Smolensk North Airport (IATA: LNX, ICAO: UUBS) (Russian: военный аэродром "Смоленск-Северный", "Smolensk North Military Aerodrome") is a decommissioned military airbase in Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located 4 km north of the city of Smolensk. It is now used as Smolensk's sole airport for civil and military flights.[2] It has a remote revetment area with 8 pads and a Yakovlev factory at the southeast side of the airfield, the Smolensk Aviation Plant.
The airport was originally built in the 1920s, and it eventually became a class 1 airfield with a runway 2500 m long and 49 m wide, capable of handling planes over 75 tons in weight.[3]
Prior to 1991, it was home to the 401 IAP (401st Interceptor Aviation Regiment,[3] disbanded around 1990), flying MiG-23P aircraft, and the 871 IAP, flying MiG-23 and Su-27.
From 1946[3] until 2009, the base hosted an airlift unit, the 103 Gv VTAP (103rd Guards Military Air Transport Regiment, full name in Russian: 103-й гвардейский Красносельский Краснознамённый военно-транспортный авиационный полк имени Героя Советского Союза В. С. Гризодубовой),[4] flying Ilyushin Il-76 jets.[5][6] At one point, about 28 Il-76 aircraft were based there.
The regiment was disbanded in late 2009, and since then there have been no active units at the base except for a small airbase command post.[4]
The airfield has been functioning in part as a civilian airport since October 2009.[3]
On August 15, 2014, by order of the Government of the Russian Federation, the airfield was transferred from the state to the experimental one[clarification needed] and under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation.[7] (In fact, the transfer of the airfield began in 2019).
A Polish government Tu-154M Lux carrying President Lech Kaczyński, his wife, and an official delegation crashed during the final approach to the airport on 10 April 2010. All 96 aboard perished.[8]