Video by Michael Sparks

Inside the nose it houses the Tu-22M3's Almaz PNA navigation and attack radar. It's used by the trainee navigator/weapon system officer to simulate looking for radar-contrast maritime and ground targets, operating the exact targeting, navigation, and weapon-delivery systems required to guide the Kh-22 and modernized Kh-32 anti-ship missiles. However, while it carries the electronics and radar systems to practice missile guidance, the aircraft itself is incapable of launching Kh-22/32s as their weight of almost 6,000 kg is too heavy to be mounted on fuselage hardpoints which are not reinforced and never engineered to withstand the concentrated structural loads or aerodynamic drag of a weapon this size. It's lack of ground clearance would cause the missile to scrape the runway during takeoffs and landings.

Originally the airfield had over 25 aircraft including a Tu-95 who according to cadets was allegedly the LAL flying laboratory which was used to test if a nuclear reactor could be used to power an aircraft, it was fitted with one but it did not power the aircraft itself. It was believed that after the reactor and protective shielding were removed, the airframe was transferred to the school for basic engineering and instructional use. When the airfield was abandoned, the aircraft were under threat of destruction and some of the them including the Tu-95 were already being cut up. The remainder was saved thanks to public pressure and IVAIU veterans. By 2015 only these 12 were left at the airfield, the rest were moved somewhere else for display.

Mi-8T - former border guard, status unknown, presumed moved or scrapped
L-39C - on display at Belaya Air Base which is close to the school
Mi-24D - status unknown, presumed moved or scrapped
Su-24 - on display at Belaya Air Base
Su-27 - status unknown, presumed moved or scrapped
An-24T - status unknown, presumed moved or scrapped
Tu-22A - built in 1962, moved to the UMMC museum complex in Verkhnyaya Pyshma
Tu-22M0 - 1 of 9 pre-production prototypes, scrapping commenced in 2019 and completed in 2022
Tu-22M3 - scrapped soon after the Tu-22M0
MiG-29 - status unknown, presumed moved or scrapped
Su-17M - built in 1974, on display at Belaya Air Base with new paint scheme and number
Il-76PP - the only Il-76 electronic warfare aircraft built, scrapped in 2024

In 2008 military reforms were initiated by defense minister Anatoly Serdyukov (the same dude that gave use the eggplant paint scheme). The reforms dramatically reduced the number of separate military academies and training centers across Russia, consolidating dozens of specialized schools into a few massive, inter-service educational centers. As part of this consolidation, the functions, personnel, and historical training tasks of the Irkutsk school were ordered to be transferred and merged into the Voronezh Military Aviation Engineering University which was renamed the the V.Y. Zhukovsky and Y.A. Gagarin Air Force Academy.

The school was closed in 2009 and it's training airfield were abandoned. There was a campaign by the Irkutsk regional administration to establish a museum in 2013, the deputy minister of defense responded and authorized the museum, but for some reason, it didnt happen. The site was left in disrepair for over a decade until 2023 when the Suvorov Military School was opened on the former grounds.

What a shame, it would've made a nice museum.