Form of words:
New Delhi: Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and Road, Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari on Thursday inauguration of An emergency landing strip for Indian Air Force aircraft on National Highway-925 in Barmer district of Rajasthan.
The 3.5-km stretch on the National Highway in Barmer is expected to assist the Indian Air Force during times of war as well as relief operations for national calamities.
As part of the inauguration, both ministers ran away In a simulated emergency landing on the strip in IAF’s C-130J Super Hercules aircraft, Designed for special forces operations.
this was it first time Such landings were made on a national highway but expressways in India have been used for emergency landings in the past.
ThePrint takes a look at some of them.
Read also: Modi government approves 6 more ‘eyes in the sky’ for IAF, DRDO project to cost Rs 11,000 crore
Landing on Lucknow-Agra and Yamuna Expressway
For the first time in 2015, an IAF aircraft had landed on the expressway. a mirage 2000 landed successfully On Yamuna Expressway as part of a trial run to test the highways as emergency landing strips.
Then, in November 2016 three Mirage 2000s and three su 30 mki airplane Display ‘Touch-and-go’ maneuver during the inauguration of Lucknow-Agra Expressway by the then Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Akhilesh Yadav.
Later, in October 2017, a Hercules C-130J Landed First time on Lucknow-Agra Expressway The ‘touch-and-go’ maneuver was used by Mirage 2000 and Sukhoi 30 MKI aircraft on the expressway.
C-130J . Notable Global Landing by
India is not the only country to have used the Hercules C-130J or its predecessor Hercules C130 for landing exercises at various locations.
In June 2019, the Royal Air Force of the United Kingdom Landed A C-130 aircraft on the sands of Pembrey beach in Wales.
Similarly, in 2016, the Danish Air Force Allegedly Take-off and landing of a C-130 aircraft on Vejers Strand beach in western Denmark.
Videos have also surfaced of the Pakistani Air Force conducting such exercises in 2016 in the mountainous city of Chitral outside Islamabad, as well as in Marseilles, France.
In Pakistan, the Peshawar–Islamabad and Islamabad–Karachi highways have designated sections for the landing of military aircraft.
Other countries have also used the roads as landing strips. Myanmar’s capital city of Naypyidaw has a 10-lane road just outside parliament and the offices of military rulers can double as landing strips for Boeing or Airbus aircraft.
Read also: India has started the theater of the army, it will take 2-3 years to form unified commands
Hercules C-130J . on more
Originally designed and manufactured C-130J, by American defense company Lockheed Martin Also known as Super Hercules, It is a military aircraft that offers “improved performance and capabilities” over its predecessor, the Hercules C130.
While the deployment of the C130 in the US earlier date By the 1950s, the C-130J driven It made its first flight in 1996 and completed one million flight hours worldwide by 2013.
As of September 2021, the aircraft has clock in Over 2 million flight hours.
The C-130J is an aircraft designed for special operations and has the capability to land on short and rough airstrips. It has a landing distance of 914 meters and a range of 4,000 km.
India currently operates 12 C-130J aircraft, the first of which was ordered in 2007.
In 2013, IAF carried out the highest landing of C-130J, which is 34.37 m tall With a wingspan of 40.41 metres, at an altitude of 16,614 feet at Daulat Beg Oldi airstrip in Ladakh.
(Edited by Rachel John)
Read also: IAF to get 56 C-295 Airbus aircraft as Modi govt approves ‘Make in India’ deal
subscribe our channel youtube And Wire
Why is the news media in crisis and how can you fix it?
India needs independent, unbiased, non-hyphenated and questionable journalism even more as it is facing many crises.
But the news media itself is in trouble. There have been brutal layoffs and pay-cuts. The best of journalism are shrinking, yielding to raw prime-time spectacle.
ThePrint has the best young journalists, columnists and editors to work for it. Smart and thinking people like you will have to pay a price to maintain this quality of journalism. Whether you live in India or abroad, you can Here.