The Indian Air Force conducted a take-off and landing exercise on Uttar Pradesh's Ganga Expressway, showcasing its operational readiness and military preparedness. The exercise aims to evaluate the Ganga Expressway’s viability as an alternative runway in the event of war or national emergencies.
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00:00We're cutting across live now to images coming in of a mega IAF drill that's underway at the Ganga Expressway.
00:13At a time when we've been seeing, of course, tensions with Pakistan, this is muscle flexing also by India.
00:21This was slotted and scheduled to happen, but clearly with the timing of this,
00:26with 11 days since the Pahalgam attack, it's also an important message going across to Pakistan on the IAF's might.
00:33Let's take this across to Shivani Sharma. She's joining us live from that very location.
00:37This is in Shajampur in the massive Ganga Expressway,
00:40where you're going to be seeing some of the IAF jets making a landing on an expressway.
00:46Shivani, it's over to you. Take us through what we're going to witness,
00:49the jets that will be making a landing in an expressway.
00:56Akshita, this is an unprecedented real-time exercise that's happening on the expressway here in Shahjapur
01:05that has been turned into an emergency landing strip by the government and Indian Air Force for emergency times.
01:12And here we are seeing a combination of different aircraft of the Indian Air Force,
01:17be it the transport aircraft, be it the helicopters, be it Rafale airjet,
01:21which will be making a landing on emergency air strip for the first time.
01:25And this will also happen in the night, as a night drill, Akshita.
01:29So this is very important. And as you were also mentioning, the timing is very crucial.
01:34After the Pahlkam terror attack, all the forces of the Indian Army, Navy and the Air Force are on a high alert.
01:41They have been showcasing their might, their progress, their operational preparedness.
01:45And we are witnessing one such exercise here in Uttar Pradesh, where the landing strip,
01:51I'll also try and show you the landing strip here, which has been made, the 3.5 kilometer long landing strip.
01:58And for our viewers, we must tell why these are important.
02:02And these are important that if in case of any kind of war situation, our actual air bases or our actual landing taking off strips are damaged in any kind of attack,
02:15these emergency strips can be turned immediately to the landing strips for the fighter air jets.
02:22And this is happening for the first time when a Rafale jet will be using this emergency landing strip.
02:29Because this is important to understand.
02:31When we go into wars or any kind of operational preparedness, we see a combination of assets.
02:38Not only one kind of aircraft, but multiple aircraft.
02:41We also see the transport aircraft, we see the Rafales, we see the Sukhois, we see the helicopters.
02:49They all join in in the drill.
02:51And today, Akshita, for the first time in this emergency landing strip,
02:57we'll be seeing similar operation of multiple assets, different kind of assets together.
03:03We'll be seeing operating here.
03:04We'll see the Mi-17 helicopters where the soldiers will be taking on the slithering exercises that is known as the insertion.
03:12That means that in a battlefield, in a quick move of demonstration where the soldiers are pushed into action,
03:19how they are deployed in that battlefield through the ropes, they just slithered out of these helicopters.
03:26So this is also going to be showcased out here.
03:29We will be seeing a combination of fighters, be it the Miraj 2000s, the Sukhoi 30s, the Jaguars,
03:35the AN-32, a transport aircraft that has just flown from this area.
03:41We'll see the helicopters, multiple other vehicles.
03:44It is important to understand, Akshita, that Bhuta Pradesh happens to be the only state
03:48with this kind of night landing facility on the Ganga Expressway
03:53that happens to be a 590 km long expressway that's still under construction.
03:57But this 3.5 km long emergency landing strip has been prepared in view of the situation,
04:05the current situation in which India is.
04:07India has been strategically deploying its assets and it has been weighing the options to attack the terror nexus.
04:15So in all this situation where we see the action happening on the Jammu and Kashmir front,
04:21we also see the preparedness of our forces, not only on ground like here,
04:26but in the skies and also in the waters.
04:30So this is the emergency landing strip.
04:32You see the action begins here.
04:34We will be seeing multiple demonstrations, Akshita, out here.
04:37And when we talk about the facilities and the capabilities of the night landing strips,
04:43there are special approach lighting that has been put here,
04:47that has been prepared here for this particular landing strip.
04:51And we see that now these exercises, these demonstrations are starting.
04:56One of the aircraft has actually taken on the first exercise.
05:02Now we are waiting for the different aircraft that will be here,
05:07including the fighter jets, the Rafals, the Sukhois, the Mirages,
05:10the transport aircraft, the helicopters.
05:13And what we are being told is that this was a proposed exercise,
05:18but all the more important because the nature of this exercise is operational in nature.
05:23Akshita, it is totally unlike a war-like situation where all the forces,
05:27all the troops and all the aircraft are pushed into action simultaneously.
05:32So we don't see one kind of aircraft here, Akshita.
05:35We see number of aircraft in this exercise, in this demonstration.
05:40And this is important to understand that this is not an actual airbase.
05:44This is a road that has been turned into a landing strip where we see the aircraft landing,
05:51taking off, and they overshoot this runway.
05:54That means that even if they don't touch down,
05:56they show the capability of touching down and coming quite close to the road,
06:01and then they take off.
06:02So there will be multiple such demonstrations out here.
06:05Everybody's eager to see these exercises.
06:08And when it comes to Uttar Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh has a huge defense corridor.
06:15And this kind of preparedness in UP shows that not only on the borders,
06:19but between the civil areas, the civil whole districts and all the population here too,
06:27such kind of operational drills can happen.
06:29As and when required, the situation demands.
06:32The forces are ready for action even on the road.
06:35So here, this is the drill that is important, unique, different, and historical in a way
06:41that the first night landing strip is now with India
06:44that happened to be only with the select countries of the world.
06:49But today, India is also capable of having one such emergency landing strip.