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In the ongoing exercise, Gaganshakti, Indian Air Force aircraft, including fighters and transport planes, would be carrying out landing and take-off operations at locations including road stretches in Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
The aircraft operations are set to showcase the growing infrastructure prowess of the country, and the highway stretches are being planned to stretch from where emergency operations can be carried out. "A highway landing and takeoff operation is planned in Jammu and Kashmir, while another one is taking place near Lucknow on April 7," defence sources said. The Indian Air Force is planning to deploy its C-13OJ Super Hercules transport aircraft along with the Su-30 MKI, Mirage 2000 and other planes. The Indian Air Force had showcased the capability in a big way in the Barmer district of Rajasthan a couple of years ago when a stretch of the highway was used for landing by a C-130 with the defence minister and road transport minister as passengers along with other dignitaries. The Road Transport Ministry, in coordination with the Indian Air Force, has created road patches built with runway specifications and without dividers so that both sides of the road can be used for operations. Such stretches have been created to create emergency landing and take-off operations to deal with situations in conflicts where their own airfields are under attack and a large number of their own planes are airborne and need space to take off and land. These road stretches would also be very useful in case there is a disaster in a nearby area and the IAF transport planes and helicopters can reach the closest affected areas and provide support to the local population. The Indian Air Force has taken a lot of steps for nation-building, like opening up the civil terminal on the Prayagraj Air Force airfield and allowing the dual use of the military infrastructure. (ANI)
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