Lielvārde Air Base

Lielvārde (ICAO: EVGA) is a military air base in Rembate Parish, Ogre Municipality in the Vidzeme region of Latvia. It is located 7 kilometres (4 mi) north of Lielvārde and southeast of Riga.[1]

Lielvārde Air Base
Rembate Parish, Ogre Municipality in Latvia
Lielvārde is located in Latvia
Lielvārde
Lielvārde
Shown within Latvia
Coordinates56°46′42″N 024°51′12″E
Site information
OwnerLatvian National Armed Forces
OperatorLatvian Air Force
Site history
In useUnknown - present
Airfield information
IdentifiersICAO: EVGA
Elevation61 metres (200 ft) AMSL
Runways
Direction Length and surface
00/00 2,500 metres (8,202 ft) Concrete

History

Lielvārde was built in 1969 for a Soviet attack aircraft regiment.

In spring 1980, the 899th Fighter Aviation Regiment, part of the 1st Guards Stalingradsko-Berlinskaya Red Banner Fighter Aviation Division, 15th Air Army, moved from Riga-Rumbula in Latvia to Lielvārde.[2] In July 1981 the regiment was redesignated as a Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment, and shifted to the 39th Fighter-Bomber Aviation Division, still within the Air Forces, but now within the Air Forces of the Baltic Military District, as they had become in 1981. The 899th Regiment was withdrawn to Buturlinovka, Voronezh Oblast, in June–July 1993.

The base was transferred from Russia to Latvia in 1994. It now forms the core of operations for the Latvian Air Force.

Between 2007 and 2014 the air base underwent a major modernization, including the construction of a new administrative headquarters building opened in 2009, and a state-of-the-art runway and taxiways. In September 2016, Latvia's Defence Minister Raimonds Bergmanis said infrastructure at the air base was "being constructed and modernized at a fast pace"[3] in preparation for a Canadian-led multi-national NATO battalion expected to deploy to Latvia in the spring of 2017.[4]

In February 2022, 20 Boeing AH-64D/E Apaches from 1st Battalion (Attack Reconnaissance), 3rd Aviation Regiment, 12th Combat Aviation Brigade, United States Army Aviation Branch, United States Army arrived for NATO exercises.[5]

See also

References
  1. "Contact". Archived from the original on 2015-10-18. Retrieved 2015-10-31.
  2. Michael Holm, 899th Orshanskiy Red Banner order of Suvorov Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment im. F.E. Dzerzhinskiy, 2015.
  3. "NATO reinforcements to arrive early 2017". LSM Latvian Public Broadcasting. 8 September 2016. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
  4. "Multinational NATO battalion to arrive in Latvia in the spring - ambassador". LETA Latvian Information Agency. 9 June 2016. Retrieved 8 September 2016.
  5. AirForces Monthly. Stamford, Lincolnshire, England: Key Publishing Ltd. April 2022. p. 14.
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