Ryponkicha Emergency Airfield

Military abandonment following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The primary drivers were the severe economic crisis in post-Soviet Russia and a strategic re-evaluation of military assets. The Russian military could no longer afford to maintain a vast network of remote and secondary facilities. Ryponkicha, being an auxiliary emergency strip on an uninhabited island, was deemed non-essential and was closed as part of a massive force drawdown in the Kuril Islands.

The airfield is completely abandoned and derelict. High-resolution satellite imagery confirms that the runway, while still visible, is severely degraded and heavily overgrown with grass and shrubs, rendering it unusable for any type of aircraft. There are no intact buildings or support infrastructure remaining on the site. The island itself is uninhabited, and the former airfield is slowly being reclaimed by nature.

Ryponkicha Emergency Airfield was a strategic military asset for the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Constructed as a 'zapasnoy aerodrom' (reserve/emergency airfield), its purpose was to support operations of the Soviet Air Defence Forces (PVO) and Soviet Naval Aviation in the North Pacific. Its location in the central Kuril Islands provided a crucial dispersal point, allowing fighter aircraft (such as MiG-21s or MiG-23s) and potentially small transport aircraft to land in an emergency, during adverse weather, or to extend their operational range. It enhanced the Soviet Union's ability to project air power and defend the strategically vital Sea of Okhotsk from potential US and Japanese forces.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening Ryponkicha Airfield. The prospects are considered extremely low to non-existent. While Russia has been increasing its military presence in the Kuril Islands since the 2010s, efforts are concentrated on modernizing larger, existing bases on islands like Iturup and Kunashir. The immense logistical and financial cost of rebuilding a completely derelict airfield on a remote, uninhabited volcanic island with no supporting infrastructure makes its revival strategically and economically unviable.