Tapa Army Base

Tapa Army Base (Estonian: Tapa sõjaväelinnak), which lies to the south of the town Tapa, is one of the largest military bases of the Estonian Defense Forces. There is 1st Infantry Brigade Headquarters, part of NATO Multinational Battalion, Artillery, Engineering and Air Defense battalions of the 1st Infantry Brigade. Next to the base is Central Training Area, excellent for artillery live fire exercises and large scale maneuver exercises of tracked units. For these reasons other military units arrive several times a year.

History

Tapa Army Base is one of the few former Soviet military facilities that were taken over by the Estonian Defence Forces in the early 1990s. The oldest of the facilities is the airfield, which was built in the autumn of 1939 by the Red Army. After the end of World War II and the Soviet recapture of Estonia the base area was enlarged and totalled at its peak around 9 square kilometres (3.5 sq mi). The Red Army later also stationed a Soviet Air Force fighter regiment equipped with 40 Mig-23 fighters. In the 1960s the base received also a tank and a pioneer training regiment. During the Soviet exploitation of the base a lot of ecological damage was carried out, mainly due to the poor handling of oil and other fuel.

Present day

There is eight barracks in the compound and two more are being constructed. Three of the new barracks are designated to NATO multinational battalion. The canteen of the base could serve 3200 persons a day. There is repair shops, garages, study halls, shelters in the base.

In future tracked armored maneuver units would move to Tapa military base. There would be created repair and maintenance facilities for CV90 infantry fighting vehicles, K9 self propelled howitzers and other vehicles.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tapa Army Base.

• Johvi military base
• Amari Air Base
• Tallinn Naval Base
• Jägala Army Base
• Tapa town
• Tapa Airfield

References