Fighter base on Indo-China border awaits Finance Ministry’s nod

 AN-32 transport aircraft landing at Nyoma on May 20, 2011

                                      AN-32 taking-off

New Delhi, June 24, 2011: The Indian Air Force’s (IAF’s) proposal to open a fighter base in Ladakh, just 23 kilometres from the Indo-China border is awaiting Finance Ministry’s approval.

 

The Rs. 3,700 crore project to open base for its frontline fighter jets, including Sukhoi Su-30 MKI at Nyoma was mooted after factoring in the Chinese deployment in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) in the recent times.  The project has got defence ministry’s nod. At 13,300 feet of altitude the base would be one of the world’s highest airfield conducting fighter operations.

“The defence ministry understands that the fighter base is strategically important for the IAF’s operations keeping in mind current threat perceptions. Hence it has given approval to upgrade the Advance Landing Ground (ALG) at Nyoma within no time,” a top IAF official said.

“The proposal is now with the finance ministry which wants to know about the justification and requirement of the project now,” the commander added. China has seven airfields in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) from where its Sukhoi Su-27s can operate. Two of these bases have been built recently.

Talking about the requirement of the project another IAF top commander said: “The nearest air field to China’s bases is Leh. However, the Leh air field is two mountains away and we need to have our radars and fighter jets at Nyoma to know of any approaching aircraft from TAR and react promptly.”

Nyoma was, in fact a better option than Leh for deployment of fighter jets due to the weather and wind conditions there. Also India has acquired light-weight radars to be placed in the mountainous region to have a robust air defence system.

It would take nearly four years to upgrade the Nyoma ALG once the approval comes. The IAF is looking at a capability to operate all fighter jets from its inventory from the base.

Nyoma base has been lying unused since the 1962 war. The IAF revived the airstrip in September 2009 after it landed an AN-32 medium lift transport aircraft there. In the last three years the IAF has activated as many airstrips in Ladakh along the Sino-Indian border. The other two ALG activated in 2008 are Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO) at 16,200 feet altitude and Fukuche at 13,000 feet much closer to the Line of Actual Control.

The revived ALGs are expected to give a shot in the arm for IAF’s capability to airlift troops and supplies at a faster rate. Nyoma airbase will have the capability to handle operations of C-17 heavy lift aircraft to be procured from the US and the C-130 Js medium-lift transporters already with the IAF to conduct special operations.