India to deploy MiG-29 fighters at Tajikistan base

Apr 20, 2006, 12:52 GMT

New Delhi - India's first overseas military facility in Tajikistan is expected to become operational by the year-end and New Delhi will deploy a fleet of MiG-29 jets at the base, a news report said Thursday.

India is constructing three hangars at Aini airbase, near the capital Dushanbe, two of which will accomodate 12 MiG-29 fighter-bombers, official sources told the IANS news agency.

The third hangar will be used by the Tajikistan Air Force whose personnel are being trained by the Indian Air Force (IAF) under a defence cooperation agreement.

The work on the hangars and the restoration of the Tajik base would be completed by September, the IANS reported.

India's Border Roads Organization (BRO) work to restore the airbase, which has been unused since the mid-1980s, is being overseen by the Indian military, the report said.

India set up its its first military 'outpost' in Tajikistan at Farkhor, adjoining the Tajik-Afghan border, to provide economic and relief assistance to neighbouring Afghanistan.

India has planned the base in Tajikistan as part of its efforts to have a larger strategic role in Central Asia and allow its military to have 'depth and range' in the region.

The move is also aimed at catering to its growing energy needs by securing oil contracts in Central Asia.

Analysts say this is part of India's 'strategic encirclement' of its rival Pakistan, but the contention has been brushed aside by the Indian establishment which has said the base is not Pakistan-oriented and that Central Asia is geographically near northern India.