NEW DELHI: Indian Air Force on Tuesday landed its 16 aircraft including a Super Hercules C130 transport plane on the Lucknow-Agra Expressway as part of a three-hour special drill to test operational capabilities in case of emergencies such as disaster relief, humanitarian assistance, as well as in situations of war or conflict.
Major landing operation happened at about 60 km west of Lucknow in the morning, close to Bangarmau in Unnao District of Uttar Pradesh, where a 3 km stretch was specially prepared for such operations.
Fighters including frontline air superiority fighters Sukhoi-30, Mirage-2000 and Jaguar fighter aircraft, took off from Bareilly, Gwalior and Gorakhpur respectively. In addition, IAF carried out drills in which Garud Commandos were inserted and extricated for ground operations, by the C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft which took off from Hindon airbase.
Previously, a Mirage-2000 fighter plane of the IAF had touched down on the Yamuna Expressway as a display of capability to land fighter jets on highways - on May 1 2015.
The Road and Transport Ministry cleared 12 highways for similar landing operations, with three of those connecting Maoist-affected areas in Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.
IAF said in a statement later in the day that the exercise commenced with an impressive short landing by C-130 which on its landing roll itself started off loading Garud Commandos and their vehicle in manoeuvre called Combat ERO (Engine Running Offload). Immediately on disembarking from the C-130, the Commandos took up position on either side of the airstrip to cordon it off for the fighter operations.
This was followed by two sets of 3-3 Mirages, five SU30s and three Jaguars. All 14 fighter aircraft carried out a roller/touch and go manoeuvre on the expressway. The C-130 then returned for another short landing to extricate the Garud Commandos.
Inducted into the Air Force in 2010, each plane costs nearly Rs 900 crore.
The transport aircraft are meant for humanitarian assistance and relief operations during floods or any other natural calamity, PRO, Defence (Central Command), Gargi Malik Sinha told PTI.
"The aircraft can bring a large amount of relief material. It can also help evacuate people," she said.
The exercise will test the readiness of the Air Force in situations like war, humanitarian assistance or disaster relief, she said.
Over the past few years, IAF has been increasing its efforts to utilise certain straight stretches of National Highways for emergency landings. Such highway stretches are planned to be used in emergencies, if an active airport is not available for some reason. These operations increase the flexibility in the use of Air Power.
IAF had already carried out landings by fighter aircraft for the first time on the Yamuna expressway on 21 May 2015.
Several countries like Germany, Sweden, South Korea, Taiwan, Finland, Switzerland, Poland, Singapore, Czechoslovakia, Pakistan, etc. have dedicated stretches on their highways and expressways for aircraft to land and take off in emergencies or war like events.
“This operation has majorly boosted IAF’s capability to undertake unhindered operations even during non-availability of standard runways,”IAF said in a statement, while adding that it has demonstrated the expert flying skills of its fighter and transport aircrew, and the capability of its ground crew in activating such expressway airstrips on short notice. Such activations of highway stretches all across India are planned to be practised regularly by the IAF in future.
(With PTI inputs)