Russian Naval Air Station totally destroyed

[RichC]

An Air Station outside of Moscow has been totally destroyed by bush fires. It happened on the 29th July but has only come to light on the 3rd August.
Over 200 aircraft have been destroyed which has been stated as Jets and helicopters.
Thirteen aircraft storage facilities were also burnst to the ground each with differing aircraft within them. All the HQ, Carparks with vehicles in and pretty much every building has been destroyed.
A secret area of the 100 hectre site was also engulfed.
It was said that the 100 hectres went up in just 10 minutes.

This has come from Itar-tass news agency.

Also of note, the bush fires have had 25,000 fire engines trying to contain them all over Russia.

[urkles]

Over 200 aircraft? Surely some could have been flown out? Even so, this is terrible news for the service personnel and their families, unbelievable

[RichC]

Here is the facility:- Taken from the Itar-Tass.

Central Aerotechnical Base (CAB) of the Russian Navy Air Force and Air Defense is located on the outskirts of the
town of Kolomna (Shurovo District in Moscow Region).

The main tasks of the military unit are receiving, storing and processing aerial, hydrographic and navigating equipment coming from industrial
enterprises, aviation and technical units, military schools and repair facilities of the Navy.

Russian Northern Fleet, Pacific Fleet, Baltic Fleet, Black Sea Fleet, the Caspian flotilla, the St. Petersburg Naval Base, units of the Russian Navy
Air Forces, received maintenance at the CAB for 60 years.

No more. The fire completely destroyed this largest military base of the Russian Navy.

[MacksAviation]

From another report:
===========================
Official spokesman for Investigations Committee, Vladimir Markin, confirmed that an initial inquiry into the fire is being conducted by the military investigations department. The fire occurred on Thursday 29 July. It took place at about 04:00 pm on the storage base of aviation and technical equipment belonging to the Russian Navy, which is located near the town of Kolomna, Moscow Region, Markin said to the Moscow Interfax news agency.
He said nothing about 200 jets and helicopters and $ 670 million damage, but pointed out that the HQ, a financial unit, a club, two buildings of the car park, 13 storage facilities with different aircraft, 17 open storage areas for equipment with cars on them, were burnt down.
===========================
Looking on Google maps at the area detailed I have found an airfield with approx 40 Mig29 looking aircraft in open storage and a couple of Helo's but its appears to be far from a Davis-Monthan type facility.

[headset 57]

http://translate.google.de/translate?u= ... =&ie=UTF-8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Thunder]

Can anyone find this base on Google Earth. I've tried but to no avail.

[RichC]

Over 200 aircraft? Surely some could have been flown out? Even so, this is terrible news for the service personnel and their families, unbelievable

It's the Russian Navies primary maintenance facility for aircraft so i doubt they couldn't fly out much of them...

[T_J]

Can anyone find this base on Google Earth. I've tried but to no avail.

The following should take you to the area.

http://wikimapia.org/#lat=55.0642386&lo ... 15&l=0&m=b" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

TJ

[RichC]

The actual airfield is here:-
55° 54' 29.91"N 39°01'54.91"

It has 40 x Mig29K's? on the deck lined up and lots of storage hangars. And a few helicopters. Quite a shabby looking place but then they all are aren't they. Seems the most damage was done to those inside the buildings... Google Earth imagery was taken last year so relatively new.

The Navy dockyard and the vehicle storage facility is further to the north west, where T_J has marked the above post.

It seems perhaps both may have gone up... as the whole area was over-run by the bush fire. Not sure.

[MacksAviation]

Can anyone find this base on Google Earth. I've tried but to no avail.

Type in Kolomna to googlemaps and go SE out of the city following the M5 and you should find the airfield I was talking about near Lukhovitsy.

It's the only one I have found in the vicinity of the town mentioned in the reports and as I said it appears to be storing 40'ish aircraft.

Dave

[JAWS]

Can anyone find this base on Google Earth. I've tried but to no avail.

