Its official now. The gigantic C-130J Super Hercules aircraft, which the Indian Air Force (IAF) landed at its Daulat Beg Oldie airstrip in north-eastern Ladakh in August, is going to have its own hub in West Bengal to combat the Chinese aggression along the border. Its destination is the Panagargh Air Force station in Burdwan.
Catering to the eastern sector, the air base is going to be the second hub of the C-130J in the country with the first being the Hindon air force station under the Western Air Command. Sources suggested that the next fleet of the aircrafts, built by US defence manufacturer Lockheed Martin and meant for the upcoming hub, is expected to arrive in India in the next two years.
Air officer commanding-in-chief of the Eastern Air Command (EAC) Air Marshal Ravi Kant Sharma personally reviewed the preparations at the Panagarh Air Force station during his two-day visit last week. Addressing the air warriors, he emphasised that the Air Force station was strategically very important and was being developed as one of the major flying bases in EAC.
“The location of Panagarh with its proximity to Nepal, Bangladesh and Central Tibet presents an ideal situation to base C-130J to address the external as well as internal threat to the nation,” Air Marshal Sharma explained. He also stressed on the need for a pro-active approach by all air warriors to ensure the timely completion of infrastructure development for the induction of C-130J aircraft.
The C-130J is a near fifth-generation technology tactical aircraft with very specific operational and technical parameters and has a much larger dimension as compared to most aircraft in IAF inventory. Sources indicated that the induction of C-130J at Panagarh will enable the IAF to mobilise troops to the forward eastern front in the shortest possible time.