An air base so close to the Line of Control also ensures that India can target it with standoff weapons

Islamabad: Another aggressive gesture by Pakistan: a military airfield in Mansehra, within striking distance of India. The Pakistan Air Force's new airfield is along the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir-Khyber Pakhtunkhwa border and is only 150 km from Srinagar and 235 km from Jammu. 

The Pakistan government has already allocated 1,600 million Pakistani rupees for the project and government sources said the PAF believes it can target Kashmir - being only 150 km from Srinagar and 235 km from Jammu - and also, places along the Line of Control. The PAF has an advanced landing ground (ALG) in Muzaffarabad, which is 50 km from Mansehra. And the new airfield can supplement it. Abbottabad, where Osama bin Laden was found and killed, is even closer, being just 20 km away.

Highly placed defence officials said the PAF airfield can be a double-edged sword for Pakistan. Sure, "forward deployment" of Pakistan Air Force fighters will make it more difficult for Indian air-defence systems. They will have less time to pick up the fighters and down them. The PAF aircraft will have longer "loitering" time over the target -- meaning they will have more time to drop their bombs.

But, a base so close to the Line of Control ensures that India can target it with standoff weapons. Any airfield about 100 km away from the LoC is vulnerable - the range of the BrahMos missile is about 300 km. Flying time for an IAF fighter from Srinagar is also about five to six minutes, defence sources said.

Other airfields are also being built. Part of Jacobabad, where six F-16s were spotted recently, is under renovation. New surveillance radars are being fitted at Mianwali.

And though Pakistan has failed to get much international support on Kashmir, it continues to get military assistance from China. Shaheen 8, the joint China-Pak air exercise, has just concluded in Jiuquan in the Gansu province of China. Eighteen fighters, including the F7PG, the Mirage, the JF-17 and one AEW, for an airborne warning, have been spotted. Several of them along with two C-130s were seen in Xinggan, probably on their way to Gansu.