What is "lipetsk"

Lipetsk is a city and the administrative center of Lipetsk Oblast, Russia, located on the banks of the Voronezh River in the Don basin, southeast of Moscow. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 508,887.

Lipetsk Air Base (also given as Lipetskiy, Lipetsky, Shakhm 10, and Lipetsk West) is an air base in Lipetsk Oblast, Russia located 12 km northwest of Lipetsk. It is the combat training center of Russian Air Force, analogous to the U.S. Air Force's Nellis Air Force Base. The base is made up of two medium-sized airfields joined together.

In 1925, the Soviet government allowed Germany to open an air combat school at Lipetsk. That permitted Germany to evade treaty restrictions on the development of military aviation, while the Soviet Air Forces received technical advice and access to test results. By 1933, the Soviets concluded that the arrangement was not worthwhile, and the new German government agreed (for different reasons). The school was closed.

The 4th Center of Combat Application and Conversion of Frontline Aviation, Russia's Top Gun school since around the 1960s, is the most well known unit on the base. Its chief, Col. Kharchevski, became famous after air combat exercises in the USA and has become the personal pilot of President Putin.

From the 1960s to 1990, units stationed at Lipetsk include:

• 4th Centre for Combat Employment and Retraining of Personnel (4 TsBP i PLS)
• 760 IISAP (760th Composite Training and Research Aviation Regiment) flying 14 MiG-29E, 13 Su-17, 16 Su-25, and a number of Su-24, Su-27, and Mi-8 aircraft as of the early 1990s.
• 91 IIAP (91st Training and Research Regiment) flying MiG-23, 23 MiG-29, and 15 Su-27 aircraft as of the early 1990s

In 1992, the 968th Fighter Aviation Regiment arrived from Falkenberg in East Germany. It was flying MiG-23 and MiG-29 aircraft in the mid-1990s. In 1992-1993 it became first a Research-Instructor Fighter Aviation Regiment and then a Research-Instructor Mixed Aviation Regiment. Flying solely MiG-29s by 2004, it later also flew Su-24M aircraft.

Falcons of Russia aerobatic team from Lipetsk Air Base

Falcons of Russia solo aerobatics during Tambov 2008 airshow

Falcons of Russia solo aerobatics during Tambov 2008 airshow