BALASHIKHA (Moscow Region), August 11. /ITAR-TASS/. About 50 military airfields will be repaired and supplied with modern equipment in Russia by 2020, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Air Force, Col.-Gen. Viktor Bondarev said on Monday.

“Large funds have been allocated for the construction. Today 17 such aerodromes are involved in this effort and we’ll increase their number to 50 by 2020. They will be repaired or built anew,” he said.

The Russian Air Force has almost 150 military airfields and virtually all of them have been exploited “for a very long time,” Bondarev said.

A 4 km-long runway was commissioned at the Akhtubinsk flight and testing center in south Russia on August 14, the commander-in-chief of the Russian Air Force said.

“This is a splendid runway, which helps perform all test flights,” he said. The runway will be supplied with ultra-modern navigation equipment to allow landing virtually in any weather conditions, he said.

“We’ll bring all the aerodromes to this condition,” the commander-in-chief of the Russian Air Force said.

Russia will also restore Arctic aerodromes, including the Rogachyov airfield on Novaya Zemlya and airfields in Vorkuta, Alykel and on Cape Schmidt. The Temp aerodrome on the Kotelny Island of the New Siberian Islands archipelago will be modernized to receive aircraft round the year and eventually land Ilyushin Il-76 heavy military transport planes there, Bondarev said.