India Deploys More Fighter Jets in Kashmir

India Deploys More Fighter Jets in Kashmir (NSI News Source Info) NEW DELHI - September 18, 2008: India has deployed its top fighter jets in its part of disputed Kashmir bordering Pakistan, officials and a report said Sept. 17. At least six Soviet-built Sukhoi-30MKI jets, capable of carrying nuclear weapons, have been deployed at Avantipura air force base near Kashmir's largest city, Srinagar. The base is equipped with crash-prone MiG-21 jets, which India first imported from the Soviet Union in the 1960s. "The Sukhois had been held deep down our strategic corridor in Pune, and their deployment in Kashmir will address any perceived threat," an air force official said on condition of anonymity. "But this is a defensive stance." Air Marshal P.K. Barbora, commander of India's Western Air Command, was quoted by the Hindustan Times newspaper as saying the deployment was "temporary." India acquired 60 Sukhoi-30s in 2001. The twin-seater frontline jets can carry eight tons of armaments, including nuclear bombs, and cruise at a speed of 3,200 kilometers (1,988 miles) an hour. The air force official said the Sukhois would patrol Indian borders extending up to China and fly across Kashmir's rugged Kargil peaks, where India and Pakistan fought a mini-war in 1999. The Indian air force is also planning to deploy up to 40 Sukhoi jets in the northeast close to the border with China, the official added. The Kashmir deployment comes amid strains in the India-Pakistan peace process, with New Delhi accusing Islamabad of renewed support for cross-border militancy and cease-fire violations along the Line of Control dividing Kashmir. The two countries have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir since their independence in 1947. Each holds the region in part but claims it in full.