BHUBANESWAR: The Indian Air Force (IAF) is all set to activate its emergency landing facility (ELF) on NH-16 (old NH-60) between Odisha’s Balasore and West Bengal’s Kharagpur.
The stretch of NH-16 is among two of national highways passing through Odisha that have been developed as emergency landing strips for military aircraft. The other highway is Kharagpur-Keonjhar (NH-49).
Once it clears the activation test, the ELF airstrip will emerge as an invaluable asset during humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations in far flung areas and enhance the flexibility of air operations during contingencies. Sources said the test will be conducted on concrete airstrip on Kharagpur-Balasore stretch of NH-16 constructed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) as per specifications provided by the IAF. AN-32 and Dornier transport aircraft are likely to be used for making emergency landings and taking off from the airstrip during the activation test and fighter aircraft like Sukhoi-30 and Hawk would be used for carrying out overshoots.
An official of NHAI said highway airstrips have been developed in different parts of the country keeping in mind future exigencies and threats. As per the concept, a part of the road will be used as an airstrip during emergencies while the service road will be used for smooth flow of road traffic whenever the situation warrants.
“The airstrips are of extreme importance for rescue operations at times of war, natural calamities, and critical accidents. It is a matter of pride that our national highways will also be used by the armed forces which are always ready for emergency situations and will make the country more secure,” he said. Meanwhile, the IAF has urged the Odisha government to ensure seamless coordination for implementing necessary security arrangements and facilitate smooth closure of the highway for ELF operations.
Senior officer-in-charge of administration Air Vice Marshal SK Mathur has sought cooperation from chief secretary PK Jena for temporary closure of the highway for around two hours for successful conduct of the activation exercise in the first fortnight of April.
Earlier, a joint team of IAF and NHAI had conducted a feasibility study and two stretches of highways in the region were identified for emergency landing of aircraft as they are found to be straight and have less or no public visibility. Other highways with underpasses in every two to three km distance in the state were not feasible for emergency landing of aircraft.