New Delhi, May 2 -- The Indian Air Force on Friday, kicked off its much-anticipated 'land and go' drill in Uttar Pradesh's Shahjahanpur. The exercise, involving advanced fighter and transport aircraft, including the Rafale, Jaguar, and Mirage, was aimed at testing the expressway's capability to serve as an alternative runway during emergencies or wartime.

The Air Force conducted take-off and landing exercises on a 3.5-kilometre-long airstrip in Shahjahanpur, part of the under-construction Ganga Expressway in Uttar Pradesh.

The Ganga Expressway is the first in Uttar Pradesh, and the nation, to offer night landing capabilities. Until now, similar emergency landing drills were carried out on the Lucknow-Agra and Purvanchal expressways, but...