Pathankot, a tactically important air base

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 3

Located on the northern tip of Punjab just about 40 km from the India-Pakistan international border and close to the Punjab-Jammu and Kashmir-Himachal Pradesh inter-state boundaries, the Pathankot Air Force Station is a tactically important base.

Part of the Western Air Command, it is home to No. 18 Wing, currently being commanded by Air Commodore JS Dhamoon.

The 108 Squadron “Hawkeyes” that fly the MiG-21 fighters and the 125 Helicopter Unit “Gladiators” that operate the Mi-35 helicopter gunships in support of the Army are based here, besides a Pechora air defence missile squadron and other auxiliary outfits.

The air base is spread over 75 acres and in November 2006, a civil enclave attached to it for commercial flights was inaugurated in November 2006 by Praful Patel, the then minister for civil aviation. However, no civilian domestic flights operate from this airport.

The air base saw action during the Indo-Pak wars. It was the target of Pakistani special forces during the 1965 War though no real damage was done. An air strike was launched on it by Pakistan in 1971 in which part of the runway was damaged.

It has also seen mobilisation during other operations such as Safed Sagar during the 1999 Kargil conflict and Parakram in 2002 after the terrorist attack on Parliament in December 2001 as well as training exercises.