New Delhi:
The Indian Air Force carried out a full war drill at the Agra Lucknow expressway in Uttar Pradesh. The expressway witnessed a barrage of fighter jet and cargo planes displaying various manouvers and formations.
The war drill is a standard exercise undertaken by the Air Force for making it operationally prepared for war time. IAF would also look into the feasability of using the expressway as ad-hoc landing / take-off strip for undertaking flying sorties during war time.
The IAF exercise has commenced its drill with an impressive short landing by the C-130 which on its landing roll itself will start off loading the Garud Commandos and their vehicle. Immediately on disembarking from the C-130, the Commandos have taken up positions on either side of the airstrip to cordon it off for the fighter operations.
#WATCH Indian Air Force planes land on Lucknow-Agra expressway https://t.co/fi0qwE6d6h
— ANI (@ANI) October 24, 2017
This will be followed by three Jaguar Deep penetration strike aircraft, 2 formations of three aircraft each of Mirages and 2 formations of three aircraft each of Sukhoi-30. All fifteen fighter aircraft will carry out a roller/touch and go manoeuvre on the expressway. The C-130 will then return for another short landing to extricate the Garud Commandos.
The Agra-Lucknow Expressway is 302-km six-lane Expressway which can be expanded to 8-lane. The expressway starts from Agra to reach Lucknow via Firozabad, Mainpuri, Etawah, Oraia, Kannauj, Hardoi,Kanpur Nagar and Unnao. The 302 kilometer-long expressway was completed in a record time of 22 months at the cost of Rs 13,200 crore.