India on Wednesday operationalized the Mudh-Nyoma air base in eastern Ladakh following a multi-million dollar upgrade. The high-altitude facility significantly enhances India’s power along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, according to multiple media reports.
The move comes as Beijing has continued to expand its military infrastructure in Tibet, highlighting the broader strategic competition between the two nuclear-armed neighbors along their disputed border.
The move highlights a key aspect of India’s complicated relations with its northern neighbor, China. The two countries’ leaders met in August in Tianjin, China, on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, where they committed to advancing bilateral cooperation over border disputes.
There were deadly clashes in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh in 2020, part of the disputed 2,100‑mile LAC de-facto bounday. India and China have vied for control of strategic areas through increased military deployments and enhanced infrastructure.
Both sides patrol overlapping areas, claiming extensive parts of each other’s territory along the Himalayan frontier, with the border dispute rooted in ambiguities from British-era boundary demarcations. Key agreements and multiple talks have helped maintain relative peace between India and China, averting a repeat of their 1962 war over disputed territory.
Indian Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh flew in on a C‑130J aircraft to formally open the air base in Ladakh, which is nearly 13,700 feet above sea level and a few dozen kilometers from the LAC. Upgrades at the base include a paved runway, hangars and support facilities.
“Some of the buffer zones created are mostly in areas previously patrolled by us and on our side,” a retired lieutenant speaking on condition of anonymity told the Washington Post on Wednesday.
China is building a new helicopter facility north of the LAC in Zanda County, a stronghold of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), open-intelligence source analyst accounts on X reported Wednesday, with the aim of speeding troop movements and strengthening Beijing’s operational reach in the central sector of the India‑China border.
In addition to new bases and helipads, China has expanded transportation and rail networks near the LAC, which enables faster troop movements, enhancing the PLA’s operational reach in the region, observers say.