Ostrov air base
| Ostrov Veretie Veretye | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ostrov, Pskov Oblast | |||||||
Satellite imagery of Ostrov air base | |||||||
| Site information | |||||||
| Type | Army Aviation airfield | ||||||
| Owner | Russian Ministry of Defense | ||||||
| Operator | Russian Aerospace Forces | ||||||
| Controlled by | 6th Air and Air Defence Forces Army | ||||||
| Location | |||||||
| Coordinates | 57°18′0″N 28°26′0″E / 57.30000°N 28.43333°E | ||||||
| Site history | |||||||
| Built | 1940 | ||||||
| In use | 1940- | ||||||
| Airfield information | |||||||
| Elevation | 67 metres (220 ft) AMSL | ||||||
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Ostrov (Russian: Веретье ("Veret"); also Ostrov-5, Gorokhovka) is a Russian Aerospace Forces air base in Pskov Oblast, Russia located 7 km southeast of Ostrov and 57 km south of Pskov. It was subordinate to the Baltic Fleet and was a nuclear bomber facility with 15 very large revetments on the east side of the airfield and about 30 small revetments on the west side. As many as 63 Tupolev Tu-16s were based here. A US intelligence analysis in 1984 identified a normal complement of 52 Tu-16 aircraft at Ostrov. The base hosted the Russian Navy's 444th Center for Combat Employment and Retraining of Personnel Naval Aviation.
The base is now home to the 15th Army Aviation Brigade which was formed during 2013. The brigade operates Ka-52, Mi-28N, Mi-35M, Mi-26 and Mi-8 MTV-5.
NASA's FIRMS imagery indicates that the 3,480 metres long runway has been constructed by hardening the overrun of a pre-existing 2,500 metres long runway, similarly to the Shaykovka air base.