In a major achievement, the Indian Air Force has successfully managed a night landing of its transport warhorse, the C-130J Super Hercules, in the challenging mountain-screened Kargil landing ground – with Garud commandos on board.
“In a first, an IAF C-130 J aircraft recently carried out a night landing at the Kargil airstrip. Employing terrain masking enroute, the exercise also dovetailed a training mission of the Garuds”, the IAF said in a post on X.
According to IAF officials, the transport aeroplane also used “terrain masking”, or a technique to fox enemy radars, en route to avoid detection.
While the Hercules has landed at the ALGs in Ladakh earlier, this was the first night landing in the region and is believed to be part of the IAF’s mission to strengthen its capabilities, including in deploying commandos in challenging scenarios and zones.
This success of this mission at the undirectional, mountain-covered Kargil advanced landing ground is seen as the precursor of attempts to try it out at other airstrips and landing zones near the LAC, around the clock, as per defence sources.
