By NNN-PTI,
New Delhi : India reopened the ‘Fuk Che’ airbase in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, close to both the Chinese and Pakistani borders for operating larger military aircraft.
The reopening of Fuk Che, close to Aksai Chin and Siachen Glacier, was formalised on Wednesday morning with the landing of Indian Air Force’s (IAF) An-32 transport aircraft for the first time after several years, marking a shift in airbase’s operational profile, IAF sources told PTI here.
The airbase, sources said, currently has no equipment or facility to accommodate large transport aircraft or fighter jets.
However, keeping in tune with its recent policy of making all available Advanced Landing Grounds (ALG) in high altitude areas operational along China and Pakistan, Fuk Che was made operational.
With its reopening, the country has made available a second airbase that was not in active use till recently for IAF to operate military aircraft.
This May, the IAF had reopened the Daulat Beg Oldi ALG with the landing of another An-32 aircraft carrying the Western Air Command chief Air Marshal P K Barbora.
In fact, it was Barbora, who had announced just on the eve of this year’s Air Force Day on October 8 that IAF planned to reopen more ALGs in Jammu and Kashmir close to Pakistan and China.