Indian Air Force Sets Record for Highest-Ever Aircraft Landing Amid Tensions with China

With an eye firmly on China, the Indian Air Force (IAF) last week landed its heftyIlyushin Il-76MD, known as 'Gajraj', at Nyoma in eastern Ladakh, 13,629 feet up and barely 30 km from the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The IAF says it is the highest-ever aircraft landing anywhere in the world. The airbase sits close to the Demchok sector and the south bank of Pangong Tso, both flashpoints in the 2020 military confrontation. What makes the record all the more unique is the size of the aircraft. It is roughly as long as a 15-story building tall, and its wingspan stretches wider than half a soccer field. But the landing comes as the six-year-old standoff in eastern Ladakh remains unresolved, and the PLA steadily expands its air power across the LAC. China has built or upgraded 37 airports and heliports in Tibet and Xinjiang since 2017, and now rotates its J-20 stealth fighters through them. In sharp contrast, the IAF has a reduced number of fighter squadrons, and the tender to replace its four-decade-old An-32 transports was floated only in August. Nyoma built as an advanced landing ground during the war with China Galwan clash; IAF airlifts over 68,000 troops, 90 tanks and 330 infantry combat vehicles to Ladakh J-20 stealth fighters spotted at Shigatse, opposite Sikkim Rs 218-crore Nyoma airbase becomes operational ₹1 lakh crore tender floated for 60 medium transport aircraft. IAF announces IL-76MD landing at Nyoma