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IAF reopens old airbase in Ladakh region
LEH: Indian Air Force (IAF) on Saturday made operational the Daulatbeg Oldi (DBO) airbase in mountainous Ladakh region, close to Chinese-occupied Aksai Chin area, after a gap of 43 years.
An AN-32 transport aircraft carrying Air Officer-in-Chief Western Air Command Air Marshal P K Barbora landed at the unpaved runway at 0850 hours after flying from Chandigarh.
The flight signalled IAF's intention to re-operationalise the airbase which could give New Delhi a capability to keep an eye on the strategic Karakoram highway linking China and Pakistan.
The airbase is almost a stone's throw away from the Aksai Chin area of Jammu and Kashmir which the Chinese have occupied since 1959. The base is located at an altitude of 4,960 metres near the base of Karakoram Pass, still held by India on the old silk trading route to Yarkand in China.
Now IAF is also planning to revive airfields in Chushul and Fukche in eastern Ladakh, also along the Sino-Indian border, sources said.
Set up during the Sino-Indian conflict in 1962, the base was operated with American-supplied Fairchild Packets. It had to be closed down suddenly in 1966 when an earthquake caused loosening of the surface soil, making the area unsuitable for fixed wing aircraft.
"As part of moves to bolster aerial and land reconnaissance capability in the strategic region, army units carried out repair work on to make the airbase operational again," IAF sources said.
"Regular operations by AN-32 aircraft will be initiated in due course," they said.
LEH: Indian Air Force (IAF) on Saturday made operational the Daulatbeg Oldi (DBO) airbase in mountainous Ladakh region, close to Chinese-occupied Aksai Chin area, after a gap of 43 years.
An AN-32 transport aircraft carrying Air Officer-in-Chief Western Air Command Air Marshal P K Barbora landed at the unpaved runway at 0850 hours after flying from Chandigarh.
The flight signalled IAF's intention to re-operationalise the airbase which could give New Delhi a capability to keep an eye on the strategic Karakoram highway linking China and Pakistan.
The airbase is almost a stone's throw away from the Aksai Chin area of Jammu and Kashmir which the Chinese have occupied since 1959. The base is located at an altitude of 4,960 metres near the base of Karakoram Pass, still held by India on the old silk trading route to Yarkand in China.
Now IAF is also planning to revive airfields in Chushul and Fukche in eastern Ladakh, also along the Sino-Indian border, sources said.
Set up during the Sino-Indian conflict in 1962, the base was operated with American-supplied Fairchild Packets. It had to be closed down suddenly in 1966 when an earthquake caused loosening of the surface soil, making the area unsuitable for fixed wing aircraft.
"As part of moves to bolster aerial and land reconnaissance capability in the strategic region, army units carried out repair work on to make the airbase operational again," IAF sources said.
"Regular operations by AN-32 aircraft will be initiated in due course," they said.
