Aerodrom Zeljava, Croatia

A unique military facility is the Zhelyava air base, located in Croatia. It was built on the border with Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1968. The construction of the unique underground airfield took 20 years and cost more than 6 billion US dollars. For comparison, it can be said that today's defense expenditure of Serbia and Croatia is only about two billion.

At the time of construction, the underground air base Zeljava was one of the most expensive and largest military projects in Europe. During the Yugoslavian war in 1991, the air base was actively used. By 1992 it had been destroyed by the Yugoslav army. At the moment, Croatia does not have any funds for the reconstruction of the military complex, although part of the air base is still owned by the Croatian army.

According to the international frontier, Zeljava was divided into two parts. The area around the air base is considered incredibly dangerous. Here, there are a lot of unexploded mines, so the air support point for dog training is often used. The proximity of the air base to the border made it an accommodation for illegal migrants. Curious tourists are frequent guests of the destroyed facility. Recently, the government of the nearby city of Bihać proposed to build a new aerodrome on the airbase. This actual initiative is currently unfulfillable because of the lack of money. Next - Saint-Nazaire Base