In the Banaskantha region of north Gujarat, close to the India-Pakistan border, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday officially lay the foundation stone for a new air base at Deesa. Upon completion, the air facility will reportedly close a 355 km long strategic gap between Uttarlai and the Air Force station in Bhuj.
After laying the foundation stone, Prime Minister Modi projected that the Deesa air base will become a here that for national security. The prime minister added that his government resolved to establish an operational facility in Deesa after becoming office, and ‘this expectation of our military is being fulfilled today.’
‘The international border is just 130 km away. If our forces, especially the Air Force, are in Deesa, we will be able to respond in a much better way to any challenge on the western border,’ he said.
The 4,519-acre Deesa air base is a greenfield facility being built in the Banaskantha district. According to officials of the Indian Air Force (IAF), the site was purchased in 1983. There are currently only 20 observation towers and a 22 kilometre boundary wall on the campus.
The Centre gave its go for the building of a full-fledged air base in 2020. According to officials, the development of the airbase will be completed in two phases at a cost of about Rs 980 crore.
Along with roads and drainage systems, Phase 1 will see the building of the main runway, parallel taxi tracks, loop taxi tracks, and fighter sqn dispersal areas. Construction of a balanced technical infrastructure and housing is envisaged for phase 2.
According to the Chief Engineer Lt Gen Harpal Singh, the entire airbase has been planned so that it will be completed by December 2023.
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