Kitsa Airfield

The closure was a direct result of military restructuring and force reduction within the Russian Air Force after the end of the Cold War. The 941st Fighter Aviation Regiment, the sole operator at the base, was disbanded in 2001, which eliminated the operational need for the airfield.

The airfield is completely abandoned and in a state of severe disrepair. Satellite imagery shows the main runway, extensive taxiways, and numerous hardened aircraft shelters (revetments) are still visible but are crumbling and being reclaimed by nature, with vegetation growing through cracks in the concrete. The technical facilities, barracks, and support buildings are derelict and decaying. The site is not used for any aviation purposes and stands as a relic of the Cold War. The adjacent military town (posyolok) of Pushnoy remains inhabited, but the airfield itself is inactive.

Kitsa Airfield was a significant strategic military base for the Soviet and later Russian Air Defence Forces (PVO). Its primary mission was to provide air defense for the strategically vital Kola Peninsula, which hosts the city of Murmansk and the main bases of the Northern Fleet. The airfield was home to the 941st Fighter Aviation Regiment (941 IAP), which was part of the 10th Air Defence Army. Throughout its operational history, the regiment flew various advanced interceptor aircraft, including the Yakovlev Yak-28P 'Firebar', the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23MLD 'Flogger-K', and, from 1985 until its closure, the formidable Sukhoi Su-27 'Flanker', one of the premier air superiority fighters of its time.

There are no known official plans or credible prospects for reopening or reactivating Kitsa Airfield. The significant investment required to restore the decaying infrastructure is prohibitive. Russia maintains other active and modernized military airbases in the Murmansk region (such as Olenya and Monchegorsk) that fulfill current strategic needs, making the reactivation of Kitsa redundant and economically unfeasible.