Pakistan To Deploy Chinese JF-17 Fighters Near Gujarat Border

Pakistan will reportedly deploy its fleet of Chinese JF-17 fighters to a newly developed airfield located closer to the north western border of India, according to a report by India Today.

The report says that the country has developed a modern airfield in Bholari for military aircraft operations along the Gujarat border, in the Hyderabad district of Pakistan's Sindh province. 

"Though the airfield has been in existence for some time now, activities like intensive flying of combat aircraft is a recent phenomenon," the sources were quoted as saying. The Pakistani Air Force is inducting a large number of JF-17s from China to match the Indian Air Force capabilities on its eastern front.

Following the rapid development on the Pakistan side, the Cabinet Committee on Security headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already cleared the setting up of a forward fighter base in Deesa, Gujarat.

The airfield will plug the air gaps on the border but will take at least three to four years to extend the runway, construct fighter pens and other infrastructure.