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PAF Base Qadri

PAF Base Qadri
قادری ایئربیس
Skardu, Baltistan in Pakistan

Forward operating base
Ministry of Defence
Pakistan Air Force
Northern Air Command
Yes
Operational
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.mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct,.mw-parser-output .geo-inline-hidden{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}35°20′30″N 75°31′21″E / 35.34167°N 75.52250°E / 35.34167; 75.52250
1949 (1949)
Pakistan Air Force
1949 - present
Kargil War
2001–2002 India–Pakistan standoff
2016–2018 India–Pakistan border skirmishes
2019 Jammu and Kashmir airstrikes
2025 India–Pakistan conflict
Air Commodore Jamal Khan
Skardu
488 Mission Control Center 909 MRR Squadron
IATA: KDU, ICAO: OPSD
2,230 metres (7,316 ft) AMSL
Runways

Direction Length and surface

14L/32R 3,641 metres (11,946 ft) Asphalt

14R/32L 3,641 metres (11,946 ft) Asphalt | 14L/32R | 3,641 metres (11,946 ft) Asphalt | 14R/32L | 3,641 metres (11,946 ft) Asphalt | | 14L/32R | 3,641 metres (11,946 ft) Asphalt | | | | | 14R/32L | 3,641 metres (11,946 ft) Asphalt | | | |

A board bearing the base's name.

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. 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.

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.

In 2002, the base commander of Minhas airbase was killed after his Chengdu F-7P Skybolt crashed. PAF Skardu was renamed PAF Qadri in his honor in 2003. By this time, it was hosting Exercise Mountain Camp annually.

Bird eye view of the runway used jointly by Qadri airbase and Skardu Airport.

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. TPS-77 and SPADA-2000 squadrons were also deployed there for air defense.

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. However, local journalists from the area refuted the claims.

List of Pakistan Air Force bases
Global Security

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