Fedotovo, located near railway station Kipelovo on a major railway to St.Petersburg, is a
Russian Naval Aviationair base in
Russia located 44 km west of
Vologda. It is a large base for long-range aircraft, with 20 revetments in a remote area and large tarmac along parallel taxiway. Built in 1963, Fedotovo was an unnamed military town but took on the name of the first commander of 392 ODRAP, Lt. Col. A. S. Fedotov, who was killed in an aircraft crash in 1966. Fedotovo was a major source of
Tupolev Tu-95 and
Tupolev Tu-142 flights overshadowing the
United States Navy Atlantic Fleet. The base provided reconnaissance for the North Fleet Air Arm.[1]
The base is home to the 2nd Guards Aviation Group, 5th Independent Anti-submarine Aviation Squadron which uses the
Tupolev Tu-142MK/MR/MZ (ASCC: Bear).[2]
Units stationed at Kipelovo include:
392 ODRAP (In Russian: 392 ОДРАП - Отдельный Дальне Разведывательный Авиационный Полк - Otdyel'nyy Dal'nye Razvedyvatel'nyy Aviatsionnyy Polk = 392nd Independent Long-Range Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment) flying
Tupolev Tu-95RTs (Bear-D).[3] It was Fedotovo's first unit, beginning operations in 1963 and serving active duty with the Northern Fleet Air Arm and tasked with monitoring the activities of Western navies in the Arctic, participating in space program splashdowns, and conducting search-and-rescue activities.[1] Its aircraft were deployed regularly to
Cuba throughout the 1970s and to
Angola and
Guinea later in the decade.[1] A declassified
CIA document written in 1977 took note of these Atlantic deployments, stating that while they had little impact on the United States, they "contribute to the threat to Western naval forces operating in the Northern Atlantic Ocean".[4]
76 PLAPDD (In Russian: 76 ПЛАПДД - Противо Лодочный Авиационный Полк Дальнего Действия - Protivo Lodochnyy Aviatsionnyy Polk Dal'nyego Deystviya = 76th Long Range Anti-Submarine Aviation Regiment) flying 25
Tupolev Tu-142M (Bear-F) aircraft beginning in March 1970.[1][3] Though most of its operations ane exercises tracking the
United States Navy fleet took place in the
Atlantic Ocean and
Barents Sea, in 1976 and 1977 part of the unit participated in exercises with the Soviet Pacific Fleet and was based temporarily at its sister base Khorol.[1] In 1992 its personnel were deployed to
India to train Indian pilots on their new Tu-142MK-E aircraft.[1]
^The Significance of Soviet Tu-95RTs Bear D Deployments in West Africa. National Intelligence Interagency Intelligence Memorandum 77-010C (April 1977), TOP SECRET, declassified 1999. Central Intelligence Agency. 1977.