The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) expects to complete the country’s highest advanced landing ground (ALG) located at an elevation of 13,700 feet in Mudh-Nyoma in Eastern Ladakh by year-end, giving a strategic advantage to the armed forces against China.
Work on ALG at Nyoma in Eastern Ladakh began in August 2023, giving a strategic advantage to forces to operate fighter and transport aircraft and helicopters hardly 30 km from the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China.
Besides, the airfield would also double up for tourism under the ‘Udaan’ scheme to foster regional connectivity, leading to the overall development of Ladakh.
Brigadier Vishal Srivastava, BRO Chief Engineer of Project Himank, said final touches are being given to the airfield which is already completed and a joint inspection with Indian Air Force (IAF) will take place shortly.
“We are standing at the airfield at Mud Nyoma and as far as the runway is concerned it is almost complete. Final finishing touches are going on and very shortly we will have a joint inspection with the Air Force. We are hopeful that by this year’s end, the entire Runway will be complete and we’ll have a trial landing on it...The airfield has been constructed at a height of 13,700 feet. On this runway, the heaviest military aircraft, fixed wing, rotary wing, fighter aircraft and transport aircraft will be able to land here. This will help us a lot,” Brigadier Srivastava told a news agency in Ladakh.
The BRO officer mentioned that the construction of the advanced landing ground (ALG) will boost the socio-economic development of Hanley, Loma and Nyoma. Hanle is a large historic village and a road connects Nyoma and then Loma in Ladakh.
“Here the temperatures drop to -30 to -35 degrees centigrade during peak winters. So the working season window that is available to us is only a span of five to six odd months from May till November,” he said.
He recalled that the foundation stone of the runaway was laid by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on August 23 and since then it was constructed in a record time.
“We have constructed this Runway in a record time frame. This will be the highest Runway in India...We have used modern technology, modern machines, cold setting compounds, various kinds of additives to ensure that quality construction is carried out and quality is not compromised because of speed,” Brigadier Srivastava said.
The ALG will quicken the response time of the armed forces in case of an emergency at the LAC, which is settling down due to the recent disengagement and resuming of patrolling at Depsang plains and Demchok in Eastern Ladakh ending to some extent four-year-long distrust between China and India following 2020 Galwan faceoff.