Shaykovka (air base)

Shaykovka (Шайковка; State airfields index: ЬУБЙ), also given variously as Kirov Shaykovka, Anisovo Gorod, Anisovo Gorodishche, Shaykovo, Shajkovka, Gorodische, Chaikovka, is an airbase of the Russian Aerospace Forces in Kaluga Oblast, Russia located 17 km north of Kirov, Kaluga Oblast. It is a large airfield with hangars and an extensive alert area for fighters. Appears the runway overrun was being built to extend the runway to 3000 m. In 2000, Tupolev Tu-160, Tupolev Tu-95MS, and Tupolev Tu-22M3 aircraft operated out of this base during a training exercise. The Natural Resources Defense Council listed the base as a nuclear site in a study.

As of 2020, the 52nd Heavy Bomber Regiment of the 22nd Guards Heavy Bomber Division was still reported resident at the base flying Tu-22M3 Backfires. In 2021 Tu-22M3 Backfires from the base forward deployed to Russian bases in Syria for operations and exercises in the region.

History
The airfield was built by 1937, when the 13th Separate High-Speed Bomber Aviation Squadron of the Air Forces of the Belorussian Military District with Tupolev SB bombers was stationed there.

Units stationed here have included the 73rd gv. iap (73-й гв. иап: гвардейский истребительный авиационный полк - 73rd Guards Interceptor Aviation Regiment) flying Mikoyan MiG-29 aircraft in the 1990s and 2000s; and the 52nd gv. tbap (152-й гв. тбап: гвардейский тяжелый бомбардировочный авиаполк - 52nd Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment) flying Tupolev Tu-16 bombers, taking on 19 Tupolev Tu-22M aircraft starting in 1982, and transitioning to an ITBAP (Instructor Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment) in 1989.

Russian invasion of Ukraine
On 27 June 2022, the Russian Armed Forces fired two Kh-22 anti-ship missiles into central Kremenchuk, Poltava Oblast, Ukraine, hitting the Amstor shopping mall and the Kredmash road machinery plant. A fire broke out; the attack killed at least 20 people and injured at least 56. The anti-ship missiles were launched from Russian Tu-22M3 strategic bombers that took off from the Shaykovka air base.

On 7 October 2022 there were reports of a kamikaze drone attack on the air base, destroying two Tu-22M3 bombers.