Slatina Air Base

Slatina Air Base (Albanian: Aeroporti Sllatina; Serbian: Аеродром Слатина / Aerodrom Slatina), located at Pristina International Airport, contained the second largest military underground hangar complex in the former Yugoslavia. After the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, the airfield was used by KFOR.

Slatina Air Base
Summary
Airport typeMilitary/Public
Owner Kosovo
OperatorKFOR
ServesPristina
LocationSlatina
Elevation AMSL545 m / 1,789 ft
Coordinates42°34′22″N 021°02′09″E
Map
Slatina Air Base
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
17/35 2,501 8,210 Asphalt

Before the Yugoslav military withdrawal, Slatina was home to the 83rd Fighter Aviation Regiment and its 123rd and 124th squadrons. These squadrons were equipped with MiG-21 Bis and MiG-21 UM aircraft.[1]

Historical value of the air base

During the NATO's operation against Yugoslavia 83rd fighter squadron of Yugoslavian Air Forces was based in Slatina. It did not perform any sorties and suffered no losses from NATO aircraft during the 1999 bombings. Every single aircraft remained intact.[2]

The Slatina air base was a strategically important base which NATO had planned to use for airlifting of much of their military units in support of the UNSF Resolution 1244. Control over the airport was to be established on 12 June 1999 though on that first night the air base was seized by a battalion of Russian paratroopers.[3]

The air base is featured in the 2019 action film The Balkan Line.[4]

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See also

References
  1. Dimitrijević, Bojan. Jugoslovensko Ratno Vazduhoplovstvo 1942–1992. Beograd, 2006, p. 362.
  2. The Air Forces of Serbia. Aircraft and astronautics, № 9, 2007.
  3. Throw to Kosovo (Lang. RU) Archived 2011-10-04 at the Wayback Machine
  4. The Balkan Line (2019) - IMDb



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