The Indian Air Force (IAF) successfully conducted landing and take-off operations at Bijebehara (Anantnag) district. This has thus become a third air strip in addition to Awantipora and Srinagar for possible use in case of emergencies
It had all started way back in May 2015, when the Indian Air Force (IAF) landed a fighter Mirage aircraft on the Yamuna Expressway. This was the first time that a highway meant for regular traffic doubled up as a runway for air traffic. It was meant for validation of a nascent concept that Union Minister for Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari wanted to promote at identified locations spread across the country.
On Monday/Tuesday night, it was the turn to Bijeberhera (Anantnag district in Kashmir) to host various aircraft of IAF. A 3.5 km long stretch of road on Jammu-Srinagar national highway was used as an emergency landing strip. Chinook heavylift helicopter, used in multiple roles by the IAF was one of the main aircraft used in the exercise.
Chinook is commonly used for transporting heavy loads, including fully armed troops for induction, logistics support and in disaster relief operations. Late in the evening, all road transport plying on this section was diverted to alternative roads and the area sanitised. It was a massive operation which involved IAF, the local police, the Army units and the intelligence agencies. Incidentally, this stretch was identified as a possible runway in 2020 and work was started.
The nearest defence air strip in this area is at Awantipora which had doubled up as destination for civilian aircraft too when Srinagar airport was undergoing repairs and upgrade. The idea behind making some designated highways as possible air strips is to provide additional runways to IAF. The identified highway stretches are presently being upgraded to runway specifications. This involves i. Levelling ii. Straightening iii. Widening as also iv. Strengthening the identified stretches.
The cost of runways is usually many times higher as compared to highways meant for regular traffic. As such, choosing the stretches of highways for conversion into emergency landing exercises is a tedious process taken up by inputs from multiple agencies. The cost of the Bijebehera stretch converted into an emergency landing air strip is given at approximately Rs 120 crore, and this works out to Rs 35 crore per kilometre.
Some of these emergency landing strips have been prepared in highways near the Chinese border in Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Ladakh too. The Bijebehera stretch of the Jammu-Srinagar highway, designed as an air strip, is for use mainly as an IAF runway for fighter aircraft. Presently, Srinagar is a dual use airport, used both for civilian air traffic and by IAF fighter aircraft. Awantipora is exclusively under the control of IAF and the addition of the Bijebehera emergency landing strip means there is now a third area in the valley for IAF use.
Incidentally, in the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir, Udhampur also has an air strip, but it is for exclusive IAF use only. Like Srinagar, Jammu is a dual use airport used as a regular civilian airport, but it also doubles up as an IAF facility. In neighbouring Punjab, there are many air strips, but these are used only by the IAF and not by civilian air traffic.
On moist emergency landing strips like Bijebehera, small aircraft like Dornier can easily be landed. However, in some cases, even the largest of cargo aircraft like IL-76, or C-130 Hercules, can also do landing and take-off. Power cables, telephone wires, and other utilities have to be done underground on such stretches for possible dual use.
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