Krichev (air base)

Krichev Krychaw
Krychaw, Klimavichy District, Mogilev Region in Belarus
Krichev Shown within Belarus
Coordinates	53°44′05″N 031°55′02″E / 53.73472°N 31.91722°E / 53.73472; 31.91722
Type	Air Base
Site information
Owner	Armed Forces of Belarus
Site history
Built	1949 (1949)
In use	1949–1993 (1993)
Airfield information
Identifiers	ICAO: ZF19
Elevation	174 metres (571 ft) AMSL
Runways Direction Length and surface 04/22 2,500 metres (8,202 ft) Concrete

Krichev is a military air base in the Mogilev Region, Belarus. It is located in Klimavichy District, 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) east of the city of Krychaw. The base served the interceptor air defense role for the Soviet Air Defence Force, hosted by the 28th Fighter Aviation Regiment, 2nd Air Defence Corps, Moscow Air Defence District.^[1]

Krichev had been observed by 1957 by Western Lockheed U-2 overflights.^[2] The 28th IAP operated the Sukhoi Su-9 (NATO: Fishpot) regiment in the 1960s and 1970s.^[3] By 1981, the regiment was one of four in the USSR still operating the Su-9 but its facilities were being upgraded,^[3] and it received the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 (NATO: Foxbat) in the mid-1980s.

The base was closed in 1993, after the Cold War, and the aviation regiment was disbanded.^[4] All the buildings were razed to the ground; little remains except for the overgrown runway.^[5]