More highways to be landing strips for IAF

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 4

After the successful landing of a Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft on the Yamuna Expressway about a year ago, the Indian Air Force (IAF) is set to expand scope for using highways as “alternative landing grounds” for war-time operations or in an emergency.

“In each area of responsibility of each Command, we have identified existing road stretches which can be converted into alternative airfields,” an IAF representative has been quoted as saying in the latest report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence. The IAF has five operational Commands.

The IAF is also collaborating with the Ministry of Road Transport to construct roads, which will be shared with each Command. “We have again identified the roads that can be utilised as alternative runways,” the IAF has stated.

While it was the first instance of the IAF landing an aircraft on a highway near Mathura, the practice has been prevalent in many countries, including India’s neighbours, for decades.

In Pakistan, the M-1 Motorway (Peshawar-Islamabad) and the M-2 Motorway (Islamabad-Lahore) each include two 9,000-foot-long emergency runway sections and these have been used by fighter aircraft as well as a C-130 transport aircraft on several occasions.

In fact, the first highway strips were constructed in Germany towards the end of World War II. During the Cold War, highway strips were systematically built on both sides of the Iron Curtain, predominantly in the two then divided Germanys. North Korea, Taiwan, Sweden, Finland, Switzerland, Poland and Czechoslovakia are among countries that use highway airstrips.

The highway stretches used for aircraft operations have to be specially built with thicker surfacing and underlying concrete support base. These should also be easily accessible to the required flying support infrastructure that has to be put in place at a short notice.

The IAF is also upgrading its airfields. In the current fiscal, Rs 1,330 crore has been allocated for strenthening and re-surfacing of runways. In addition, Rs 48.71 crore has been allocated for repairs of the facilities at the airfields.