Kolkata: Sending out a strong message to China, the Indian Air Force (IAF) on Tuesday flew its C-17 Globemaster aircraft carrying out a “historic” landing at Tuting advanced landing ground (ALG) amidst the hills of Arunachal Pradesh, close on the heels of the incursion by the Chinese troops on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) at Tuting in December last year after the Doklam stand-off.
The giant aircraft is capable of carrying a payload of 40-70 tonnes up to a distance of 4,200-9,000 km in a single hop. In a statement, IAF spokesperson Wing Commander Anupam Banerjee said, “The C-17 Globemaster of the Indian Air Force carried out a historic landing at Tuting advanced landing ground amidst the hills of Arunachal Pradesh today. The crew included Group Captain K. Rama Rao, Wing Commander Amiya Kant Patnaik, Wing Commander K. Trivedi and Sqn Ldr L Nayak.” Giving details of the demography the statement elaborated, “The challenging airfield is in the midst of high hills in a narrow valley. The mammoth C-17 Globemaster could execute this mission flawlessly owing to its agile manoeuvrability superlative performance and the excellent flying skills of the pilots.”
Wing Commander Banerjee added, “After completion of the trial landing the C-17 carried out an operational mission airlifting operation load into the austere airfield. The mission carried out today demonstrated C-17 aircraft’s operational performance and capability of tactical air mobility of IAF.”
