Pathankot airbase is India's muscle

Pathankot is one of the most strategic forward airbase’s in the country and has remained a top priority for its tactical quick response and effective surveillance owing to its location, about 40-km from Pakistan border.

The January 2 attack on the airbase, which has a circumference of 24 km, was unprecedented. But this airbase has been the target of Pakistan air force twice earlier during the 1965 war and then in the 1971 war.

Mini-township
The vast airbase is a walled mini-township. It houses schools, shopping areas, residential compounds, offices, mess, canteen, administrative blocks and playgrounds.
It has an airstrip, besides hangers for aircraft, helicopters and other strategic assets of the Air Force.

But the core competencies are more. The airbase is equipped with state-of-the-art surveillance radars and UAVs. It also has a Pechora defence missile squadron.

The squadron “Hawkeyes” that fly MiG-21 fighter jets and the Gladiator helicopter unit that operate the Mi-35 attack helicopters are all based here.

The airbase is significant from a logistic point of view, given that it is located at the northern-most district of Punjab at the topographic confluence of boundaries of Himachal Pradesh and J&K.

Punjab has faced the brunt of wars with Pakistan, which is why an integrated network of airfields and airbases, including one at Adampur, Halwara in Ludhiana, Bathinda and Ambala in Haryana, are located in close aerial proximity to the Pathankot airbase for a quick response.

Military cantonment
Pathankot also has a large military cantonment at Mamun.   In 1965, the Pakistan air force air-dropped nearly 180 special services group para commandos near three Indian airfields in Punjab, including the Pathankot airbase.

A majority of them were taken as prisoners of war, 22 of them were killed and few escaped to Pakistan.

In the 1971 war, an air strike was launched by Pakistan on the Pathankot airbase. Portion of the runway was damaged in the bombing.

The proximity of this forward airbase to Pakistan and vast stretches of porous borders have ensured the vulnerability of this strategic airbase. Out of the 553-km border with Pakistan in Punjab, only about 461 km is fenced.

The remaining area runs through the banks of the Satluj and Ravi rivers. A total of 178 outposts have been set up.