Tapa Army Base

Tapa Army Base
Tapa Army Base
Tapa sõjaväelinnak
Tapa, Estonia
Coordinates	59°14′43.09″N 25°57′16.09″E / 59.2453028°N 25.9544694°E
Type	Army base
Site information
Owner	Estonian Defence Forces
Operator	1st Infantry Brigade
Site history
Built	1939
In use	1939-present
Garrison information
Garrison	1st Infantry Brigade
Occupants	Scouts Battalion; Engineer Battalion; Artillery Battalion; Air Defence Battalion; Combat Service Support Battalion; NATO eFP Battalion

Tapa Army Base (Estonian: Tapa sõjaväelinnak), which lies to the south of the town Tapa, is the largest military base in Estonia. The base is next to the Central Training Area, excellent for artillery live-fire exercises and tracked unit maneuvers.

History

Tapa Army Base is one of the few former Soviet military facilities that was taken over by the Estonian Defence Forces in the early 1990s. The oldest facility 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 area of the base was enlarged, it totaled around 9 square kilometres (3.5 sq mi). The Soviet Air Defence Forces later stationed the 656th Fighter Regiment equipped with 40 MiG-23MLD fighters at Tapa Airfield.^[1] In the 1960s the base received a tank and a pioneer training regiment. During the Soviet exploitation of the base, a lot of ecological damage was done, mainly due to the poor handling of oil and other fuels.

Present day

There are eight barracks in the compound and two more are being constructed. Three of the new barracks are for the NATO Enhanced Forward Presence multinational battle group in Estonia. The base canteen can serve up to 3200 personnel. There are repair shops, garages, study halls, and shelters in the base.

In the future tracked armored maneuver units will be relocated to the Tapa military base. Maintenance facilities and shelters will be built for armored and unarmored vehicles.