Air Chief Marshal Norman Anil Kumar Browne told reporters that the aircraft would be able to operate from the country’s northern-most Advanced Landing Ground at Daulat Beg Oldie close to the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China.
The Indian Army has asked the defense ministry to upgrade about a dozen airfields and advanced landing grounds (ALGs) in Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh with night landing facilities to improve the transportation of supplies and troops to the sensitive borders areas with China and Pakistan.
The proposal is currently being vetted by the Ministry of Defense and if cleared, it would take at least four years to construct the requisite infrastructure at Nyoma, which is envisaged to allow fighter operations.
StratPost’s Saurabh Joshi tries to analyze the fortnight-long controversy over intrusions by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army across the Line of Actual Control into India and the larger environment between the two countries from which this flare-up has arisen.
The IAF’s airlift capability has been extended, with an AN-32 landing at Nyoma airfield in Eastern Ladakh, close to the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The AN-32 can carry up to 50 passengers.
