IAF lands fighter aircraft on Purvanchal Expressway ahead of its inauguration by PM Modi

The Indian Air Force on Sunday landed fighter aircraft on the Purvanchal Expressway here as part of its rehearsal for an airshow on November 16 on the occasion of its inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

More rehearsals will be carried out by the IAF at the airstrip before November 16, official sources said.

They said 30 fighter planes will showcase their might at the newly constructed expressway after Prime Minister Modi dedicates the 340-km long Purvanchal Expressway to the nation on Tuesday.

According to officials, the prime minister and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will land at this same airstrip in an IAF C-130 Hercules plane on Tuesday.

Three fighter planes had made rounds of the airstrip when Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had arrived in Sultanpur to take stock of preparation for the Tuesday event.

Adityanath had on Friday said the expressway will prove to be the backbone of Eastern Uttar Pradesh.

''Its inauguration will be in a grand way, accompanied by an air show as a three-and-a-half-km long stretch near Sultanpur has been developed as an airstrip for emergency landing of aircraft,'' he had said.