Belaya Air Base (Irkutsk/Srednii)

Belaya is a military air base located in Usolsky District, Irkutsk Oblast, Russia, approximately 18 kilometers north of Usolye-Sibirskoye and 85 kilometers northwest of Irkutsk. It operates under the Russian Aerospace Forces, specifically Long-Range Aviation. The base has significant ramp space and 38 bomber revetments. Construction of the base began in 1946, and it has been in continuous use since then. It was sometimes known as Srednii from 2009.

Historically, an air defense unit, the 350th Fighter Aviation Regiment PVO, was stationed at Belaya from 1946 or 1950, operating aircraft such as the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17, Sukhoi Su-9, and Tupolev Tu-128. In 1954, Belaya was used as a staging base for Tupolev Tu-4 aircraft, although the runway was unpaved at that time. The airfield was upgraded around the late 1950s and began hosting nuclear bomber missions in the late 1960s. By 1982, it supported two Tu-22M2 Backfire-B regiments and a PVO air defense Tu-128 Fiddler regiment. The air defense regiment relocated in 1984.

Units previously stationed at Belaya from 1945 to 1994 included the 1225th Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment and the 1229th Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment, which operated Tupolev Tu-4, Tu-16, Tu-16K, and Tu-22M2 aircraft before being disbanded in 1994.

Currently, Belaya is home to the 200th Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Brest Red Banner Order of Suvorov Regiment, equipped with the Tu-22M3, the 444th Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment, also with the Tu-22M3, and the 181st Independent Composite Aviation Squadron, operating Antonov An-12 and Antonov An-30 aircraft. All these regiments are under the control of the 326th Heavy Bomber Aviation Tarnopol Order of Kutuzov Division. In 2009, the 200th Guards TBAP was reorganized as the 6953rd Guards Airbase, which later reformed as an Air Group of the 6952nd Guards Air Base. As of 2018, satellite imagery showed 36 Tupolev Tu-22M medium-range bombers at the base. In June 2025, the Security Service of Ukraine claimed to have damaged aircraft at Belaya using drones.