Type in Kolomna to googlemaps and go SE out of the city following the M5 and you should find the airfield I was talking about near Lukhovitsy.

It's the only one I have found in the vicinity of the town mentioned in the reports and as I said it appears to be storing 40'ish aircraft.

Dave

Dave I believe that particular base is this : http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ ... ovitsy.htm

I have looked on the ITAR-TASS website and I can not find the story on there. I have however found reports on other sites that the Russian Government is denying the statements that they have lost 200 + aircraft in the fire. They say the facility stores parts for aircraft, also when looking at the facility on Google there is no runway nearby to fly these aircraft in or out of, not to mention that there are no aircraft in open store there as far as I can see. There is the above mentioned airfield ( 15.5 km away ) or a small grass strip ( about 4-5 km ).

[MacksAviation]

Can anyone find this base on Google Earth. I've tried but to no avail.

Type in Kolomna to googlemaps and go SE out of the city following the M5 and you should find the airfield I was talking about near Lukhovitsy.

It's the only one I have found in the vicinity of the town mentioned in the reports and as I said it appears to be storing 40'ish aircraft.

Dave

Dave I believe that particular base is this : http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ ... ovitsy.htm

I have looked on the ITAR-TASS website and I can not find the story on there. I have however found reports on other sites that the Russian Government is denying the statements that they have lost 200 + aircraft in the fire. They say the facility stores parts for aircraft, also when looking at the facility on Google there is no runway nearby to fly these aircraft in or out of, not to mention that there are no aircraft in open store there as far as I can see. There is the above mentioned airfield ( 15.5 km away ) or a small grass strip ( about 4-5 km ).

I agree Steve the airfield I indicated is Lukhovitsy but obviously with initial reports stating 200aircraft etc etc it looked like a reasonable option due to the proximity to the town mentioned in reports and seeing 40 odd Mig29's in the open. I suspect we will never really know the truth we are talking about Russia after all.

BUT

The loss of a few aircraft is nothing to the loss of life and personal property that has occurred in the area and none of us should lose sight of that fact.

Dave

[T_J]

Looking through posts from various Russian enthusiasts on other forums it is not an airfield, but simply a Russian Naval Air logistics facility.

http://wikimapia.org/#lat=55.0642386&lo ... 15&l=0&m=b" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?i= ... =EUR&s=LAN" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

'Forest fires plaguing Russia destroyed a naval logistics base outside Moscow, torching aeronautical equipment and vehicles, investigators said Aug. 3.

The fire at the base in Kolomna, southeast of the capital, destroyed the staff headquarters, financial department, 13 warehouses containing aeronautical equipment and 17 storage areas containing vehicles, a statement from the committee investigating the blaze said.

"The base was affected by forest fires on July 29 and the blaze was contained on July 30 without any casualties," according to the statement.

An investigation was underway to establish the extent of the damage and the exact circumstances leading to the blaze, the statement said.

The fire was first reported by tabloid news website Life News, which cited sources saying the base was entirely destroyed with 200 planes torched and losses estimated at 20 billion rubles (about $670 million).

Strategic sites have not been spared from the advance of the fires, which have killed at least 40 people amid an unprecedented heatwave.

Hundreds of emergency workers are being sent to the city of Sarov, the location of Russia's main nuclear research facility, to ensure the top-secret site is not damaged by fires on the city's outskirts.'

TJ

[RichC]

Here is the vehicle/componant storage facility near the river


and here is the aircraft maintenance facility airfield with 40 Mig29s lined up and a couple of Hips and other types.


They are 11 miles apart. The airfield is 11 miles south south east of the first facility. The whole area is covered in brush/forests together with quite populated areas again surrounded.

Conflicting reports as above suggest with one report saying an air facility with aircraft in the hangars and vehicles in storage areas and another states vehicles in storage and components. It seems the news has confused both facilities.
However the first report does state it was a 100 hectre area which went up in just 10mins. The first storage facility looks more like 100 hectres. The airfield is much larger.

[T_J]

Thanks for posting the images, Rich.

