Lucknow: The Indian Air Force (IAF) commenced its “land and go” drill on a 3.5-km stretch of the Ganga Expressway in the Shahjahanpur district of Uttar Pradesh on Friday. The exercise will involve a variety of IAF aircraft, including Rafales, SU-30 MKIs, Mirage-2000s, MiG-29s, Jaguars, C-130J Super Hercules, AN-32s and the MI-17 V5 helicopters.
For the last few years, the IAF has been practicing landings and take-offs on certain stretches of national highways. This is to enable the use of these highways as emergency or diversionary runways during a conflict, when a regular air base comes under attack. This enhances capacity without incurring additional expenses.
What sets this expressway stretch apart is its unique capability to facilitate both day and night landings of both fighter jets and transport aircraft. This is the first such stretch of highway in India to allow that. Until now, similar emergency landing drills have been carried out on the Lucknow-Agra and Purvanchal expressways, but those were limited to daytime operations.
Students from various schools and locals were among those who are flocking to watch the awe-inspiring flight demonstrations on the Ganga Expressway. The drill will involve low flypasts, landings, and take-offs, both during the day and night.
“We are making sure that our aircraft can operate from nearly everywhere, provided there is a long enough straight stretch of road that is strong enough to bear the weight of an aircraft. Nowadays, highways are also being built, keeping this in mind. These drills are also important for our strategic transport aircraft, such as the C-130Js that are used for the insertion and extraction of troops,” an IAF official said.
According to sources, the stretch of the highway has been covered by over 250 CCTV cameras to ensure foolproof security and surveillance. Top defence and state government officials were present to oversee the proceedings.
Once the exercises are completed, the Ganga Expressway will become Uttar Pradesh’s fourth highway to host an emergency airstrip, but the first one to allow night operations.
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