Air Force Planes Land On Highway Near Lucknow In 2-Hour Drill: 10 Points

This is the first time that the C-130J transport aircraft is joining the Indian Air Force's special drill to land planes on the expressway. The IAF had earlier landed its fighter jets, Mirage 2000 and Sukhoi-30, on the Yamuna Expressway and the Lucknow-Agra Expressway.

All India | Reported by Alok Pandey, Vishnu Som, Edited by Aloke Tikku | Updated: October 24, 2017 11:11 IST

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Air Force Planes Land On Highway Near Lucknow In 2-Hour Drill: 10 Points

Indian Air Force will land its transport and fighter jets on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway today

LUCKNOW: Sixteen planes of the Indian Air Force are performing touch and go landings on a stretch of the Lucknow-Agra Expressway this morning. A 35,000 kg C-130J Super Hercules aircraft will come to a full stop on landing to deploy Garud Special Forces commandos to secure the landing zone as part of the special drill. Fighter jets including the top of the line Sukhoi 30s and Mirage 2000s won't, however, come to a full stop, but will instead take off after touching down on the airstrip. The three-hour long exercise simulates an emergency situation when airbases, the first target of bombs and missiles, won't be available for air operations, necessitating use of highways as landing strips.

Here are the 10 points on this story:

The aircraft touchdown exercise is taking place on the stretch near Bangarmau in Unnao district, about 65 km from Uttar Pradesh capital Lucknow. Traffic has been restricted in the area.
Once the IAF's Special Forces Garud commandos get off the C-130J transport aircraft with their vehicle, they will take positions on either side of the expressway to secure "their airstrip" for the fighter aircraft.
This is the first time a transport aircraft - a Super Hercules, which can carry 200 commandos - is landing on an expressway. Inducted into the air force in 2010, each plane costs nearly Rs. 900 crore.
"What is unique... is that we are also landing transport aircraft, the C-130 which is special operations aircraft," IAF Vice Chief Air Marshal SB Deo said on the sidelines of an event in Delhi ahead of the exercise.
For the next two hours or so, a fighter aircraft will carry out a touch and go manoeuvre on the expressway every few minutes.
Three Jaguar deep penetration strike aircraft will be followed up by six Mirage 2000 aircrafts flying in two formations and then, two more formations of three aircraft each of Sukhoi-30MKI.
The C-130 will return for another short landing to extricate the Garud Commandos. "It's a very important operational achievement... Highways can be very important during wartime when the runway is denied for some reason," Air Marshal SB Deo said.
IAF fighter planes, Mirage-2000 fighters and Sukhoi-30, have twice landed on expressways in Uttar Pradesh. The first was in 2015 when a Mirage-2000 landed on the Yamuna expressway near Delhi.
Last November, six multirole combat aircraft Sukhoi-30 jets touched down on a 3.3 km stretch of the Lucknow - Agra expressway. The Sukhoi-30 MKI, which forms the backbone of the IAF's fighter fleet, is capable of mid-air refuelling. The air force has over 270 aircraft in its inventory.
About a dozen highways that are wide enough and have a smooth road surface for the fighter jets - across the country have been identified for similar landing operations to be used in case of emergencies including disaster relief and war.

Air Force Planes Land On Highway Near Lucknow In 2-Hour Drill: 10 Points

This is the first time that the C-130J transport aircraft is joining the Indian Air Force's special drill to land planes on the expressway. The IAF had earlier landed its fighter jets, Mirage 2000 and Sukhoi-30, on the Yamuna Expressway and the Lucknow-Agra Expressway.

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