Form of words:
New Delhi: Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and Road, Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari will board the Indian Air Force (IAF) C-130 J Super Hercules aircraft to hit the national highway in Rajasthan’s Barmer district this Thursday.
The two ministers along with other officials will take part in a mock emergency landing as part of the inauguration of a 3.5-km stretch on the national highway in Barmer, which will assist in emergency landing of fixed-wing aircraft of the Indian Air Force.
For the inauguration, IAF will also conduct touchdowns by Su 30 MKI fighters.
According to sources in the Defense and Security Establishment, the idea for both Singh and Gadkari to board the plane came from a minister as a show of confidence.
While emergency landings have taken place on other expressways, this week’s event will be the first time a national highway will be used for such landings.
The sources further mentioned that a dozen such emergency landing strips have been selected on the highways close to the border areas.
The 12 national highways that have been approved to be developed as airstrips include the Bijbehara-Chinar Bagh highway in Jammu and Kashmir, the Rampur-Kathgodam highway in Uttarakhand, the Kharagpur-Keonjhar highway in West Bengal and the Mohanbari-Tinsukia highway in Assam. Are included.
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Landing strips for wars, natural disasters
According to sources, these landing stretches on highways, especially near border areas, give the IAF additional options for both landing and take-off during war and natural calamities.
“There are potential landing strips in several civilian airports and hinterlands. However, it becomes an issue in the border areas where there are only IAF bases,” said a source.
In times of war, the sources mentioned, airports are usually the first to be targeted and in such a situation, these landing strips on highways and expressways can assist the IAF.
“It is not only for landing but also for take-off for combat missions. “The enemy will have to guess where all the Indian Air Force can land and take off,” a second source said.
He said that such landing strips would be spread across the country and would also be useful in carrying out relief operations during natural calamities.
landing on the expressway
While the event in Barmer will mark the first emergency landing on the national highway, IAF is first In 2017, C 130 J was decommissioned on the section of Lucknow-Agra Expressway. At that time, IAF’s Garuda commandos had landed to secure the landing area as part of a mock drill.
This flight was followed by a ‘touch-and-go’ maneuver on the expressway by a combination of Mirage, Su-30MKI and Jaguar deep penetration aircraft.
For the first time such a mission was accomplished in 2015 when Mirage 2000 Landed On Yamuna Expressway near Delhi.
after that a ‘Touch-and-go’ operation The Agra-Lucknow Expressway was inaugurated in 2016 by three Mirajes and three Sukhois in Unnao.
(Edited by Rachel John)
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