NH-925 is India’s first national highway to be used for forced landing of IAF aircraft.
Barmer: Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari inaugurated an forced landing strip at Satta-Gandhav stretch on National Highway 925 here on Thursday for Indian Air Force (IAF) planes.
A Hercules C-130J plane of the IAF, carrying the 2 ministers and Chief of Defence Staff Bipin Rawat, conducted a mock forced landing on the national highway on Thursday. NH-925 is India’s first national highway to be used for forced landing of IAF aircraft.
The two ministers also witnessed multiple aircraft operations on the forced landing facility (ELF) of NH-295 on Thursday. Sukhoi-30MKI fighter jetconducted a mock forced landing at the ELF. IAF chief RK Bhadauria was also present on the occasion
An-32 military transport aircraft and Mi-17v5 helicopter of the IAF also landed at the ELF, showing its complete operational readiness to act as an auxiliary military airbase.
In his speech, the Defence Minister said that a complete of 20 forced landing strips, almost like the one in Barmer, are being developed across the country immediately .
“Many helipads also are being created with the assistance of the Union Roads Ministry. this is often a crucial step to strengthen our security infrastructure,” he added.
There was this thinking that if much is spent on defence, then development within the country would be affected, he said.
“But today, seeing an forced landing strip on a national highway, I can safely say that defence and development can go hand in hand,” Mr Singh mentioned.
The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has developed the 3-km section of Satta-Gandhav stretch of NH-925 as an ELF for the IAF.
Mr Singh said, “By creating a strip so near the international border, we’ve given a message that we’ll get up for unity, diversity and sovereignty of our country at regardless of the cost.”
Such creation of an forced landing strip creates immense sense of confidence within the Indian psyche, he said.
This forced landing strip are going to be helpful not only during a war but also during the days of natural calamities, Mr Singh said, adding that a natural calamity is not any but any war.
In October 2017, fighter jets and transport planes of the IAF had conducted mock landings on the Lucknow-Agra Expressway to point out that such highways are often employed by the IAF planes for landing just in case of an emergency.
The Lucknow-Agra Expressway, which isn’t a national highway, comes under the Uttar Pradesh government.
The forced landing strip, which was inaugurated on Thursday, is a component of newly developed two-lane paved shoulder of Gagariya-Bakhasar and Satta-Gandhav section having total length of 196.97 km and costing ₹ 765.52 crore under the Bharatmala Pariyojana.
This highway project will improve connectivity between villages of Barmer and Jalore districts located on the international border.
Apart from the forced landing strip, three helipads (size 100×30 metres each) are constructed in Kundanpura, Singhania and Bakhasar villages under this project, consistent with the wants of the IAF and therefore the Indian Army.
The ELF and three helipads are developed so on strengthen the safety network on the western international border of the country.Comments
During normal time, the ELF are going to be used for smooth flow of road traffic and through the operations of ELF for the IAF, the frontage road are going to be used for smooth flow of road traffic.