Click to play videoNew Delhi: India is reactivating a military airfield which it operated 43 years ago and is a stone’s throw away from the Karakoram Pass held by China.
The last time India landed a fixed-wing aircraft at Daulat Beg Oldie airfield in northeastern Ladakh was in 1965. Landing fixed-wing at the airfield will enable India to induct troops swiftly.
"DBO (Daulat Beg Oldie) becomes very, very crucial because our troop strength there may have to be increased 10 times (in the event of a conflict). And if that happens when roads are in disuse, the only way will be to induct troops by air—that’s what was done during 1962,” says strategic affairs analyst Air Vice Marshal Kapil Kak.
Though a conflict with China looks improbable at the moment, Karakoram lies on an axis which could be used to threaten Ladakh. India is most vulnerable in this area. By activating the airfield at Daulat Beg Oldie, India would like to be seen as exercising a more assertive presence on the disputed boundary with China.
There are also plans to revive airfields at Chushul and Fukche further south along the Sino-Indian boundary in Ladakh. For a brief while after the Chinese aggression in 1962, these airstrips were extensively used for troop build-up and have since been in disuse. Provision of forward airstrips now is a priority not just in Ladakh but also in Arunachal.
"(These are) advance landing grounds. Some of the advance landing grounds that have not been in use for sometime, we're trying to restore them in order to improve the connectivity (for the military). We've identified some of these in Jammu and Kashmir and some in Arunachal," says Minister of State, Defence, M M Pallam Raju.
India is sending a message and setting a record too: at 17,000 feet, Daulat Beg Oldie will become the highest airfield in the world.
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