Indian Air Force IL-76MD sets world record with highest-altitude landing at Ladakh's Mudh-Nyoma airbase

Key facts

• An Indian Air Force IL-76MD heavy-lift transport aircraft made the world's highest-altitude landing at the 13,629-foot Mudh-Nyoma airbase in Ladakh on Friday, as announced on November 7, 2026.
• The Mudh-Nyoma airbase, inaugurated in November 2025, lies 23 km from the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China and has a 2.7-km runway capable of operating fighter jets, transport planes and helicopters.
• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh laid the foundation stone for the airbase in September 2023, and a crew of women officers spearheaded the ₹218-crore project to upgrade the Nyoma airstrip into a full-fledged base.
• The Nyoma airstrip, unused since the 1962 India-China war, was reactivated by the IAF in September 2009 with an AN-32 transport aircraft landing.
• The IAF reactivated its other Ladakh-sector airstrips at Daulet Beg Oldi (16,614 feet) in May 2008 and Fukche (13,000 feet) in November 2008.
• Air Chief Marshal AP Singh, who retired as IAF chief on October 31, inaugurated the airbase in November 2025 by landing a C-130J special operations aircraft.
• India and China reached an understanding in October 2024 on disengaging troops from all friction points in the Ladakh sector, ending a standoff that began in April 2020.