SOURCE: MAHESH SHETTI / FOR MY TAKE / IDRW.ORG
Pakistan Air Force operated Skardu airbase opposite the Union Territory of Ladakh in Gilgit-Baltistan region has been under careful watch by Indian Air Force (IAF) after IL-76 Mid-Air Refueller operated by People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) landed last week amid rumors that the airbase has been activated after Indo-China border clash in Ladakh region and around 40-50 J-10 fighter jet of PLAAF has been stationed there for possible Two front Attack planned with PAF for both Kashmir and Ladakh area.
Skardu airbase relatively is a small base that can’t handle over 10-12 fighter jets at any given of the time and fighters are usually deployed as per threat perceptions. In past, PAF has deployed Mirage-III/V, JF-17, and F-7 fighter jets at the base at regular intervals and due to elevation of 7,316 ft and due to extreme weather and mountainous terrain, the base is not all-terrain and all-weather capable and even night sorties are restricted and even with decent payload, a JF-17 requires full runway length of 3.6km to takeoff from the base.
The latest Satellite imagery confirms that airbase only has 8 Hardened Aircraft Shelters (HAS) which were fighter jets are stored or kept in Operational Readiness alert. The second runway of the base which is just 2.6km is not even operational and looks like it is still under construction which severely limits the operational capability of the base if the main runway is taken out.
Skardu airbase comes with a lot of operational restrictions but fighter jets taking from the base have to reach for the whole area and can be used to attack Daulat beg oldi airbase, Kargil air base, Srinagar airbase or even Leh airbase in coordination with PLAAF and PAf or by PLAAF alone but the base itself is vulnerable with no SAM System (Surface to Air Missile ) in place and is also within range of BrahMos-A which fired from Sukhoi-30MKI can be safely fired from Indian Air space without actually crossing the LOC.
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