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Barmer: Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari inaugurated an emergency landing strip for Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft on the Satta-Gandhav section on National Highway 925 here on Thursday.
IAF’s Hercules C-130J aircraft carrying two ministers and Chief of Defense Staff Bipin Rawat made a mock emergency landing on the national highway on Thursday. NH-925 is the first national highway in India to be used for emergency landing of IAF aircraft.
The two ministers also witnessed the operation of several aircraft at the Emergency Landing Facility (ELF) of NH-295 on Thursday.
The Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jet also made a mock emergency landing on the ELF in front of the two ministers.
An AN-32 military transport aircraft and IAF’s Mi-17V5 helicopter also landed at ELF, showing their full operational readiness to act as an auxiliary military airbase.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has developed a 3-km section of the Satta-Gandhav section of NH-925 as ELF for the IAF. In October 2017, IAF fighter jets and transport aircraft made a mock landing on the Lucknow-Agra Expressway to show that such highways can be used by IAF aircraft for emergency landings.
The Lucknow-Agra Expressway, which is not a national highway, comes under the Uttar Pradesh government.
Officials told PTI that apart from the one in Barmer, a total of 27 other highways are currently being studied jointly by the Indian Air Force and NHAI to see if emergency landing strips can be developed on them.
The emergency landing strip, which was inaugurated on Thursday, is part of the newly developed two-lane paved shoulder of Gagaria-Bakhsar and Satta-Gandhav sections under Bharatmala project, with a total length of 196.97 km and costing Rs 765.52 crore.
This highway project will improve connectivity between the villages of Barmer and Jalore districts located on the International Border.
Under this project, three helipads (each of size 100×30 m) have been constructed in Kundanpura, Singhania and Bakhasar villages as per the requirements of IAF and Indian Army, besides emergency landing strip.
ELF and three helipads have been developed to strengthen the security network along the western international border of the country.
During normal times, ELF will be used for smooth flow of road traffic, and during operation of ELF for IAF, service road will be used for smooth flow of road traffic.
ELF was built in 19 months. Work started in July 2019 and was completed in January 2021
The work was carried out by GHV India Pvt Ltd under the supervision of the Indian Air Force and NHAI.
Read also: Why Rajnath, Gadkari will hit the national highway in IAF’s C-130 J Super Hercules
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