Amari Airport
| Ämari Lennuväli | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
|||
| Characteristics | |||
| ICAO code | EEEI | ||
| IATA code | not applicable | ||
| Coordinates | |||
| Height above MSL | 20 m (66 ft ) | ||
| Transport links | |||
| Distance from the city center | 14 km west of Keila , Harju County | ||
| Basic data | |||
| opening | 1945 | ||
| operator | Estonian Ministry of Defense | ||
| surface | 930 ha | ||
| Start-and runway | |||
| 06/24 | 2750 m × 45 m | ||
The Ämari Airport ( Estonian : Ämari lennuväli ) is a military airfield in Estonia . It is in the area of the village Ämari (German outdated: Habbinem ) in the rural community Lääne-Harju . Ämari is the most important base of the Estonian Air Force and meanwhile also the second base for Air Policing Baltic States .
history
The airfield , alternatively known as Suurküla lennuväli , was used by the Red Army from 1939 to 1941 . The German Air Force followed from 1941 to 1944 . The Soviet air forces used the airfield from 1944 to 1994 permanently and mostly for their front-line aircraft. Up until 1947, battle and reconnaissance pilots of the naval forces with IL-2 , PBN-1 Nomad and escort fighters Jak-9P were stationed here. This was followed by fighter pilots of the air force and air defense with Jak-17UTI , MiG-15 and MiG-17 . From 1960 to 1967, the Navy was stationed here again with a regiment that used Mi-4 and Ka-15 helicopters . Between 1967 and 1984 the 88th Fighter Bombing Regiment with MiG-17, MiG-21PFM and MiG-27D was stationed here. Atomic bombs have been kept ready on the airport grounds since around 1975 . In 1977 the 312nd Fighter Bombing Regiment with Su-7BKL / BKM was added . With the conversion to Su-24 in 1983, it was reorganized as a front bomb pilot regiment. From 1989 to 1994 it was subordinate to the Naval War Fleet and since 1991 it has been designated as the 170th Guards Naval Battle Aviation Regiment.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union and Estonian independence was regained, Ämari was initially used by the Russian air force as a military airfield from 1991 to 1994 and then became the property of the Republic of Estonia. Since October 2000, the base has been responsible for the country's military airspace surveillance within the framework of BaltNet and, since joining NATO in 2004, also for NATIENADS ( NATO Integrated Extended Air Defense System ).
In 2009 a comprehensive renovation of the airfield, financially supported by NATO, was decided. The planned measures included the construction of a new fuel storage facility and the modernization of the runway. In addition, terminals and a hook-catching system for combat aircraft were to be renovated or built, and an instrument landing system and other navigation systems were to be installed by 2012 . On September 15, 2010, President Toomas Hendrik Ilves officially opened the new runway, which is 2750 m long and 45 m wide and complies with NATO standards . The defense alliance paid 45 million of the total renovation costs of 96 million euros through the NATO Security Investment Program . With this sum, the construction project is considered to be the most expensive in the history of Estonia to date.
use
Military use
After the military airfield was abandoned by Russia, the Estonian Air Force initially stationed various units of its own (helicopters and airplanes) on the base. As part of the extensive modernization, Ämari was also upgraded for larger fighter jet formations of the NATO partners.
The swarms of allied fighter planes that were previously only stationed in Lithuania as part of the “ Air Policing Baltic States ”, which monitor the Baltic airspace , have been using Ämari since 2014. For this purpose, once the modernization is complete, the base can accommodate up to 16 NATO aircraft at the same time. For the period since October 2010, Estonia has already had an agreement with the alliance that Allied fighter jets will undertake training flights in Ämari. In May 2014 the base was used regularly by four Danish aircraft for the first time. As already announced in April 2014, the existing staff would have had to be more than doubled for continuous use of the base as a NATO base. With the 170 men at the time, the necessary framework conditions could only be maintained for four months at a time. Due to the continuous use since 2014, however, it can be assumed that this problem has been resolved in the meantime (by transferring foreign staff and / or hiring own staff).
Civil use
Besides the importance as a base for NATO fighter jets, also has been logistics - Battalion ( Logistikapataljon ) stationed the Estonian armed forces on the grounds of the base. In addition, the airfield will be used by civil aviation and serve as a replacement runway for Tallinn Airport .
Web links
- Airport website (English, Estonian)
- Airport data on World Aero Data ( 2006 )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Combat Aircraft in March 2015: "ALL FOR ONE, ONE FOR ALL! GERMAN EUROFIGHTERS AT ÄMARI" (S. Büttner, A. Golz)
- ↑ Prospectus ( Memento of the original from December 22, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Opening of Ämari Air Base traffic area
- ↑ NATO will finance the modernization of Ämari
- ↑ a b c Soviet bomber base near Tallinn soon serves as a civil airport
- ↑ a b NATO air force gets comfortable runway near the Russian border
- ↑ Press release of the Estonian Air Force on the stationing of the machines (Estonian)
- ^ Announcement of the Estonian Radio from April 4, 2014, accessed on July 4, 2014 (English)
