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AstanaMus 06

In a suburb of Astana sits the Museum of Military Technics on the premises of the 6866 Garrison. It keeps a collection of aircraft, radars and guns.

AstanaMus 15

The 6866 Garrsion is an air mobile unit, they are called 'Air Mobile Experts' (Aэроұтқыр Eскерлері) on this sign near the gate.

AstanaMus 14

The aircraft are simply numbered sequently with 'Bort' numbers. Odd numbers for the fixed wing aircraft and even numbers for the helicopters. Let us start with 01, manufacturer serial number (msn) 295008, an L-29 Delfin that was used for training.

AstanaMus 13

03 is a MiG-21bis, msn 75024043, line number (l/n) 2208. MiG-21s were present at one time at Yenbekshi (Ucharal) with 607 авиабаза (607 Aviabasa - 607 Aviation Base), but we are not sure if they were still actively used when the Soviet Union dissolved.

AstanaMus 12

On with this MiG-23M 05, msn 0390213663, l/n 11508. As you can see, they applied the same colour scheme to all these aircraft and it seems unlikely that this was the original livery.

AstanaMus 11

The MiG-27M was the ground-attack version of the MiG-23. Note the hardpoints at the rear fuselage too. As you may have guessed, this is 07. It carried msn 39512500947 for which experts say it does not match a known sequence. We think that _395 is a fuselage number as it was stamped above the 125-number. The MiG-27 is still used in Kazakh service.

AstanaMus 10

We really like the Su-17. Seen here is Su-17M-3 09 with both msn 32715 and 32716 stamped on.

AstanaMus 09

Su-24s were in abundance in both Ukraine and Kazakhstan forming a ring of strike aircraft around mainland Russia. This particular example 11 msn 0515303 is an early Su-24 sans suffixe dubbed Fencer-B in NATO parlour. It has faded code 23 on the fintip and was one of 30 formerly operated by V-VS 149 GvBAP along 12 Su-24MR of  39 ORAP at Ilysk (Zhetygen-Nikolaevka). Most of which are still in open store there.

AstanaMus 08

Yes, they are probably superstitious because 13 was not used, so on with 15 msn 50903011523 a MiG-29UB, also an ubiquitos type and of course still used actively (see: http://aviagraphers.net/index.php/airshows/58-kadex-2012).

AstanaMus 07

Nice surprise was this MiG-25RU dual seat aircraft. Marked 17 and with msn 39006230, this is a bit if an enigma, as far as we know they were not stationed in Kazakhstan.

AstanaMus 05

Kazakhstan is a MiG-31 operator and 19 msn 38400144665 is on display. The Karaganda unit, 610 Авиабаза (610 Aviabasa - 610 Aviation Base) is still active with the type, while Semey's fleet at Учебная авиабаза (Uchebnaya Aviabasa - Training Aviation Base) is believed to be grounded since at least 2008.

AstanaMus 04

Last in the fixed wing contingent is 21, an unknown An-26 in faded grey colours.

AstanaMus 01AstanaMus 02

On with the helicopters, 02 msn 04223 is a Mi-24V in a non-standard colour scheme too. While Mi-8T 04 remained unidentified.

AstanaMus 03

And what better way to finish this straightforward line-up than with this Mi-6 06. Unfortunately, its identity could not be checked.