Albania officially reopened Kucova air base March 4, 2024, after turning the Soviet-era facility into a modern hub for future NATO air operations. (NATO)
STUTTGART, Germany — A former Soviet-era air base reopened Monday in Albania, where it will serve as a modernized center for future NATO air operations in the Balkans, the alliance said.
The Kucova base, about 50 miles south of Tirana, will support logistics missions, air operations, training and exercises, according to a NATO statement Monday.
“The makeover of Kucova air base is a strategic investment and shows that NATO continues to strengthen its presence in the western Balkans, an area of strategic importance to the alliance,” acting NATO spokesman Dylan White said.
Begun in 2019, the roughly $58 million base upgrade was the alliance’s biggest initiative in Albania over the past decade. Improvements were made to the control tower, runways, hangars and storage facilities.
The Kucova sit was built in the 1950s with Soviet help and used to be named in honor of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, reflecting the esteem in which he was held by Albania’s longtime communist ruler Enver Hoxha.
While Albania is one of NATO’s smallest member states, the country is strategically positioned on the Adriatic Sea and borders Kosovo, Montenegro and North Macedonia.
For U.S. European Command, the Balkan Peninsula has been an area of concern for several years, with issues that range from tensions between Serbia and Kosovo to suspected Russian destabilization campaigns in Montenegro, a fellow NATO member.
In 2022, the Stuttgart-based U.S. Special Operations Command Europe established a forward operating headquarters in Albania to serve as a home base for missions in the broader Balkans.
