Olenya (air base)



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; 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:
 * 924 MRAP (924th Naval Reconnaissance Air Regiment), operating Tupolev Tu-22M aircraft
 * 967 ODRAP (967th Long Range Air Reconnaissance Regiment), operating Tupolev Tu-22M aircraft
 * 88 OMAPIB (88th Separate Fighter Bomber Regiment), operating MiG-27 aircraft
 * OGA (Arctic Control Group), maintaining standby facilities for Tupolev Tu-95 bomber aircraft
 * '''458th IAP, MIG-31BM