According to Defence Ministry officials, the operatiol exercise will be carried out on October 24, and a number of fighter and transport aircraft of the Indian Air Force will land and takeoff from the highway. The event is being organised by the Indian Air Force, together with the Uttar Pradesh government. The aircraft that will join the exercise include An-32 transport aircraft, and leading fighter jets in the IAF invetory including Su-30, Jaguar and Mirage 2000. On May 21, 2016, a Mirage-2000 fighter plane of the IAF had touched down on the Yamu Expressway as a display of capability to land fighter jets on highways. According to officials of the Road and Transport Ministry, 12 highways have been cleared for similar landing operations, with three of those connecting Maoist-affected areas in Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, which also witness vagaries of ture like floods and cyclones almost every year. (IANS)
