Air Force's 16 planes land on Lucknow-Agra Expressway

Bangarmau, Unnao, Oct 24: For the first time, the Indian Air Force’s (IAF's) 16 planes, including fighter jets and a transportation aircraft, on Tuesday touched down and took-off from the Lucknow-Agra Expressway. Commenting on exercise conducted under the aegis of Central Command, Defence Public Relation Officer Gargi Malik Sinha said, "At 1015 hrs, the exercise began with the assault landing of Indian Air Force's (IAF) Garud Commandos by Charlie 130 super Hercules aircraft. After its landing, the fighter jets, including Mirage 2000, Su-30 and Jaguar landed and took off from this expressway." The exercise will test the readiness of the Air Force in situations like war, humanitarian assistance or disaster relief. Earlier, the landing and taking off of Jaguars was scheduled to take place first but due to bad weather it happened in the last leg of the exercise. After landing of C-130, six Mirage 2000 followed by six Su-30 operates in the exercise. The exercise will benefit during peacetime as well as wartime, she added. During peacetime, the expressway can be used for supplying relief material in the disaster affected areas, while in wartime it can be used for conducting operations against the enemy, Ms Sinha said. Air Marshal AS Butola said, "We keep on doing exercises for capability building. It is our routine exercise. In Uttar Pradesh, there are three highways where we can conduct operations." Around 12 highways across the length and breadth of the country have been cleared for landings but only two have been tested so far. He also said two airstrips are being made on two stretches of Nagpur-Mumbai highway and there is a plan to add more. The show ended with the C-130 returning to extricate the Garud commandos. In May 2015, a Mirage 2000 fighter jet of the IAF test-landed on the Yamuna Expressway near the national Capital as part of a drill for emergency landings on national highways. In November, 2016 another six IAF fighter jets, Sukhoi 30MKIs and Mirage 2000s performed simulated landings when the Agra-Lucknow Expressway was inaugurated. Countries like Pakistan, China and Switzerland allow their air force to exercise landing on and taking off from large highways for ensuring air operations continue during wartime too. UNI