Burevestnik Airport
Burevestnik (also Iturup; , Tennei-hikōjyō) is a military air base on Iturup Island, Russia, establishing the nation's presence on the disputed South Kuril Islands with the largest airfield in the region. It is also the former Soviet Union's most remote interceptor base. An Army helicopter combat support squadron was also stationed at the airfield in the early 1980s, providing limited fire support and transport capability. Burevestnik's communications and logistics were tied to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk and supplies were flown in weekly on Antonov An-12 aircraft. The base is home to a detachment of the 18th Army Aviation Brigade which flies the Mil Mi-8AMTSh under the 11th Air and Air Defence Forces Army. History During World War II, Burevestnik was a Japanese airfield known as Tennei Airfield. After Soviet re-occupation, as many as 100 aircraft were observed at any given time from 1945 to 1952. By the early 1960s, Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 and Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 jet fighters from the 308th Fighter Aviation Regiment PVO (IAP) were based at the airfield. In 1965, the runway was lengthened from 1930 m (6350 ft) to approximately 2500 m (8200 ft). During the 1970s, it flew Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21bis. Burevestnik's close proximity to Japan's highly populated Hokkaidō Island, by