NEW DELHI: In the highest-ever landing by an IL-76 anywhere in the world, an Indian Air Force (IAF) IL-76MD 'Gajraj' has touched down at the Mudh-Nyoma airbase in eastern Ladakh, at 13,629 feet.
Nyoma lies around 25 km from the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China. The landing shows the IAF can now take its heaviest Russian-origin transport aircraft and the troops and military hardware it carries, almost to the frontline.
Announcing the landing on Saturday, the IAF hailed it as "a new height in aviation history" and "a milestone that reinforces India's strategic airlift capability".
Strategic airlift is the ability to move troops, tanks, artillery and supplies in bulk over long distances. It was put to the test after the 2020 standoff in eastern Ladakh, when the IAF flew in over 68,000 soldiers, around 90 tanks and 330 BMP infantry combat vehicles.
The landing also comes amid continuing friction along the 3,488-km LAC. Patrolling has resumed in Ladakh but the temporary buffer zones at Galwan, Gogra-Hot Springs and Pangong Tso still cover areas Indian troops historically patrolled.
Last month, the ITBP chief confirmed face-offs at several locations along LAC in Arunachal Pradesh. The MEA then said the disturbances had occurred when Chinese troops deviated from established patrolling patterns.
The four-engine Gajraj can carry about 45 tonnes and has been airlifting T-72 tanks and BMP-2 vehicles to Ladakh since the early 1990s. But Nyoma's earlier mud strip could handle only smaller aircraft like the C-130J and AN-32, besides helicopters.
At over 4,000 metres, the thin air saps engine power and wing lift, so aircraft land faster and need longer runs.
The record is for the type; lighter aircraft such as the C-130J have landed at Daulat Beg Oldi, the world's highest airstrip at 16,614 feet.
Why Nyoma matters
The airstrip at Nyoma was first built in 1962 but lay largely unused for decades. The IAF reactivated it with an AN-32 landing in September 2009.
The decision to upgrade it into a full-fledged airbase came after the 2020 military confrontation with China. The BRO built a 2.7-km runway under the Rs 218-crore project, and the base was operationalised last November, when then IAF chief Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh landed there in a C-130J.
Nyoma is now the IAF's fourth airbase in Ladakh, after Leh, Thoise and Kargil. It can handle fighters, transport aircraft and helicopters and is meant to speed up deployments to Pangong Tso, Demchok and Depsang.
The IL-76MD, known as Gajraj in the IAF, has been in service since 1985. India bought 17 of them between 1985 and 1989 at Rs 46 crore each, for No. 44 Squadron and a flight of No. 25 Squadron.
The fleet has been plagued by poor serviceability for years. A Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report put its strength at 14 aircraft, with availability dropping to as low as 32.16 per cent at one point.
The surviving jets are now concentrated in No. 44 Squadron at Chandigarh. With the Ukraine war choking the supply of spares, the IAF has sought a review of the technical life of 11 of them.
Earlier in March this year, the defence ministry cleared 60 medium transport aircraft (MTA), estimated at around Rs 1 lakh crore, to replace both the AN-32 and IL-76 fleets. But the MTA falls in the 18-30 tonne class, so the heaviest loads will continue to fall to the IAF's 11 C-17 Globemaster IIIs.
