INDIA/CHINA: IAF buzz on China border

Landing strip reopens after 45 years

FROM THE TELEGRAPH

BY SUJAN DUTTA

New Delhi, Sept. 18: The Indian Air Force today landed a troop-carrier aircraft to reopen a forward landing strip after 45 years near a disputed border with China.

Defence headquarters, however, maintained this was part of a policy to upgrade infrastructure in the frontier and had nothing to do with current tensions.

The reopening of the Nyoma advanced landing ground — on the cards since November 2008 — will allow the UPA government to demonstrate resolve in the face of criticism from the BJP that it was timid when confronted by an aggressive China.

Key officials in the security establishment, including the top brass of the military, however, acknowledge that “transgressions” by border patrols of India and China are bound to occur because the boundary is not demarcated.

This time, though, the presence of the top commanders of the army and the air force added more muscle to the event than the reopening of two previous advanced landing grounds.

“This is at best a demonstration of ability, not intent,” one senior officer said. “It gives us an alternative supply route in bad weather but I doubt how effectively it can be used to move large loads (such as troops and hardware) because of weight and time restrictions at that altitude.”

Speaking about the experience, an air force officer on board the AN-32 transport aircraft told The Telegraph: “It was awesome, the way the ground rushed up at us when we were landing at dawn. The pilot had to do a lot of manoeuvring among the hills before the aircraft touched down.”

The pilot chosen for the task — Group Captain S.C. Chafekar — is from the IAF’s Chandigarh-based 48 “Camels in the Sky” squadron.

The Nyoma advanced landing ground (ALG) in eastern Ladakh is the third forward strip to be reopened in the Ladakh frontier since May 2008. At 13,300ft, it is lower than the other two.
On the banks of the Indus, Nyoma is about 23km from the Line of Actual Control. It is also closer to the Chumar Sector where a Chinese patrol was seen by Indian military observers to have “crossed over” into Mount Gya, in territory claimed by India, and spray-painted boulders claiming that the area belonged to China.

The Indian Army chief, General Deepak Kapoor, who was taking over as the chairman, chiefs of staff committee, on July 31 acknowledged that “there have been several transgressions” of the Line of Actual Control in recent months but did not give details of the incident purported to have taken place in Chumar.

The two top commanders of the air force and the army, responsible for the territory and airspace over the northern region, were in the aircraft. Western Air Commander Air Marshal N.A.K. Browne and Northern Army Commander Lt Gen P.C. Bhardwaj were among the passengers.

Nyoma was to be made operational by the end of 2009 but orders were sent out to hasten the work.