Satter Airstrip

Military decommissioning following the end of the Cold War. The airstrip was a military road base, part of the extensive Swedish 'Bas 90' system. This network was largely dismantled in the 1990s and early 2000s due to a perceived decrease in military threat and subsequent budget cuts and restructuring of the Swedish Armed Forces.

The site has reverted to its civilian use as a public road. It is a distinct, long, and straight section of Road 392 between Överkalix and Pajala. The physical characteristics of the former military runway, such as its extra width and the turning areas (aprons) at each end, are still clearly visible to drivers and on satellite imagery. The site is used daily by regular civilian traffic.

Satter Airstrip was not a public or commercial airport but a key military road base (known in Swedish as 'Vägbas Satter') within the Cold War-era 'Bas 90' strategic dispersal system. Its purpose was to provide the Swedish Air Force with alternative runways to ensure operational capability if main air bases were destroyed in an attack. The base consisted of a specially widened and reinforced section of a public road (now Road 392) that served as the runway. It was designed to support advanced combat aircraft, including the Saab 37 Viggen and potentially the JAS 39 Gripen. Operations would have involved rapid deployment from main bases to these dispersed sites, with aircraft maintenance, refueling, and rearming carried out in concealed positions in the surrounding forest.

There are no specific, publicly announced plans to reactivate the Satter road base. However, in response to the changing geopolitical security situation in Europe, the Swedish Air Force has revived the road base concept. It has conducted successful landing exercises with JAS 39 Gripen fighters on other former road bases in recent years to rebuild this capability. While this indicates a renewed strategic interest in such facilities, the reactivation of any specific site, including Satter, remains a strategic possibility rather than a confirmed plan.