(TibetanReview.net, Mar20’26) –As India continues to open up trade and investment ties with China, the latter has quietly deployed at least 14 J-20 Mighty Dragon stealth fighters at an airbase in Tibet located less than 100 miles from India’s Sikkim border. Armed with PL-15 long-range missiles capable of crossing the Line of Actual Control, the deployment is the largest and most significant PLAAF buildup near Indian territory ever recorded, reported 19fortyfive.com Mar 19.
The stealth fighters are deployed at the Shigatse Air Base in Tibet, one of the world’s highest military airbases, with six of them sheltered under protective tarpaulins and the remaining eight sitting in the open, Reuben F Johnson, an expert on foreign weapons systems, defense technologies, and international arms export policy has noted.
J-20s might be armed with PL-15 long-range air-to-air missiles capable of reaching targets on the Indian side of the border, Johnson has said.
This PLAAF deployment is regarded as potentially destabilizing because it places fifth-generation jets within striking distance of India’s Siliguri corridor. This could spark escalation between the two air forces and an increase in regional aerial competition, the report said.
The report said India has also been expending considerable resources on fighters capable of operating at “high-hot”—meaning high altitude, high temperature—locations. Fighter jets capable of operating in these conditions are regarded as essential for maintaining control of the skies over the Himalayas.
In fact, the Indian Air Force (IAF) is stated to rate its aircraft as having superior performance in these conditions, with commanders sometimes referring to this as the “Ladakh” factor. “Chinese jets like the J-20 struggle with engine performance in the thin air of the Himalayas,” an Indian commentator was stated to have written in Dec 2025.
While in the past, J-20 had already been seen based at locations close to the Indian border, the current sightings are the largest, most significant deployment of the aircraft in this region, the report said.
Experienced observers of the PLAAF are stated to point out that from this location, J-20s possibly armed with the PL-15—the longest of the PLAAF’s long-range air-to-air missiles—could present a new problem to the IAF. Armed with the PL-15, the J-20s could reach targets on the Indian side of the border.