New satellite imagery reveals Russia is constructing massive hardened hangars at the Engels-2 strategic air base to protect its bomber fleet from ongoing long-range Ukrainian drone attacks.<\/p>\n
Satellite imagery captured by Planet Labs on July 20 reveals the construction of large concrete structures at Engels-2, a primary facility for Russia’s 22nd Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Division. These structures represent a departure from traditional military doctrine, which previously favored rapid takeoff and dispersal over physical hardening for strategic bombers.<\/p>\n
Historically, strategic bombers were stored at deep-interior bases and maintained in open configurations as per disarmament treaties. However, persistent Ukrainian strikes since late 2022 have rendered these aircraft vulnerable, forcing the Russian military to relocate most of its Tu-160 and Tu-95 fleet to distant bases in Olenya and Ukrainka.<\/p>\n
The construction at Engels-2 includes 17 building sites in varying stages of development. The hangars are sized to accommodate both Tu-160 and Tu-95 bombers, positioned along a new loop taxiway. The design suggests a significant capital investment, though the final level of blast resistance\u2014whether full earth-covered bunkers or lighter reinforced shelters\u2014remains unclear.<\/p>\n
While Russia has experimented with lightweight modular shelters, the scale and permanence of the work at Engels-2 indicate a more robust objective. Recent emergency shelters built for Su-34 tactical aircraft at other bases were simple metal sheds designed to counter small drone munitions and shrapnel, but the Engels-2 project reflects a more systematic attempt to mitigate the logistical strain of operating from remote, less efficient airfields.<\/p>\n
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New satellite imagery reveals Russia is constructing massive hardened hangars at the Engels-2 strategic air base to protect its bomber fleet from ongoing long-range Ukrainian drone attacks. A Tactical Shift for Strategic Bombers Satellite imagery captured by Planet Labs on July 20 reveals the construction of large concrete structures at Engels-2, a primary facility for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poland-today"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5487\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bizonews.com\/pl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}