It is for the first time that a national highway would be used for the emergency landing of an IAF aircraft in the country

For the first time, the Indian Air Force's (IAF's) Sukhoi Su-30 MKI fighter aircraft landed at the national highway in Jalore, Rajasthan on Thursday.

Moreover, C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria onboard landed at Emergency Field Landing at the Jalore's national highway.

Singh and Gadkari inaugurated the Emergency Landing Facility on the Satta-Gandhav stretch of National Highway (NH) 925A in Rajasthan's Barmer today.
This is for the first time that a national highway would be used for the emergency landing of an IAF aircraft in the country.

The two ministers also witnessed multiple aircraft operations on the emergency landing facility (ELF) of NH-295 on Thursday.

As per the union transport ministry, the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has developed the 3-km section of Satta-Gandhav stretch of NH-925 as an ELF for the IAF. In October 2017, fighter jets and transport planes of the IAF had conducted mock landings on the Lucknow-Agra Expressway to show that such highways can be used by the IAF planes for landing in case of an emergency.

The Lucknow-Agra Expressway, which is not a national highway, comes under the Uttar Pradesh government.