IAF's C-17 landed on a short 4,200 foot long runway, barely 29 km from the border with China
New Delhi: In the middle of an India-China stand-off at Demchok in Ladakh, the Indian Air Force today, for the first time, landed its giant C-17 Globemaster aircraft very close to the border with China.
The aircraft landed at the high altitude Mechuka Advanced Air Landing Ground, which is just 29 km from the border, which is 3,500 km long from Ladakh in the west Himalayas and Arunachal Pradesh in the east Himalayas.
The C-17 landed on a short 4,200 foot long runway, a move that demonstrates the ability of the Indian Air Force to reach the remotest parts of the state.
Mechuka is located in the west Siang district of Arunachal. It takes at least a two days drive of about 500 km to get there from the nearest road and rail head at Dibrugarh. These roads frequently get damaged.
The Air Force says such airlift capability facilitates speedy transfer of men and material in rugged terrain, interspersed with valleys and high mountain ranges that inhibit road connectivity. The Air Force has been heavily involved in commissioning a series of high altitude air landing grounds in Ladakh and Arunachal, some of which, like Mechuka, are just seconds away by air from China.
The aircraft landing comes a day after Chinese soldiers entered Indian territory in Ladakh and stopped work on the construction of an irrigation canal being built under the rural development or MNREGA scheme, sources told NDTV.
The incident took place in the Demchok sector, located 250 km east of Leh, where a project is underway to link a village with a hot spring.
Around 55 Chinese soldiers arrived at the scene and halted the work in an aggressive manner, a news agency quoted unnamed officials as saying. 70 Indian soldiers fortified the area and prevented their march deeper into Indian territory, the sources reportedly said.
"(There are) routine objections and clarifications which either party seek whenever there is construction related activity. The issue is being resolved through established mechanisms," said army sources to NDTV, asking not to be named.