The Indian Air Force (IAF) said it had successfully landed a heavy-lift transport aircraft at the highest altitude anywhere in the world in remote Ladakh bordering China.
The IL-76MD, a four-engine Russian-origin turbofan military aircraft also known as Ganjraj, landed at an airfield at 4,154m above sea level close to the frontier with China.
“An Indian Air Force IL-76MD has scripted history with a successful landing at Nyoma, marking the highest-altitude landing ever achieved by the aircraft anywhere in the world,” the IAF said in a statement on Saturday.
It described the landing as a “milestone that reinforces India’s strategic airlift capability”, and said it was “a new height in aviation history”.
Images posted by the IAF on social media showed the aircraft landing and taking off from the runway surrounded by barren mountains in the cold desert area, where temperatures can plummet to -20°C.
The military airfield at Nyoma was completed last year as part of a push for military infrastructure in the icy region following a border clash in 2020 that killed 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers.
Landing the Gajraj aircraft, which can carry heavy military equipment, at Nyoma could boost India’s rapid deployment and strategic capabilities in high-altitude terrain. — AFP
