Dharamshala, 17th October: Should India worry? as China has deployed unmanned aerial vehicles and fighter jets at its Ngari Gunsa airbase. The base is only 200 kilometers from Pangong Lake. This information came through satellite images. The PLAAF’s(Chinese airforce) Ngari Gunsa base, which also functions as a civilian airport, is located near the Line of Actual Control in Tibet’s Ngari prefecture. The Chinese operationalized the base in 2010, which was built at an elevation of roughly 14,000 feet.
India should absolutely worry about these build-ups with China’s past aggression in mind. India should not lay dormant in these build-ups, without a doubt China will use these facilities to strike India in a future conflict. Instead, India should take a proactive stance in this build-up.
In the satellite image of the airbase, two unmanned aerial vehicles can be seen, which have been deployed since at least August of this year. Satellite photographs from February 2021 revealed that China is constructing hardened airplane shelters at the base earlier this year. Blast pens, also known as hardened shelters, are reinforced hangars that protect fighter jets from enemy missiles and explosives. At the airbase, at least 12 reinforced shelters are being built.
The development of hardened aircraft shelters at the base indicates that China intends to enhance the presence of its aviation assets, including drones, at Ngari Gunsa in the coming years in order to counter India’s deployments in Ladakh. The base’s expansion, which began in early 2020, lasted the duration of the military standoff in eastern Ladakh.
This detachment of fighter jets was first sighted at the Ngari Gunsa airbase in December 2019, barely months before China startled India by deploying thousands of Chinese soldiers along the LAC in eastern Ladakh, backed by heavy equipment.
China is also developing a helicopter station in Aksai Chin, 130 kilometers from the Galwan Valley in northeastern Ladakh, where 20 Indians and scores of Chinese soldiers were killed in skirmishes on June 15, last year, to bolster its presence and posture along the LAC.
The helicopter facility is part of China’s enormous infrastructure construction effort, which includes expanding airbases near the LAC to handle a larger deployment of fighter jets and unmanned aerial vehicles on the Tibetan Plateau, which began last year.
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