PAF Base Qadri
Pakistan Air Force base
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Pakistan Air Force Base Qadri or more simply PAF Base Qadri, (Urdu: پی اے ایف بیس قادری) is a main operating base of the Pakistan Air Force's Northern Air Command located near the city of Skardu in the Baltistan region of Pakistan.[1][2][3][4] The airbase is named in honor of the late Air Commodore Abdul Hameed Qadri, a veteran of Soviet Afghan war and recipient of the Sitara-e-Basalat.[5]
| PAF Base Qadri | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
قادری ایئربیس | |||||||||
| Skardu, Baltistan in Pakistan | |||||||||
 | |||||||||
| Site information | |||||||||
| Type | Forward operating base | ||||||||
| Owner | Ministry of Defence | ||||||||
| Operator | Pakistan Air Force | ||||||||
| Controlled by | Northern Air Command | ||||||||
| Open to the public | Yes | ||||||||
| Condition | Operational | ||||||||
| Location | |||||||||
  PAF Base Qadri Shown within Gilgit Baltistan  PAF Base Qadri PAF Base Qadri (Pakistan) | |||||||||
| Coordinates | 35°20′30″N 75°31′21″E | ||||||||
| Site history | |||||||||
| Built | 1949 | ||||||||
| Built by | Pakistan Air Force | ||||||||
| In use | 1949 - present | ||||||||
| Battles/wars | |||||||||
| Garrison information | |||||||||
| Current commander | Air Commodore Jamal Khan | ||||||||
| Garrison | Skardu | ||||||||
| Occupants | 488 Mission Control Center 909 MRR Squadron | ||||||||
| Airfield information | |||||||||
| Identifiers | IATA: KDU, ICAO: OPSD | ||||||||
| Elevation | 2,230 metres (7,316 ft) AMSL | ||||||||
| |||||||||
History
It was originally built in 1949 as an emergency airstrip together by the Pakistan Air Force and the Balti locals in the area to establish a logistic supply line to Pakistani troops engaged with Indian military in post war skirmishes. It continued to function as PAF Skardu, a satellite of PAF Base Minhas. As time passed, the PAF felt the need for a base in Northern Pakistan as it could only employ F-16s from PAF Base Sargodha and PAF Base Minhas to carry out effective aerial operations over the northern parts of the country.[5]
In 2002, the base commander of Minhas airbase was killed after his Chengdu F-7P Skybolt crashed.[6] PAF Skardu was renamed PAF Qadri in his honor in 2003. By this time, it was hosting Exercise Mountain Camp annually.[5]
In the late 2010s, the camp received major infrastructure upgrades and its status was changed to an FOB+ with its role and task revised accordingly.[7] TPS-77 and SPADA-2000 squadrons were also deployed there for air defense.[5]
During the 2025 India–Pakistan conflict, India launched air and missile strikes on various Pakistani airbases on 10 May 2025 in which it claimed to have damaged PAF Base Qadri.[8] However, local journalists from the area refuted the claims. [9]
