Off the wire
• Nepal's national flag carrier starts scheduled flight of newly arrived MA60 plane  • Japan wins women's ice hockey at Winter Asiad    • Across China: A Chinese factory worker's long run to Boston  • Pakistani forces kill 4 terrorists, arrest 600 suspects: army  • Key regional summit to focus on connectivity: Pakistani PM adviser  • Vietnamese embassy in Malaysia visits Vietnamese passport holder related to killing of DPRK man  • Lock-up shares worth 35.5 billion yuan eligible for trade  • Burkina Faso kicks off cinema festival  • News Analysis: Oscar expected to brace for more political speeches  • Faster train route links NW China logistics hub to Kazakhstan  
You are here: 　 Home

Russia to modernize five military airfields

Xinhua, February 25, 2017 Adjust font size:

Russia will upgrade five military airports in the country's southwest and the Far East in the coming three years, Russian Aerospace Forces Commander Viktor Bondarev said Saturday.

The infrastructure overhaul comes amid increased military presence of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization near Russian borders and renewed Pacific islands disputes with Japan.

"We plan to conduct research this year and start to renovate the Ukrainka airfield in the Amur region next year," Bondarev was quoted by RIA Novosti news agency as saying.

Overhaul is already underway at the Step airfield in Zabaikalsky, at Mozdok in Northern Ossetia and at Baltimor in Voronezh, said the commander, adding that the reconstruction of the Engels airbase near Saratov is already in its second phase.

All the upgrade work will be completed by the end of 2019, he added.

The airfields modernization is part of a large-scale rearmament program between 2010 to 2020, which is expected to cost Russia enormous funds. Endi