Fürstenwalde Airport

Military Decommissioning. The airport was a major Soviet/Russian airbase. Following the reunification of Germany in 1990, a treaty was signed for the withdrawal of all Soviet forces. The Russian Air Force ceased flight operations in 1993 and fully vacated the site by mid-1994, handing it over to German authorities. The German military (Bundeswehr) had no operational need for the base, leading to its permanent closure and demilitarization.

The former airport site has been completely repurposed. The most prominent use is for renewable energy production. A significant portion of the airfield, including its main runway and taxiways, has been covered with solar panels, creating one of Germany's largest photovoltaic power plants, known as the **Solarpark Fürstenwalde**. The vast, hardened concrete surfaces of the old airfield proved ideal for this conversion. Some of the remaining paved areas and hangars are used for industrial storage, logistics, and occasionally for events like driver safety training or automotive testing.

The airfield has significant military history spanning from the Nazi era through the Cold War.

1. **Luftwaffe Era (1930s-1945):** Originally constructed in the mid-1930s as a base for the German Luftwaffe. It primarily served as a flight school (Flugzeugführerschule A/B 3) for training pilots. Towards the end of World War II, it was used by operational combat units, including elements of fighter wings (Jagdgeschwader) and bomber wings (Kampfgeschwader).

2. **Soviet Air Force Era (1945-1994):** After WWII, the airfield was taken over by the Soviet Air Forces and became a key frontline airbase for the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany (GSFG). It was home to various fighter and fighter-bomber regiments of the 16th Air Army. For decades, it housed advanced Soviet aircraft, including the MiG-15, MiG-17, MiG-21, MiG-23, and, in its final years, the formidable MiG-29 'Fulcrum'. The base played a critical role in the Warsaw Pact's air defense posture, with its units on high alert throughout the Cold War. It was purely a military installation and handled no civil or commercial traffic.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening Fürstenwalde Airport for aviation purposes. The extensive and permanent installation of the solar park on the core operational areas (runways and taxiways) makes a future conversion back to a functional airport economically and logistically unfeasible. The region's aviation needs are served by Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) for commercial traffic and smaller airfields like Strausberg (EDAZ) for general aviation.