Focus on airstrip
A former Indian Air Force officer on Friday said the armed Chinese incursions into the Depsang Plains, the latest flashpoint in northern Ladakh, was a premeditated step by the People’s Liberation Army to counter India’s move to reactivate a vantage-point airstrip to check intrusions and help troops on the ground.
The Daulat Beg Oldi airstrip, which overlooks the Karakoram Pass and is just 8km from the Line of Actual Control and the China-occupied Aksai region beyond, had been reactivated after 43 years in 2008 but had been lying dormant since. With border tensions escalating, India again began using the airstrip, flying AN-32 and C-130J Hercules AZaircraft to keep a watch on the border and help troops below at the Depsang Plains.
