Srinagar, May 31 : An old air base in mountainous Ladakh region in Jammu and Kashmir, that was closed 43 years ago, was made operational by the Indian Air Force (IAF) on Saturday.

The air base was set up in 1962 during the Indo-China war and closed in 1965.

It overlooks the strategic Karakoram pass and is located eight km south of the Chinese border.

AN-32, a transporter plane carrying Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (Western Air Command) P K Barbora landed at the Dawaltbaigh Oldi air strip around 0850 hours after taking off from Chandigarh.

In future, IAF plans to carry out AN-32 transport aircraft flights from Jammu regularly.

Beside AN-32, IAF’s MI-17, MI-26 helicopters, Chetak and Druv helicopters can land at the helipad to ferry the much-needed supplies to troops deployed in the region.

The Dawaltbaigh Oldi air strip is strategically located on ancient trade route connecting Ladakh in India to Yarkand in Xinjiang, China.

It has also been reported that the IAF plans to revive airfields in Chushul and Fukche along the Indo-China border. (ANI)