At a time when an American military officer termed the Chinese military infrastructure development along the border with India as alarming, it is emerging that the Chinese Air Force is continuously maintaining the deployment of over two dozen frontline aircraft at its Hotan air base near Eastern Ladakh sector.
According to government sources, the Chinese Air Force has now maintained the presence of their 25 frontline fighters at the Hotan air base which include their J-11, and J-20 fighters.
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“The Chinese earlier used to maintain detachments of MiG-21 class fighters there but they have now been replaced with more capable and sophisticated aircraft and in larger numbers,” they said.
The Chinese Air Force is also building up new airfields close to the Indian territory which can allow them to carry out missions from lower altitudes.
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American Pacific Army’s General Charles A Flynn had recently said that the Chinese activity level was eye-opening. “I think some of the infrastructures that are being created in the Western Theatre Command are alarming,” he said.
Indian agencies are keeping a close eye on the activities of the People’s Liberation Army’s Air Force (PLAAF) that has spread all along the Line of Actual Control with India opposite to Ladakh in the north to Arunachal Pradesh in the Northeast.
Along with Hotan, the agencies are also keeping a close eye on Gar Gunsa, Kashghar, Hopping, Dkonka Dzong, Linzhi and Pangat airbases of the PLAAF in the Xinjiang and Tibet region.
The Chinese PLAAF has been upgrading these bases in recent times with the construction of hardened shelters, the extension of runway lengths and the deployment of additional manpower to carry out more operations.
The Indian side has also ramped up its preparedness in the view of the heightened activity by the Chinese forces on their side of the LAC and has deployed its fleet of Sukhoi-30MKIs, MiG-29s and Mirage-2000s at the forward air bases to tackle any misadventure.
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