The Ministry of Defence is reviving two defunct advanced landing grounds (ALGs) bordering China. One of these is situated at Chushul in eastern Ladakh, while the other is at Anini in far-east Arunachal Pradesh.

Both are located close to the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the disputed boundary between India and China. Sources said as per the “future roadmap of the IAF”, these two ALGs would be developed for its use as well as that of the Army to operate UAVs and helicopters. The length of the existing airstrips provide for landing of the IAF’s Airbus C-295 and the C-130-J special operations plane.

Chushul is barely 4 km west of the LAC and is naturally flat at 14,000 ft on the Ladakh plateau. This facility was last used during the 1962 India-China war when the IAF’s Soviet-origin plane — t

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