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People's Liberation Army Air Force |
This airfield, located northeast of the town of Ningbo, is almost certainly a military airbase. Ningbo is reportedly one of six airbases operated by the PLA Navy Flight Unit, subordinated to the East Sea Fleet headquartered at Ningbo.
Based on 1970 CORONA imagery, this base consists of a hard-surface runway that is about 8,000 feet long. It has at least 22 revetted hardstands in two, almost equal groupings at either of the runway. Considering that each revetment may hold up to three combat aircraft, this base could support up to 66 of these aircraft. Significantly, the imagery of these revetments is an examplar of the fact that three combat aircraft can fit inside a revetment. Planes can be seen inside some of the revetments as well as on the alert hardstand areas, which are located at both ends of the runway. There appears to be enough alert hardstand spots for at least 50 combat aircraft. In fact in one of the images, a row of about 10 are parked on one of the eastern alert hardstand spots. Located away from the runway to the southeat and connected to the eastern revetted area, a weapons storage area is evident.
