In Jalore, Rajasthan for the first time, a Sukhoi Su-30 MKI fighter aircraft lands at the national highway. An ’emergency field landing’ was completed on a national highway in Rajasthan’s Barmer today, as a part of a readiness drill by the armed forces, A-C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft, was carrying Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Roadways Minister Nitin Gadkari, and Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari, Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria, and Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat attend a programme held on the occasion of inauguration of Emergency Field Landing at the National Highway in Jalore, Rajasthan pic.twitter.com/2lLTe7qZVA
— ANI (@ANI) September 9, 2021
The video of the landing showed by news agency ANI shows that the aircraft is safely landing down on the road as a small crowd of people which included Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat, look on from a safe distance. A Sukhoi fighter jet also landed soon after the Super Hercules touched down the road.
The Emergency Landing Facility on the Satta-Gandhav stretch of National Highway (NH) 925A in Rajasthan’s Barmer was inaugurated by Nitin Gadkari Minister for Road Transport & Highways and Rajnath Singh the Defence Minister of India.
According to the news agency, ANI reports, A total of 12 highways in different states, including the Agra-Lucknow expressway, have been identified as potential emergency landing airstrips. A three-kilometer stretch of NH-925A in Barmer is marked as the first on a national highway.
The government of India said, “the ELF will normally be used for the smooth flow of vehicular traffic. But, during operations for Indian Air Force, the service road will be used for road traffic. It (the ELF) will be able to handle all types of IAF aircraft.”
Whereas three helipads have been built in Kundanpura, Singhania, and Bakhasar villages, where all three have been built in discussion with the Air Force and Army and will help to strengthen armed forces’ security network and operational availability on the country’s western border.
