IAF fighter base cleared close to Pak border in Guj

NEW DELHI: The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday cleared a longpending Indian Air Force (IAF) plan to set up a forward fighter base close to Deesa in Banaskantha district, near India’s western border in northwest Gujarat, adding teeth to its military capabilities against Pakistan.

Defence ministry officials said on condition of anonymity that the CCS has cleared the initial investment of around ₹1,000 crore to extend the runway, build fighter-pens and administrative facilities. “The proposal for converting the small Deesa airport with a 1,000-metre runway, which was used for helicopter landings and VVIP movements, has been gathering dust for quite some time. The fact is that 4,000 acres for the air base, which will plug the critical air defence gap between the Barmer and Bhuj air bases, was acquired nearly two decades ago. This decision was pushed by defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman,” said one of the officials.

Although the defence ministry is tight-lipped about which fighters will be based in Deesa, it is a fact that the new base will increase IAF’S ability to respond swiftly in case of any hostilities in India’s western skies.

Two former IAF chiefs, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described the development as very significant. “The Deesa base will fill an important gap between Barmer in the north and Bhuj/ Naliya in the west,” said one of the two chiefs. “We have constructed a boundary wall there and have some personnel stationed there,” he added. The base will come under the Air Force’s Gandhinagar-headquartered South Western Air Command , which was headed by IAF chief Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa in 2014-15.