If it was Lukhovitsy (MiG production facility) and the MiG-29s and other Fulcrum types destroyed then it would be an even bigger story that couldn't be covered up. That would mean the Indian MiG-29K programme set back along with other Fulcrum export orders.

Recent Russian report naming the destroyed logistics base by its depot number 2512.

http://english.ruvr.ru/2010/08/04/14555380.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Medvedev holds meeting on fire safety measures

'Several senior Navy officers have been sacked by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev after a devastating fire occurred at a Kolomna naval base outside Moscow. The head of state reprimanded Navy Commander Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky accusing him of incompetence. Today, he delivered a speech at a Security Council meeting on additional fire safety measures for the country’s strategic facilities. Ilya Kharlamov reports.

The President emphasized that the fire in the Moscow region has entailed drastic consequences. A preliminary investigation of the incident has already been carried out within the country’s Defense Ministry.

The incident stems from the non-fulfillment of service duties and criminal negligence. It is unclear where commanders of the Kolomna were when the fire occurred. Therefore, I’ve made this decision on the Navy leadership. I have reprimanded Navy Chief Admiral Vysotsky and his deputy Alexander Tatarinov for incompetence, sacked Deputy Chief of the Logistic Support System Sergeyev, Navy Aviation Chief Kuklev, deputy chief of naval aviation Colonel Rasskazov, and the chief of base 2512. ......'

http://eng.kremlin.ru/transcripts/724" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

'Regarding the Navy’s senior command: Navy Commander in Chief Admiral [Vladimir] Vysotsky is reprimanded for incompetence; Naval Chief of Staff and First Deputy Commander in Chief [Alexander] Tatarinov is reprimanded for incompetence; Deputy Chief of Naval Logistics and Support [Sergei] Sergeyev is dismissed; Chief of Naval Aviation [Nikolai] Kuklev is dismissed; Deputy Chief of Naval Aviation Colonel [Sergei] Rasskazov is dismissed; Acting Deputy Chief of Naval Aviation Logistics and Support [Mikhail] Monakov is dismissed; the commander of base 2512 is dismissed.'

TJ

[RichC]

Hmm, seems to be a major cover up whatever it is. Notice some sentences/words in that you have posted above T_J...
For example... they keep mentioning Naval Aviation. All the top brass in charge of Russias Naval Aviation have been sacked. Including the Storage etc.

If it was just a components and vehicle storage facility (as in the first picture above) then surely all the chief of staff, naval aviation officers etc would not be sacked?

I think there was an aweful lot of aircraft involved in the fire. Initial reports did state large storage buildings/hangars with aircraft of differing types inside burnt to the ground.

Interesting to get more info in the coming days... theres more to the first facility that meets the eye i think.

[T_J]

News footage from outside the Kolomna Naval logistics base.

http://www.vesti.ru/videos?vid=293536" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

From the video it appears that the area filmed is the base entrance. Note road and small gate house.

Cross hair over gate house building on following map.

http://wikimapia.org/#lat=55.0679279&lo ... 19&l=0&m=b" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

TJ

[RichC]

Looks a bit of a mess doesn't it... no doubt, no aircraft in that area unless there was some that had been roaded in by low loader.... looks like it was indeed just vehicle storage and parts.

[T_J]

Looks a bit of a mess doesn't it... no doubt, no aircraft in that area unless there was some that had been roaded in by low loader.... looks like it was indeed just vehicle storage and parts.

I would agree. I think that the initial 200 aircraft destroyed reports were just media hype. It set people off looking for a naval airfield. That aside there must have been a massive loss of aero spares in that facility to result in the sackings and reprimands?

TJ

[RichC]

I think there is more to the story than the media knows. For that many top brass to be sacked immediately, that facility may have something else in there that could have turned into a disaster perhaps? Who knows. Not many people know about the facility which is named with a "number".

Can't see top brass that high being sacked over vehicles being destroyed and companents. I'm sure they wouldn't have "all" of the navies components in that facility. I reckon something else was being stored there.