IAF tests ability to take off from civil airports in eastern India

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 1

In what will validate its operational capability, the Indian Air Force (IAF) on Wednesday operated Sukhoi-30 MKI from three civil airfields in the eastern part of the country.

Such operations are done to validate the readiness of civil airfields in case the regular airbases are under attack from the enemy. 

The Eastern Air Command will be operating and validating the fighter aircraft operations from major aiports at Kolkatta, Guwahati and Durgapur (near Asansol).

It will be a two-day exercise.  

The IAF has several airbases in the east at Tezpur, Jorhat,  Chabua, Passighat and Panagarh,  Kaliakunda from where  figter jets can operate, full time or on an emergency basis. These are all mandated and tasked to face China. 

In the past IAF has tested its ability to land on the Yamuna Expressway.