Deesa Airbase: PM Modi is on a Gujarat tour these days. Today, on the first day of his visit, he laid the foundation stone of the new Indian Air Force (IAF) airbase at Deesa in Gujarat's Banaskantha district and described it as an effective center of India's security. He said that the Deesa airbase, just 130 km from the Indo-Pak border, would be able to better respond to any threat coming from the western side.

It is to be known that in the year 2000, the Vajpayee government of BJP had given in-principle approval of the land for giving Deesa airbase to the Indian Air Force. But after that the project was shelved for the next 14 years. After this the Modi government revived this project. With the efforts of Prime Minister Modi and the then Defense Minister, the project lying in this file was restarted. The then Defense Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had approved the airbase by the government with a funding of 1,000 crores.

PM Modi said while Deesa airbase will provide the Indian Air Force with rapid offensive capability in the region, the new airfield will also bridge a critical strategic gap between forward airfields at Naliya, Bhuj in Gujarat and Phalodi in Rajasthan. It will be ready as a wall between the industrial areas of Pakistan and Gujarat.

Deesa airport will prove to be a wall of fire for enemy aircraft taking off from Shahbaz F-16 airbase in Mirpur Khas, Hyderabad, Pakistan's Jacobabad. Since Deesa is a forward airbase, the IAF will deploy air defense fighters like MiG-29 and Tejas at this airfield instead of its frontline Rafale or Su-30 MKI fighters to intercept enemy fighters and Gujarat's industrial to neutralize their ability to target the complex.