Shirak Military Airfield

Shiraki Military Airfield is located in the Dedoplistskaro municipality, near the village of Didi Shiraki.

The initiative to build an airfield in Big Shirak belongs to Lieutenant General Vladimir Naneishvili. He was the commander of the 34th Air Army of the Transcaucasian Military District in 1950. After taking off from the Telavi airfield, Naneishvili's "Boston" encountered technical problems and the general accidentally landed the twin-engine plane in a field near the Alazani River. Naneishvili liked this place so much that he made every effort to get Moscow to make a decision to build a military airfield in the Shirak Valley, near the villages of Zemo Kedi and Arkhiloskalo. Initially, the airfield did not have a concrete runway, which was not a big problem for basing internal combustion engine aircraft. Later, when jet-powered combat aircraft appeared en masse in Soviet aviation, concrete slabs were laid on the runway in Big Shirak. The Red Banner 168th Guards Fighter-Bomber Aviation Regiment named after Alexander Nevsky was stationed at the Big Shirak airfield, which until 1977 had three squadrons of Su-7B fighter-bombers. By the end of the 1970s, the already outdated Su-7Bs had been replaced by the modern Su-17 fighter-bombers. The Georgian section of the Soviet-Turkish state border was no more than 250 km from Big Shirak in a direct line, and fighter-bombers taking off from Kakheti could even drop bombs (including nuclear ones) on Trabzon and Erzurum. The name change was due to the fact that the regiment began to be rearmed with Su-24 front-line bombers in 1988, replacing the Su-17M3 fighter-bombers. By the beginning of 1992, there were 30 Su-24 front-line bombers in the Great Shirak, whose combat missions were increased compared to the Su-17M3s, not least because the 39.7-ton Su-24 taking off from the Great Shirak could carry 7 tons of bombs and missiles within a radius of 600 km. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in December 1991, the question arose of the immediate withdrawal of the regiment to Russia. By June 10, 1992, all 30 Su-24 bombers were flown from the Great Shirak to the Marinovka airfield in the North Caucasus. There are several underground bunkers on the territory of the air base, which were built for radio communication equipment and ammunition storage. Nowadays, the territory of the air base is used by shepherds as pasture, as well as for storing hay in hangars. There is a single, half-demolished fighter jet on the territory. Next to the air base is a military part of a military airfield, where a huge nuclear weapons storage facility is located. The territory is also completely abandoned there. There are many rumors that there is a huge underground tunnel system and several-story bunkers located here in Shirak. Unfortunately, or fortunately, the mentioned structures have not been discovered by us. It turns out that there was either never a bunker here at all, or their entrances are so reliably hidden and closed that you can only find them with special maps.

The above material and photos belong to Geo Stalk .