| Daulat Beg Oldi | |
| — military base — | |
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| Coordinates | |
| Country | India |
| State | Jammu and Kashmir |
| District(s) | Leh |
| Time zone | IST (UTC+05:30) |
| Area |
• 5,100 metres (16,700 ft) |
Daulat Beg Oldi (also Oldie, DBO), Ladakh, state of Jammu & Kashmir, India is an historic camp site and current military base located on an ancient trade route connecting Ladakh to Yarkand in Xinjiang, China. The Chip Chap River flows by Daulat Beg Oldi from east to west.
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Daulat Beg Oldi lies at the easternmost point of the Karakoram Range in a cold desert region in the far north of India, just 8 km south of the Chinese border and 9 km northwest of the Aksai Chin Line of Actual Control between China and India. Other than Siachen Glacier military bases, it is India's northernmost built-up area. The nearest inhabited town is Murgo to the south, which has a small population of Baltis who primarily depend on apricot farming and yak rearing.
The government in 2001 first announced plans to construct a motorable road from Leh to its end at Daulat Beg Oldi.
Temperature plummets as low as -30 C in the winters. The weather deteriorates frequently with strong icy winds lashing much of DBO. DBO has very little if any vegetation or wildlife. Communication is possible only through INMARSAT (satellite) phones.
The place is named after Daulat Baig Oldi, a 16th century Yarkandi nobleman who is supposed to have died at this place after descent from the Karakoram Pass, which is 17 kilometers to the northwest on the Indo-Chinese border. This route was used by caravans of traders traveling between India and Central Asia. It used to be a stopping point for the caravans traveling along the Silk Road. India and China sealed their borders after the 1962 India-China War, ending most of the cross-border trade. In modern times, the place has not been known to have any permanent civilian population.[1]
| Daulat Beg Oldi Advanced Landing Ground | |||
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| IATA: none – ICAO: none | |||
| Summary | |||
| Airport type | Military | ||
| Operator | Indian Airforce | ||
| Location | Ladakh, India | ||
The Indian Army maintains helipads and a gravel air strip here, the highest airstrip in the world. Routine sorties are carried out using An-32 aircraft to provide relief and supplies to the troops stationed nearby. [2]
The base was established during the Sino-Indian conflict in 1962. It was operated with American-supplied Fairchild Packets from 1962 to 1966, when it had to be closed down suddenly when an earthquake caused loosening of the surface soil, making the area unsuitable for fixed-wing aircraft.[3]
Work was undertaken to make the airfield operational again, and was marked on 31 May 2008, when an Indian Air Force AN-32 landed.[4]
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