eljava Airbase, situated on the border between Croatia and Bosnia and
Herzegovina under Pljeevica Mountain, near the city of Biha, Bosnia, was the
largest underground airport and military airbase in the former Yugoslavia, and
one of the largest in Europe. The facilities are shared by the local governments of
Biha and Lika-Senj County in Croatia.
Construction of the eljava or Biha Airbase, code-named Objekat 505, began in
1948 and was completed in 1968. During those two decades, SFRJ spent
approximately $6 billion on its construction, three times the combined current
annual military budgets of Serbia and Croatia. It was one of the largest and most
expensive military construction projects in Europe.
Description[edit]
The role of the facility was to establish, integrate, and coordinate a nationwide
early warning radar network in SFRJ akin to NORAD. The complex was designed
and built to sustain a direct hit from a 20-kiloton nuclear bomb, equivalent to the
one dropped on Nagasaki.
Strategic role[edit]
The main advantage of the base was the strategic location of its Celopek
intercept and surveillance radar on Mount Pljesevica, at the nerve center of an
advanced integrated air defense network covering the airspace and territory of
Yugoslavia, and possibly further. In addition to its main roles as a protected radar
installation, control center, and secure communications facility, the airbase
contained underground tunnels housing two full fighter squadrons, one
reconnaissance squadron, and associated maintenance facilities. The units based
there were the 124.LAE (Fighter Aviation Squadron) and 125.LAE, both equipped
with MiG-21bis fighter aircraft, and the 352.IAE (Reconnaissance Aviation
Squadron), equipped with MiG-21R reconnaissance-fighter aircraft.
The underground tunnels ran a total length of 3.5 kilometers, and the bunker had
four entrances protected by 100-ton pressurized doors, three of which were
customized for use by fixed-wing aircraft. Eventually, it was hoped that the base
would be re-equipped with the indigenously developed Yu Supersonik aircraft.
Underground KLEK complex[edit]
The underground facility was lined with semicircular concrete shields, arranged
every ten meters, to cushion the impact of incoming munitions. The complex
included an underground water source, power generators, crew quarters, and
other strategic military facilities. It also housed a mess hall that could feed 1,000
people simultaneously, along with enough food, fuel, and arms to last 30 days
without resupply. Fuel was supplied by a 20-kilometer underground pipe network
that ran from a military warehouse on Pokoj Hill near Biha.
Surface[edit]
Topside, the facility had five runways. In the immediate vicinity of the base, there
were numerous short-range mobile tracking and targeting radars, missileequipped sites, 2K12 Kub (NATO SA-6) mobile surface-to-air missile interceptor
systems, motorized infantry bases, military police stations, and a hunting lodge
used by civilian and military leaders on occasional leisure trips.
Access points were heavily monitored and guards authorized to fire on anyone
attempting to enter without authorization. In practice, however, only special
permits were required and unauthorized visitors usually turned away.
Destruction[edit]
The airbase was used intensively in 1991, during the Yugoslav Wars. During its
withdrawal, the Yugoslav People's Army destroyed the runway by filling pre-built
spaces (explicitly designed for the purpose) with explosives and detonating them.
To prevent any possible further use of the complex by opposing forces, the
Military of Serbian Krajina completed the destruction in 1992 by setting off an
additional 56 tons of explosives there. The ensuing explosion was so powerful
that it shook the nearby city of Biha. Villagers claimed that smoke continued to
rise from the tunnels for six months after the explosion.
Current status[edit]
Local police forces and the CPA currently use the area to train canines with actual
land mines, given the extensive number of mines still in the vicinity. Because of
the mines, extreme caution must be used when visiting the eljava complex. In
November 2000, a Bosnian Air Force Major died from his injuries after setting off
a PROM-2 anti-personnel mine while searching for mushrooms.
The toll of the destruction on base buildings and equipment is incalculable and
caused great environmental damage. Potential reconstruction endeavors are
limited by a lack of financial resources. An international border cuts the base area
in two, and the entire area is heavily mined. The barracks in the nearby village of
Liko Petrovo Selo are operated by the Croatian Army.
Today, the base often serves as a waypoint for illegal migrants. A facility for
asylum seekers was scheduled to open there in 2004 or 2005, but the idea was
abandoned, and new plans were developed for it to become part of the Slunj
military training grounds, and barracks from the nearby Udbina complex. This
idea was dropped, however, in line with the agreement between the countries of
former Yugoslavia which bans any military facility up to 15 km inside the borders.
The Biha Municipality launched an initiative to open a local airport using the
runway.
