The Indian Air Force (IAF) aircrafts will land on a National Highway for the first time when an Emergency Landing Field (ELF) on the Satta-Gandhav stretch of NH-925A in Rajasthan's Barmer district is inaugurated on Thursday.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari will inaugurate the facility and also witness the aircraft operations on ELF.

Constructed in a span of 19 months by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI), the ELF project will improve connectivity between villages of Barmer and Jalore districts located on international border.

During normal time the landing field will be used for smooth flow of road traffic. But during the operations of the Indian Air Force, the road traffic will be diverted to the service road. It has been constructed in 3.5 Km length.This landing strip will be able to facilitate landing of all types of aircraft of Indian Air Force.

Apart from this emergency landing strip, 3 helipads (size 100 x 30 metres each) have been constructed in Kundanpura, Singhania and Bakhasar villages in this project according to the requirements of the Air Force and Indian Army, which will be the basis for strengthening the Indian Army and security network on the western international border of the country.

The ELF is part of the newly-developed two-lane paved shoulder of Gagariya-Bakhasar and Satta-Gandhav section having total length of 196.97 km.

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