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]
^ abcdKhan, Farhat; Hashmi, Qadeer (2024). History of the Pakistan Air Force (2014-2023): The Next Generation Air Force (1st ed.). pp. 235–237. ISBN978-969-7518-01-2.
