{"id":50511,"date":"2023-02-18T23:39:32","date_gmt":"2023-02-18T22:39:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/?p=50511"},"modified":"2025-02-18T00:21:06","modified_gmt":"2025-02-17T23:21:06","slug":"an-unusual-graveyard-of-tupolev-tu-22m-supersonic-bombers-in-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/2023\/02\/18\/an-unusual-graveyard-of-tupolev-tu-22m-supersonic-bombers-in-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"An unusual graveyard of Tupolev Tu-22M supersonic bombers in Russia"},"content":{"rendered":"

The disappearance of the Soviet Union in 1991 also meant a considerable reduction in the resources of that former military power.<\/p>\n

A tour of an abandoned factory of Russian MiG fighters in the city of Moscow<\/a><\/rel>
\nA Soviet IS-3 heavy tank of the World War II abandoned on a hill in the Kuril Islands<\/a><\/rel><\/p>\n

Russia was not able to maintain all the land, air and naval resources that the USSR had, and this meant the abandonment of many old military bases<\/strong>. In some cases, that meant abandoning really good planes, like the ones we're dealing with today.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Vozdvizhenka Air Base was founded in 1933<\/strong> next to that town in Primorsky Krai, a region of eastern Russia that borders North Korea. In the 1960s, this base was the only one east of the Ural Mountains that housed Tupolev Tu-22 bombers<\/strong>, capable of carrying nuclear weapons.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In the 1970s, this base received the latest Tupolev Tu-22M<\/strong>, supersonic bombers with variable geometry wings: the Soviet equivalent of the American B-1B Lancer.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Tu-22Ms were assigned to the 444th Regiment <\/strong> of the 324th Heavy Bombardment Aviation Division of the Soviet Air Force.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In 1974, Vozdvizhenka was the place chosen for the meeting between US President Gerald Ford and Soviet dictator Leonid Brezhnev<\/strong>, who arrived at the base in their respective planes.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

After the fall of the USSR, the Russian Air Force retained the 444th Regiment based at Vozdvizhenka.<\/strong> However, economic problems and reduced forces led Russia to reduce almost the fifth part of its fleet of 497 Tu-22Ms.<\/strong> These problems seriously affected the 444th Regiment, but despite everything it managed to continue its activity.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In 1997, the Alexander Nevsky Heavy Bombardment Aviation Regiment was transferred to Vozdvizhenka<\/strong>, merging with the 444th Regiment.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In June 2009, the cuts reached the Vozdvizhenka Air Base.<\/strong> The bombers that were still in service were transferred to the Belaya Air Base, in Usolye-Sibirskoye, in south-eastern Siberia. On August 22 of that year the Regiment said goodbye to its Flag and on December 1 the unit was dissolved.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Inoperative Tupolex Tu-22Ms were scrapped, in some cases, or abandoned at Vozdvizhenka<\/strong>, turning this base into an unlikely graveyard of supersonic bombers.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A total of 18 Tu-22M3s remained at Vozdvizhenka<\/strong> waiting to be scrapped, slowly falling apart over time due to the deactivation of the base.<\/p>\n

---<\/p>\n

Source of the photos: KFSS.ru<\/a> \/ Abandoned Spaces<\/a> \/ Alchetron<\/a>.<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The disappearance of the Soviet Union in 1991 also meant a considerable reduction in the resources of that former military power.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[19536,16877],"tags":[10731,11372,16110,18516],"class_list":["post-50511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-we-said-yesterday","category-ruins","tag-russia","tag-russian-air-force","tag-tupolev-tu-22m","tag-vozdvizhenka-air-base"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-15 13:37:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50511"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50511\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.outono.net\/elentir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}