Exposed! China Actions Before Ladakh Standoff

Underground vaults hint at nuclear facilities at Kashgar, 500 kms from border

- Col Vinayak Bhat

An Underground vault construction in China’s Kashgar airbase months before the India-China standoff started in Ladakh shows how People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) has been ramping up infrastructure for air power, satellite images analysed by India Today’s OSINT team suggest.

The underground construction that could be used to conceal nuclear warheads is among the many strategies adopted by China taking an aggressive stand against India including the deployment of its H-6 bomber aircraft in Kashgar. The H-6 bomber aircraft was recently part of war games in the South China Sea.

The Kashgar airbase is 475 km away from the Karakoram Pass and is seen as a direct deployment against India.

From the Finger 4 area of the Pangong Lake that has been the biggest flashpoint, Kashgar is 690 km. The distance of Daulat Beg Oldie, India’s airfield in eastern Ladakh at more than 16,000 feet, the distance to Kashgar is 490 km.