SOURCE: AFI
On May 2, 2025, the Indian Air Force (IAF) conducted historic day-and-night landing and takeoff drills on a 3.5-kilometer airstrip along the Ganga Expressway in Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh. This marked India’s first expressway airstrip equipped for 24/7 fighter jet operations, featuring advanced lighting, CAT II Instrument Landing System (ILS), and reinforced pavement.
The exercise, involving Rafale, Sukhoi-30 MKI, Mirage-2000, MiG-29, Jaguar, C-130J Super Hercules, AN-32, and MI-17 V5 helicopters, comes amid heightened tensions with Pakistan following the April 22, 2025, Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians. This article explores the strategic purpose of these night landing exercises, particularly whether they enable India to maintain counterstrike capabilities against Pakistan even if its airfields are preemptively targeted.
The Ganga Expressway drills follow a pattern of escalating India-Pakistan tensions, exacerbated by the Pahalgam attack, which India attributes to Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. India’s response—suspending visas, downgrading diplomatic ties, closing the Attari-Wagah border, and advocating for Pakistan’s return to the FATF grey list—signals a hardline stance. Pakistan’s military actions, including claims of chasing Indian jets and shooting down a quadcopter, further heighten the risk of conflict.
Historically, Pakistan has employed preemptive air strikes to neutralize Indian airfields, as seen in Operation Chengiz Khan during the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War. On December 3, 1971, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) targeted 11 Indian airbases, including Amritsar, Ambala, and Pathankot, aiming to crater runways and disrupt IAF operations. Though the strikes caused minimal damage, they underscored the vulnerability of fixed airfields in the opening stages of conflict. The 2019 Balakot airstrike, where India successfully struck a Jaish-e-Mohammed camp in Pakistan, also highlighted the importance of rapid response and operational flexibility, as Pakistan scrambled F-16s but failed to engage Indian jets.
Against this backdrop, the IAF’s night landing exercises reflect a strategic shift toward decentralizing air operations to counter preemptive threats, particularly from Pakistan’s 12 airbases equipped with JF-17 and F-16 jets.
The Ganga Expressway drills serve multiple strategic and operational objectives, with the primary goal of ensuring the IAF’s resilience and counterstrike capability under adverse conditions, including the loss of primary airfields. Below are the key purposes:
- Survivability Against Preemptive Strikes:
- Alternative Runways: The exercises validate the use of highways as emergency airstrips, enabling the IAF to operate from non-traditional locations if airfields like Ambala, Pathankot, or Srinagar are targeted. The Ganga Expressway, along with airstrips on the Agra-Lucknow, Purvanchal, and Bundelkhand Expressways, provides geographically dispersed alternatives, reducing the risk of a single-point failure.
- Night Operations: The ability to conduct landings and takeoffs at night, supported by CAT II ILS and precision lighting, ensures 24/7 operational readiness, even in low-visibility conditions or after airfield blackouts. This is critical for launching counterstrikes under cover of darkness, a tactic used effectively in the 1971 war when IAF Canberras struck Pakistani airbases at night.
- Dispersal Strategy: By practicing on highways, the IAF can disperse aircraft away from known targets, complicating Pakistan’s targeting calculus. Posts on X, such as @sanjeev__kapoor’s, note the use of mobile Air Field Lighting Systems (AFLS) to enable night landings on multiple expressways, enhancing flexibility.
The night landing exercises are a strategic necessity, given Pakistan’s history of preemptive strikes and India’s need to counter China’s growing air capabilities along the Line of Actual Control. The Ganga Expressway’s success, completed in one night despite adverse weather, demonstrates technical prowess and operational flexibility. However, limitations persist:
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