Watch: Airbase in Albanian town once named after Stalin to be used by NATO

Major Leandro Syka walks inside of Kucova Air Base, which will turn into a NATO air base on March 23, 2022. - Copyright Gent SHKULLAKU / AFP

By Euronews with AFP

Published on 25/04/2022 - 14:52

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The base bad been used to store rusting Soviet and Chinese jets since the collapse of the USSR. It will soon host state-of-the-art NATO fighter jets.

An airbase in an Albania town once named after Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin is now being transformed into a NATO position.

The base in Kucova, in central Albania, had primarily been used since the collapse of the USSR in 1990 as a graveyard for Soviet- and Chinese-made jets.

Now, NATO is investing $55 million (€50.4 million) to renovate it into a tactical operational base for state-of-the-art military planes complete with refuelling capabilities and ammunition storage.

The project was agreed upon in 2018 and construction began earlier this year, before Russia launched its military assault on Ukraine on 24 February. It is expected to be completed in 2023.