Pakistan Air Force Base Qadri or more simply PAF Base Qadri, () is a main operating base of the

Pakistan Air Force The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) (; ) is the aerial warfare branch of the Pakistan Armed Forces, tasked primarily with the aerial defence of Pakistan, with a secondary role of providing air support to the Pakistan Army and Pakistan Navy when re ...

's Northern Air Command located near the city of

Skardu Skardu (, Tibetan script: སྐར་མདོ, ) is a city located in Pakistan-administered Gilgit-Baltistan in the disputed Kashmir region. The application of the term "administered" to the various regions of Kashmir and a mention of the Kas ...

in the

Baltistan Baltistan (); also known as Baltiyul or Little Tibet, is a mountainous region in the Pakistani-administered territory of Gilgit-Baltistan and constitutes a northern portion of the larger Kashmir region that has been the subject of a dispute bet ...

region of Pakistan. The airbase is named in honor of the late Air Commodore Abdul Hameed Qadri, a veteran of

Soviet Afghan war The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until it dissolved in 1991. During its existence, it was the largest country by are ...

and recipient of the

Sitara-e-Basalat Sitara-e-Basalat () is a non-operational gallantry (courageous behaviour, especially in battle) award of Pakistan Armed Forces given to individuals for distinguished acts of gallantry, valor or courage while performing their duty It is given by th ...

History

It was originally built in 1949 as an emergency airstrip together by the Pakistan Air Force and the Balti locals in the area to establish a logistic supply line to Pakistani troops engaged with Indian military in post

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

skirmishes. It continued to function as PAF Skardu, a satellite of

PAF Base Minhas Pakistan Air Force Base Minhas is a Pakistan Air Force Airbase located at (Kamra Cantt) Attock District, Punjab, Pakistan. It was named in the honour of Pilot Officer Rashid Minhas, who was awarded the Nishan-e-Haider for valor in the Indo-Pa ...

. As time passed, the PAF felt the need for a base in

Northern Pakistan Northern Pakistan ( ) is a tourism region in northern and north-western parts of Pakistan, comprising the administrative units of Gilgit-Baltistan (formerly known as '' Northern Areas''), Azad Kashmir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Islamabad Capita ...

as it could only employ

F-16 The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is an American single-engine supersonic multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it e ...

s from

PAF Base Sargodha Pakistan Air Force Base Mushaf or more simply PAF Base Mushaf (formerly PAF Station Sargodha and PAF Base Sargodha), ) is a Pakistan Air Force airbase situated at Sargodha in Punjab, Pakistan. It is designated as a "Major Operational Base" (MOB ...

and PAF Base Minhas to carry out effective aerial operations over the northern parts of the country. In 2002, the base commander of Minhas airbase was killed after his Chengdu F-7P Skybolt crashed. PAF Skardu was renamed PAF Qadri in his honor in 2003. By this time, it was hosting Exercise Mountain Camp annually. SKARDU AIR PORT 2

In the late 2010s, the camp received major infrastructure upgrades and its status was changed to an FOB+ with its role and task revised accordingly. TPS-77 and SPADA-2000 squadrons were also deployed there for air defense.

References

External links

Global Security
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Qadri Qaderi (also transcribed variously as Qadri, Qadiri, Qadry, Kadri, or Quadri) is an Arabic/Islamic surname. It is associated with the Sufi saint Abdul Qadir Gilani or the Qadiriyya order founded by him. People with the name include: Qaderi * Hab ...

1940s establishments in Pakistan Military airbases established in the 1940s

History

See also

References

External links