phased them out with MiG-31.

The base rose to prominence in September 1976 when a MiG-25 from Chuguyevka, piloted by Victor Belenko, defected to Hakodate, Japan. This incident was a major security breach for the Soviet Union. Currently, Google Earth high-resolution imagery shows at least 20 MiG-25 and MiG-31 aircraft on the airfield.