Nyoma air base near LAC in Ladakh operationalised, Air Chief makes inaugural landing

NEW DELHI: The operational Capability of the Indian Military got augmented on Wednesday as the Indian Air Force chief ACM AP Singh made inaugural landing onboard transport aircraft C-130J at strategic Mudh Nyoma air base, near the Line of Actual Control in Eastern Ladakh. The operationalisation of the Nyoma Airbase in Eastern Ladakh will provide capability to the Air Force to mobilise fighter jets, helicopters and transport planes. As first reported by TNIE in August, the concrete airstrip was complete last year with finishing touches being given. The other infrastructure at the airbase was completed in October this year. The location of Nyoma Airbase gives it strategic significance. It is located at 13,700 feet above mean sea level, is around 30 km inside the LAC thus allowing rapid deployment and mobilisation of troops and military equipment in the region. It is named after the Mudh village, which is close to Nyoma, lies close to the southern bank of the Pangong Tso, and earlier had a mud-paved landing ground. The responsibility of constructing the airbase was entrusted to the Border Roads Organisation (BRO). The work began in September 2023 with a major work done by October 2024, wading through the challenges of terrain and geography. Due to the high altitude and extreme weather conditions, temperatures reach minus 30 degrees in winters, affecting the men and material, the window to carry out work is limited. Effectively, the major work on the airfield was completed in seven months. Nyoma is the fourth IAF base in Ladakh, the highest airfield in the country and the fifth highest in the world now. Constructed in less than three years, the airfield is designed to house a number of military unmanned, rotary-wing, fixed-wing aircraft, including heavier transport planes, like C-17 Globemaster III, and fighter jets, like the Sukhoi-30MKI. Apart from Nyoma, the IAF has airfields at Leh, Thoise and Kargil, as well as Advanced Landing Grounds at Daulet Beg-Oldie and Fukche in Ladakh. After the 1962 India-China war, the Nyoma airstrip was not in use for decades before it got reactivated in 2009 when Indian Air Force's transport aircraft AN-32 landed for the first time. Post the 2020 India-China border standoff, the IAF had used the existing Nyoma landing ground and operated its transport aircraft such as C-130Js and AN-32s and helicopters like Apache and Chinook from Nyoma in support of the military's forward deployments.