Russia has five active air bases near northern Finland and Norway....

Russia has five active air bases near northern Finland and Norway. In this thread, I will go through the bases and their recent changes in activity and infrastructure, and how the war in Ukraine has affected them.

There have been some surprising developments. 1/

The five air bases are located in Murmansk oblast: Severomorsk-1, -2 and -3, Monchegorsk and Olenya. There are more air bases near Finland further south in Karelia and St. Petersburg, but currently most of the largest and militarily active ones are in the north. 2/

In June 2022 Russia announced plans to repair several of the northern air bases. The work has begun. In Severomorsk-1, fighter shelters on the eastern side of the field were repaired somewhere between 2023-24. However, in Severomorsk-2, there are more surprising changes. 3/

Severomorsk-2, also known as the Safonovo air base, is an interesting case. It was shut down in 1998, but in 2022 it was reactivated as a helicopter base. In 2024 it was restored further. Currently fighter jets can’t operate from the field, but this can change in the future. 4/

The southern part of Severomorsk-2 is still seemingly not in use, but in the northern part helipads are active and overgrown areas are being cleaned from trees and bushes. In the images there are still several buildings in poor condition, they haven’t been renovated yet. 5/

In Severomorsk-3, the Russians have built several protective walls for fighters. Previously fighter jets were placed out in the open and sometimes in stacks, but now they’re spaced further apart. Many have been moved to the southern part of the field to individual shelters. 6/

At least seven of these structures have appeared on the airfield, all most likely built in 2024. One logical explanation would be that these are protective measures against Ukrainian long-range drones, which could, at some point, reach even the arctic airfields. 7/

In Olenya air base, also known as Olenogorsk, there haven’t been significant changes in the infrastructure. However, activity there has increased, as Russia has moved many Tu-95 strategic bombers to the field during the war to protect them from drone strikes. 8/

Strategic bombers frequently operate from the field against Ukraine, launching cruise missiles from afar. Ukraine has reportedly struck the base in July 2024, hitting a Tu-22M3 bomber. Olenya is located just under 1800 kilometers north of the Ukrainian border. 9/

The last on the list is Monchegorsk. No relevant changes have been observed in this field after the full-scale invasion. South of Monchegorsk, there is a gap in active military air bases near Finland, as the next one is located near Petrozavodsk, 700 kilometers away. 10/

This thread was done using open-source high-resolution satellite imagery (Google Earth & ESRI). We can also buy new commercial imagery, but unfortunately we can’t publish them in any convenient way because of the strict EULA terms. We’re looking for a solution for this. 11/

The imagery in this thread was from August 2024. We haven't seen indicators of very relevant changes in the air bases after that. We expect to see more developments and construction projects this summer, both in air bases and army bases in the Leningrad Military District. 12/

Our team at @Black_BirdGroup continues to monitor Russia’s actions near our borders and developments in the Leningrad Military District. We will, of course, also continue to monitor and analyze the war in Ukraine. 13/13