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By Aadil Brar
China News Reporter
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China has deployed advanced J-20 fighter jets along the contested border with India, new satellite imagery shows.
"Analysis of imagery collected over Shigatse Air Base in China shows the deployment of six likely J-20 stealth fighter aircraft near the Indian border," said U.S.-based geospatial intelligence provider All Source Analysis on May 30.
The Chengdu J-20, also known as Mighty Dragon, isn't known to be permanently deployed at the Shigatse Air Base, making it a rare occurrence, according to All Source Analysis.
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Newsweek's analysis of the open-source satellite imagery provided by geospatial data provider Sentinel Hub on June 2 shows that the J-20 fighter jet remains deployed at the airport.
The Shigatse Air Base, a dual-use airport, is located roughly 93 miles from the border with India.
Military tensions remain high along the 2,100-mile disputed border between India and China, known as the Line of Actual Control, with both nuclear-armed Asian giants continuing to reinforce troops and build infrastructure in the mountainous region.
The long-simmering border dispute erupted into a deadly clash in June 2020, resulting in the first fatalities from fighting between the two countries in over four decades. At least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers were killed.
Since then, a tense four-year military standoff has ensued, with both sides deploying tens of thousands of troops along the border in the Eastern Ladakh region.
Newsweek contacted China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and India's Ministry of External Affairs for comment sent via email.
The heightened military activity comes as Washington backs India as a counterweight to Beijing in the Indo-Pacific, raising the stakes in the geopolitical rivalry between the two Asian powers. China and India, which last year overtook China as the world's most populous nation, now view each other as strategic competitors.
"Placement and trials of 5th generation stealthy J20 aircraft at Shigatse elevates the threat to Sikkim-Arunachal Pradesh region of India credibly, with its over 300km range missiles. This must be cumulated with H6 bombers at Hotan in the Taklamakan Desert. While Rafale aircraft of the Indian Airforce and S400 Air Defence Systems are great challengers to J20, the letter's stealth capabilities have to be factored in air-threat war gaming," Rakesh Sharma, a retired Indian Army general and now a distinguished fellow at Vivekananda International Foundation think tank in New Delhi, told Newsweek in an interview.
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Estimates suggest 50,000 soldiers from each side are squaring off in Eastern Ladakh alone. But the actual deployment along the entire frontier is believed to be much larger, with Indian media reporting up to 200,000 Indian soldiers facing off against a similar number of Chinese forces from the Xinjiang and Tibet Military Regions.
"Among intensive upgradation of air infrastructure, Shigatse dual-use airport at nearly 12500 feet altitude has seen an increased runway length to 5000metres. Airports at height are more challenging due to high wind speeds, lower air density, and lower levels of oxygen," Sharma said.
While the twin-engine J-20 "Mighty Dragon" has previously been spotted in China's Xinjiang region between 2020 and 2023, this deployment to Shigatse Air Base in Tibet represents the largest concentration of the warplanes seen in open-source imagery.
The J-20, introduced in 2017, made China only the third country after the U.S. and Russia to field operational 5th-generation stealth fighters designed to evade radar detection. Estimates suggest China may have as many as 250 of the advanced jets in service.
Equipped with an array of sensors and capable of carrying China's longest-range PL-15 air-to-air missiles, the J-20 is continually being upgraded. Its primary role is air superiority, giving China an edge over India's aging fighter fleet along the tense Himalayan frontier.
In a recent move, India redeployed 10,000 additional troops to the China border after pulling them from the border with rival Pakistan.
"Though Shigatse airfield's enhanced runway and other infrastructure are important, the vagaries of terrain and weather cannot be overlooked, and they will degrade J20 to a large extent. Assuredly, the Indian Air Force will factor in the enhanced threat and plan air operations accordingly," Sharma said.
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