New Delhi (TIP)- Latest satellite images have revealed that China has deployed its most advanced J-20 stealth fighter jets at its dual use military-civilian airfield at Shigatse, which is less than 200 km north of Sikkim.
All Source Analysis, a firm that looks at geospatial intelligence, on Thursday posted on X details of satellite imagery, saying “The analysis of imagery collected over Shigatse Airbase in China shows the deployment of six likely J-20 stealth fighter aircraft near the Indian border.”
Multiple images collected over the course of the same day indicate the J20 aircraft arrived at the airbase on May 27 preceded by the arrival of a Y-20 transport aircraft for the probable deployment of ground crew and support equipment, the post read.
Sources in the Indian security establishment said the satellite image was genuine and the deployment had been noted. An Indian Air Force (IAF) spokesperson declined to comment on the matter.
The J-20 aircraft, a twin-engine stealth fighter was introduced in 2017, but are not permanently based at Shigatse. Shigatse is the base of the J-10 fighter aircraft and KJ-500 early warning and control aircraft. Shigatse, the second-largest city in Tibet, has its airport at an altitude of 12,400 ft.
India does not have a stealth jet as yet, but a squadron (16 jets) of its most-modern plane, the Rafale, is located at Hasimara in northern West Bengal.
The J-20 was deployed last year at Xinjiang, north of Ladakh. India matches this Chinese expansion by significantly upgrading its own airbases with hardened shelters for its aircraft in addition to expanding its tiered surface-to-air missile defences, which has included the deployment of the Russian-built S-400 long-range surface-to-air missile system in eastern India.
The deployment of the S-400 system, which has the ability to track stealth platforms, is designed to deter offensive Chinese fighter sweeps along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). In 2021, a year after the military standoff commenced in eastern Ladakh, a US-based policy research organisation, The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) released a report “How is China expanding its infrastructure to project power along its western borders?”
China started constructing or upgrading 37 airports and heliports in Tibet and Xinjiang since 2017. “The pace of this activity sped up significantly in 2020,” the report said.
Source: TNS