Delhi/Sultanpur29 minutes agoAuthor: DD Vaishnav
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Preparations have been completed for the landing and take-off of Air Force fighter planes on the Purvanchal Expressway in Sultanpur, UP. The trial will start from November 13 and will last for four days. On November 16, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh can land by Hercules aircraft.
About 30 fighter aircraft will fly from 5 major airbases of the Indian Air Force for landing on the Expressway airstrip. According to defense sources, on November 16, in the presence of PM Narendra Modi, aircraft like Sukhoi-30 MKI, C130J Super Hercules of the Air Force will land. During the ‘Touch and Go’ operation on the expressway, many Sukhoi fighter jets will take off as soon as they land.
Modi-Rajnath can come by fighter plane
Like Barmer in Rajasthan, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh is likely to land with PM Modi in Super Hercules directly on the runway of the expressway. They will fly from Hindon Airbase in Ghaziabad.
A 3.3 km long Emergency Landing Facility (ELF) ie Emergency Air Strip has been developed to land fighter aircraft on the Purvanchal Expressway.
Fighter planes will fly from 5 big airbases
- Aircraft will take off from 5 major airbases of the Indian Air Force for landing on the runway of Purvanchal Expressway.
- Here India will show its air power in front of the world.
- C130J Super Hercules and Jaguar will take off from Hindon airbase.
- Kiran Mark 2 will take off from Lucknow’s Bakshi Ka Talab.
- Sukhoi 30 MKI will take off from Bareilly.
- Preparations have been made to land Miraj from Gwalior, Jaguar from Gorakhpur and AN 32 aircraft from Agra.
Aircraft will take off from 5 major airbases of the Indian Air Force for landing on the runway of Purvanchal Expressway. Here India will show its air power in front of the world.
It took a decade and a half for the proposal to be approved
- Since 2001, the Air Force was working on this proposal, which after being approved in 2014 is now taking shape.
- 25 emergency highway runs are being prepared across the country.
- More than 53 operational airbases of the country are located in different areas of the country.
- A strategy has been devised to convert major highways around these airbases into road runways in case the airbase’s runways are destroyed during the war.
- For this, along with the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Roads and Transport has started construction work on 25 new highways being built in the first phase.
- These include the states adjacent to Pakistan and China, Rajasthan, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Punjab and Gujarat. Three km straight pockets have been marked on the highway under construction, where road runways will be built.
First used in World War II
The highway was used as a temporary road runway during World War II. At the same time, Pakistan has been using Islamabad-Peshawar and Islamabad-Lahore motorways as road runways since 2001. To answer this, India has made preparations to develop more than two dozen places as road runways simultaneously. There is also a plan to build such road runways within a radius of 50 to 100 km on every major highway.
The first landing of Mirage 2000 took place on Yamuna Expressway in 2015 near Delhi. After this, there was a successful landing of three Mirages and three Sukhois in 2016 near Unnao on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway.
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- Temporary ATC : A two-storey ATC tower has been built to make use of the emergency landing strip. If needed, the Air Force can start air traffic control in it. This will make it easier to specify the targets to be controlled by the vehicles.
- Road Clearance : Heavy traffic continues on Bharatmala National Highway. If needed, a distance of four kilometers on both sides will give runway clearance by stopping Air Force traffic. The Air Force has stopped traffic here for the last two days.
- Bird Clearance: Bird clearance has been done before the planes take off and take off. The ground team of the Air Force reaches first and drives away the birds flying around.
- Arrangement of rescue vehicle: Arrangements for fire brigade, rescue operation helicopter, medical and ambulance have been made by the Air Force near the emergency runway.
- Air strip off road: It has a length of three and a half kilometers and a width of 32 meters. A 7 meter wide service road has been built near it for traffic. It is a two-lane road, on which traffic will continue to operate, while the thickness of the runway along the road is 320 mm, which can allow heavy aircraft to land. While the normal road is 90 mm thick.
- When for the first time: The first was the landing of Mirage 2000 on Yamuna Expressway in 2015 near Delhi. There was a successful landing of three Mirages and three Sukhois in 2016 near Unnao on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway. The Garuda commandos had conducted a mock drill with the landing of the C130J Super Hercules in 2017 on the Agra-Lucknow Expressway itself.
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