For the very first time in independent India that a Sukhoi Su-30 MKI fighter jet, the apex jewel of the Indian Air Force (IAF), landed at a national highway in India. The act was achieved at the national highway in Jalore, Rajasthan on Thursday, September 9.

Not just a Sukhoi fighter jet, the IAF even landed a C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft at the Emergency Landing Field at Jalore. The transport aircraft had Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and Minister of Road Transport Minister, alongside Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria as passengers. Union Ministers Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari inaugurated the emergency facility on the National Highway (NH) 925A, coming on the Satta-Gandhav stretch in Barmer in Rajasthan and were audience to the number of IAF operations that occurred on the emergency facility.

A 3 kilometre stretch of the Satta-Gandhav section on NH925 has been developed by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), for the IAF to use as an emergency facility.

An alike mock drill was escorted by the IAF in October 2017. Various IAF planes conducted mock landings on an emergency landing stretch on the Lucknow-Agra Expressway. The exercise was undertaken by the IAF to assess the viability of national and state highways and expressways as emergency landing dexterities.

Proactive measures are taken by the Indian Government to ensure national security and it shows our readiness to counter any adversity as the National Highways Authority of India is preparing emergency landing fields at 20 locations & also constructing helipads at many locations.

DISCLAIMER: The author is solely responsible for the views expressed in this article. The author carries the responsibility for citing and/or licensing of images utilized within the text.