a
World Aviation Defense & Security News - Russia
 
 
Su-34 and MiG-31 fighter aircraft to be deployed in Franz Josef archipelago
 
A group of Mikoyan MiG-31 fighter jets or Sukhoi Su-34 frontline bombers will be based at an airfield on the Alexandra Land Island of the Franz Josef archipelago in the Arctic, Russian Northern Fleet Commander Vice-Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov said on Tuesday.
     
Su and MiG 31 fighter aircraft to be deployed in Franz Josef archipelago 640 001A RuAF Su-34 Fullback fighter jet
     
"A group of Su-34 frontline bombers or MiG-31 fighter jets, as well as Ilyushin Il-78 aerial refueling aircraft will be based there," Yevmenov said, addressing Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

According to the commander, the second-class runway is under construction now on the island. The runway will have a length of 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) and a width of 42 meters.

"The runway will receive two aerial refueling aircraft and a flight of fighter jets," Yevmenov said.

Shoigu visited the Alexandra Land Island to check units of the Northern Fleet’s Air and Air Defense Army and the construction of the Arctic Trefoil administrative and housing compound.

The Russian defense minister suggested designating the military facility on the Alexandra Land Island as Nagursky.

"This is the name of the local airfield. Let the base have the same name," Shoigu said during a working trip to the island.

The Alexandra Land Island is one of Russia’s northernmost points where the Northern Fleet’s air defense division has gone on combat duty since November 2014.

The personnel are so far accommodated at a temporary garrison with all necessary conditions for comfortable living.

A closed-cycle administrative and housing compound measuring more than 14,000 m2 is currently under construction on the island. The construction of all the facilities is planned to be completed in 2016.

The 31st Nagurskaya Separate Radar Company, part of the 3rd Radio Technical Regiment of the 4th Air Defense Division of the 10th Separate Air Defense Army, was deployed there in the middle of the 20th century.

The 31st Separate Radar Company and the 30th Separate Radar Company stationed on Graham Bell Island were the northernmost units of the Soviet Union’s Armed Forces. They were disbanded in the early 1990s.
     
© Copyright 2015 TASS. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 

,