IAF to commission Phalodi air base on Tuesday

[Justin Joseph]

IAF to commission Phalodi air base on Tuesday

New Delhi, Apr 5: Indian Air Force (IAF) chief, Air Chief Marshal P V Naik will dedicate the Phalodi air field in Rajasthan to the service of the nation on Tuesday.

The new airfield is considered as a step towards bridging gap in air defence in the western sector.

The Phalodi airfield, replete with modern infrastructure.

The airbase is strategically located between Jaisalmer and Jodhpur will straddle the distance between the two airbases.

According to the IAF, the base is ready to undertake all types of operations.

The inauguration ceremony will comprise flypast by various fighter formations and landing of first fighter aircraft at the base.

Besides Air Chief Marshal Naik, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Western Air Command (SWAC) Air Marshal P S Bhangu will also be present.

In April 2000, the Union Government, approved the construction of Phalodi air base with specific consideration to the geo-political scenario and the need for in-built flexibility in operational requirements.

In July 2001, the IAF, established a Care and Maintenance Unit (C and MU) at Phalodi.

The Government’s sanction for establishment of Air Force Station Phalodi was accorded with effect from July 2006, and the Station under SWAC has been functioning independently since then.(ANI)

IAF to commission Phalodi air base on Tuesday

 

[sivadreams]

IAF to commission Phalodi air base on Tuesday
The airbase is strategically located between Jaisalmer and Jodhpur will straddle the distance between the two airbases.

I think this statement is wrong.....

Jaisalmer: 26° 52′ 49″ N, 70° 51′ 18″ E
Jodhpur: 26° 15′ 4″ N, 73° 2′ 56″ E
Phalodi: 27° 6'48.08"N 72°23'15.60"E


Looks like the areal distance between Jaisalmer and Jodhpur is almost similar to Jaisalmer to Phalodi

 

[manish123]

I think this statement is wrong.....

Jaisalmer: 26° 52′ 49″ N, 70° 51′ 18″ E
Jodhpur: 26° 15′ 4″ N, 73° 2′ 56″ E
Phalodi: 27° 6'48.08"N 72°23'15.60"E


Looks like the areal distance between Jaisalmer and Jodhpur is almost similar to Jaisalmer to Phalodi

Yees!!. things our hotting up.Arjuns and new airbases at pakistan's chiken neck jaisalmer.Expect countermeasures by pakistan army at akhnoor , our chicken neck.

 

[Pralay_Nath_ForYou]

Yup, we need to increase both our bases and A/Cs!

 

[pop_alsa]

Hmm, Vajpayee did great job. He was best, no doubt.

 

[Bingo!]

It was supposed to complete in 2004, what took it so long. Anyway better late than never.

cheers to India.Good going.

 

[Justin Joseph]

I think this statement is wrong.....

Jaisalmer: 26° 52′ 49″ N, 70° 51′ 18″ E
Jodhpur: 26° 15′ 4″ N, 73° 2′ 56″ E
Phalodi: 27° 6'48.08"N 72°23'15.60"E


Looks like the areal distance between Jaisalmer and Jodhpur is almost similar to Jaisalmer to Phalodi

The Distance between Jaisalmer (Rajasthan,India) and Jodhpur (Rajasthan,India) is : 221.27 kilometers (km).


The Distance between Jaisalmer (Rajasthan,India) and Phalodi (Rajasthan,India) is :145.53 kilometers (km).

Also new base is in between both of them and will serve us well.

It will be a good asset in case of war.

 

[sivadreams]

The Distance between Jaisalmer (Rajasthan,India) and Jodhpur (Rajasthan,India) is : 221.27 kilometers (km).


The Distance between Jaisalmer (Rajasthan,India) and Phalodi (Rajasthan,India) is :145.53 kilometers (km).

Also new base is in between both of them and will serve us well.

It will be a good asset in case of war.

Yes that is exactly the point. It doesn't cut short the flying hour drastically between the two bases. Yes a cluster of bases near the border makes sense. but the point in blue was my contention.

Or rather i did not understand what straddling the distances between two bases.

I did not discount the fact that we need more operational and make shift bases.

 

[Pralay_Nath_ForYou]

Hmm, Vajpayee did great job. He was best, no doubt.

Yes I know, he was phenomenal, unlike crapshooter-nehru who wanted to disband Indian Army, as he perceived (or should I say his demented state of mind saw delusions) no danger to the country and have only Police!! or say Hind-Chini Bhai Bhai when clearly China was on an aggressive swing!

 

[KEETARP]

Tejas to be stationed at new IAF base in Rajasthan

Tejas to be stationed at new IAF base in Rajasthan idrw.org

: Tribuneindia

India’s self-developed Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas will be based at the IAF’s brand new forward-operating base at Phalodi in Rajasthan. Medium-lift choppers, Mi-17s will also be stationed at the base which will be 102 km from the India-Pakistan border, said sources.

Uniquely, the new air base that was inaugurated four days ago is the first forward-operating airbase to be commissioned by the IAF in more than two decades. The first lot of the LCA — a squadron of 20 aircraft — is scheduled to be handed over to the IAF in 11 months from now. The second squadron will follow a year later — both are being built at the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) unit at Bangalore. Once handed over to the IAF, the LCA’s first base, briefly, will be at a station in South India, from where the fighters will move in batches to Phalodi, the sources said. Moving planes in small batches is a normal IAF procedure. Phalodi has the capacity to handle other aircraft besides deep penetration radars.

Defence Minister A K Antony had told Parliament last month that the first lot of the LCA would be delivered in March 2011. The Air Force is likely to accord ‘initial operational clearance’ by the end of this year.

Phalodi is the sixth IAF base in Rajasthan. It is located almost equidistant from the three existing IAF bases at Jaisalmer, Jodhpur and Nal (Bikaner). The IAF has two others bases in Rajasthan — Suratgarh and Uttarlai (Barmer). Across the border opposite Phalodi are two major Pakistani military bases in Bahawalpur and Rahimyar Khan.

In the past two decades, the IAF had not commissioned or operationalised a new base as it had focused on improving infrastructure in the existing bases across the country — some 70 in number. In the past two years, the IAF has reopened defunct advanced landing grounds at Nyoma, Fukche and Daulet Beg Oldie — all in Ladakh. The forces have a requirement for more than 200 LCA-type aircraft to replace the ageing lot of MiG 21 series of fighters. An additional $ 538.2 million (about Rs 2,500 crore) has been approved by the government for the LCA Phase-II programme. For this, the engines are to be selected soon.

Seems faith of Air-force in Tejas has grown , placing Tejas near Border ??????
I dont know its Faith in performance or publicity stunt or shortage of fighters for new airbase
Any ways lets trust IAF will certainly do justice to LCA's capability.

 

[PEACEMAKER2010]

http://www.defence.pk/forums/india-defence/53262-india-open-sixth-air-base-rajasthan-100-km-pakistan.already discussed about this base double post

source

[URL="http://www.defence.pk/forums/india-defence/53262-india-open-sixth-air-base-rajasthan-100-km-pakistan."[/URL]