Indian Air Force has raised a new squadron of its frontline Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter aircraft at the Chabua air base in Assam along the Chinese border in the north-east. This is the second Sukhoi squadron to be deployed in the north-eastern region after Tezpur air base. An IAF spokesperson said in New Delhi that the new squadron will get its full complement of 16 to 18 aircraft in the coming few months.To commemorate the raising of the new squadron, three Su-30 MKI fighter jet planes were flown to Chabua airbase from Tezpur. AIR correspondent reports, the IAF plans to deploy four squadrons at these two bases which were earlier operating different types of the MiG-21 series fighter aircraft. This would be the seventh squadron of Sukhois as three are deployed in Lohegaon in Pune, two in Bareilly and one in Tezpur. The IAF presently flies over 125 Sukhois in various roles and has plans to induct a total of 280 such air superiority fighter aircraft in this decade. More than 15 squadrons of the over 35 tonne aircraft will form the backbone of IAF lethal strike power in the coming decades along with the 126 M-MRCA, which the Air Force plans to buy, indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) and the fifth generation fighter planes being jointly developed with Russia.