Secret Airbase Zeljava

Željava Air Base, situated on the border between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina under Plješevica Mountain, near the town of Bihac in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The largest underground airport and military airbase in the former Yugoslavia

History
Construction of the "Objekat 505" (code name), better known as Željava or Bihac Air Base, began during 1957, and was completed in 1965. SFRJ in that time had spent around $6 Billion dollars constructing this object, which is 3 times the military budget of Serbia and Croatia put together today. It was one of the biggest and most expensive military constructions in Europe.

Description

The role of the facility was to provide, integrate and coordinate the nationwide early warning radar network in SFRJ (not unlike NORAD). The complex was designed and constructed to sustain the direct hit from a 20 Kiloton nuclear bomb, or equivalent to the Nagasaki atom bomb.
Strategic role

The main advantage was the strategic location of its intercept and surveillance radar "Celopek", on mount Pljesevica. At the nerve center of an advanced integrated air defense network that covered the airspace and territory of SFR Yugoslavia, and possibly further. Besides the main purpose of a protected radar installation, a control center, secure communications, and related facilities, the air base contained underground tunnels for the use, parking, and maintenance of two complete fighter, and one reconnaissance, squadrons. These units were the 124.LAE (Fighter Aviation Squadron) and 125.LAE equipped with MiG-21 Bis fighter aircraft and 352.IAE (Reconnaissance Aviation Squadron) equipped with MiG-21R reconnaissance-fighter aircraft.

With the length of the underground tunnels being 3.5 kilometers, the complete object had four entrances, protected by 100 ton pressurized doors, three of which were intended for use by fixed-wing aircraft. Eventually, it was hoped the base would re-equip with the indigenously developed Yu Supersonik
Underground Complex "KLEK
The underground facility was lined with semicircular concrete shields, arranged every ten meters, to cushion the impact of attacking munitions. There was access to an underground water source, power generators, crew quarters and other facilities which were of strategic advantage in the event of a war. The facility even had a mess hall which had the capacity to feed 1000 men at once, enough food, fuel & arms reserves to 'survive' 30 days without any external intervention. While the fuel was supplied by a network consisting of 20 kilometers worth of underground pipes from a military warehouse on Pokoj hill near Bihac cit
Surface

Topside, the facility had five runways. In the immediate vicinity of the base, there were numerous short range mobile tracking and targeting radar and missile equipped sites, motorized infantry bases and military police stations, and a hunting lodge used by the country and military leadership for an occasional leisure trip.

Access was monitored by heavy surveillance and guards authorized to open fire on anyone attempting to enter without authorization. In practice, however, this was seldom the case, and only special permits were required, otherwise, visitors would be turned away. Estimated cost of construction was in excess of six billion US dollars

Destruction

The air base was used intensively during the war of Yugoslav partition in early 1991. In the course of its withdrawal, the Yugoslav Peoples Army (JNA) destroyed the airport by filling and igniting the explosive positions that were in-built during the construction phase of the base and as part of base design. (see above) To prevent any possible future use of the complex and preclude any advantage to an opposing party the Military of Serbian Krajina finalized its demolition in 1992 by setting off an additional 56 tons of explosives. The ensuing explosion was so powerful that the nearby city of Bihac shook violently. Villagers say that there was smoke coming from inside of the tunnels even 6 months after the destruction.
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