Soviet Airbase (Afganistan)

The Soviet's Afghan airbase, as seen in The Living Daylights (1987).

The Soviet Airbase is a fictional military airfield constructed and operated by the Soviet Union in Afghanistan during the Soviet–Afghan War of 1979 to 1989. Commanded by Colonel Feyador, the facility appears in the 1987 James Bond film The Living Daylights.

History

Commanded by Colonel Feyador, the airbase is a moderately fortified military airfield in the Afghan Desert, comprised of a single asphalt landing surface, gravel pathways, tents, and numerous wooden and concrete structures, including an ATC building. The facility is protected by machine-gun nests and surrounded by an electrified fence and barbed wire. An old comrade of the duplicitous SovietGeneral Koskov, Feyador provides the General with a detachment of men and trucks to assist in his secretive State mission; in reality a private opium smuggling scheme. In the climactic final battle, the airfield is crippled (if not completely destroyed) during a raid by Kamran Shah and his Mujaheddin rebels.

Behind the Scenes

Over the course of November 1986, external scenes of the Soviet airfield were shot on location at Ouarzazate Airport, an active airport in the shadow of the Atlas Mountains, serving Ouarzazate, a city in the Drâa-Tafilalet region in Morocco.

Gallery

First unit filming The Living Daylights at Ouarzazate Airport in November 1986.