Union Defence Minister, Rajnath Singh and Union Highways Minister, Nitin Gadkari inaugurated the Emergency Landing Facility on a National Highway in Rajasthan on September 9, 2021.

Key Facts:

=> This emergency landing facility has been constructed on the Satta-Gandhav stretch of National Highway (NH) 925A in Barmer, Rajasthan.

=> On the occasion, C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft of Indian Air Force (IAF) landed at the emergency field landing at the National Highway in Jalore, Rajasthan.

=> This is the first time; a National Highway will be used for emergency landing of IAF aircraft.

How this was made possible?

Development of roadways as key infrastructure enabled the construction of high-quality expressways and highways, that can be used as runways with few modifications. These highways and expressways have a limited construction of additional infrastructure. As a result, they can be used to operate various types of aircraft during emergencies.

Who built this Facility?

National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) developed a three kilometres section of the Satta-Gandhav stretch on NH-925A, under the supervision of IAF.

About Emergency Landing Facility

This facility was developed on NH-925A from Km 41/430 to Km 44/430 for the IAF. It is a part of newly developed two-lane stretch of Satta-Gandhav and Gagariya-Bakhasar section in Barmer (Rajasthan). Total length of the highway is 196.97 kilometres, while the length of emergency landing facility is 3.5km. It costs worth Rs 765.52 crores under the Bharatmala Pariyojana. It was completed in 19 months.

Significance of Emergency Landing Facility:

This facility will be used for road traffic flow on every day basis. However, during the operations of IAF, it will be used to facilitate the landing of all types of aircraft of IAF. It will improve the connectivity between villages of Jalore and Barmer districts in Rajasthan.