16 IAF planes land on Lucknow-Agra Expressway in rare exercise
In a rare drill, at least 16 IAF aircraft are landing on the Lucknow-Agra Expressway today. The goal is to test whether public roads can serve as runways in cases of emergency, when key airfields aren't available. The first experiment goes back to 2015, when a Mirage 2000 landed on the Yamuna Expressway. The IAF has reportedly cleared 12 national highways for the purpose.
Watch: The first plane lands on the Lucknow-Agra Expressway
More about today's rare drill
The three-hour exercise on October 24 is being conducted on the Lucknow-Agra Expressway, near Bangarmau in Unnao. A C-130J Super Hercules will come to a full-stop, while fighter jets will take off after touching down. "What is unique... is that we are also landing transport aircraft, the C-130," said IAF Vice Chief Air Marshal SB Deo. Traffic has been restricted.
These roads were chosen based on several factors
One reason for the shortlisting of particular roads was proximity to places prone to natural calamities and remote locations. Jamshedpur-Balasore highway and Chattarpur-Digha highway (Odisha); Kishanganj-Islampur highway (Bihar); Delhi-Moradabad highway (Delhi-UP); Bijbehara-Chinar Bagh highway (J&K); Rampur-Kathgodam highway (Uttarakhand); Lucknow-Varanasi highway (UP); Dwarka-Maliya highway (Gujarat); Kharagpur-Keonjhar highway (WB); Mohanbari-Tinsukia highway (Assam); Vijaywada-Rajahmundry highway (AP); Chennai-Puducherry highway (TN); and Phalodi-Jaisalmer highway (Rajasthan).
How will traffic be managed?
"The highways will be open for public during normal times, but in case there is an emergency, normal traffic will be blocked and the stretch will be used for aircraft landing. Alternate ways will be created for normal traffic during emergencies," a government official said.
The roads won't be used just for landings and take-offs
According to Air Vice Marshall (retired) Manmohan Bahadur, it takes months of planning to take care of all the things that need to be ensured before a highway is used as an airstrip. "A base is not just used to land aircrafts, it is also used to refuel the machine and stock up on weapons. All these paraphernalia need to be made available."
IAF jets have landed on roads twice before
In May 2015, a Mirage 2000 landed on the Yamuna Expressway near the national capital. Last year in November, six Sukhoi 30 fighter jets touched down on a 3.3km stretch of the then newly-built Lucknow-Agra Expressway.
