SRINAGAR: An IAF IL-76MD transport aircraft has landed at 13,629 feet in eastern Ladakh, setting a world record for the highest-altitude landing by the heavy-lift plane and underscoring India’s growing military airlift capability near the China border.Announcing the achievement Saturday, IAF said the successful landing at Nyoma airbase, barely 25km from the Line of Actual Control, marked “the highest-altitude landing ever achieved by the aircraft anywhere in the world”. Calling it “a remarkable demonstration of the aircraft’s enduring capability, backed by the exceptional skill, precision, and professionalism of its crew”, IAF described the landing as “a milestone that reinforces India’s strategic airlift capability”. At such altitudes, thin air challenges even the most capable aircraft.The Soviet-origin, four-engine Ilyushin aircraft was inducted in 1985 and nicknamed Gajraj. A mainstay of IAF’s transport fleet, it has been used to airlift troops, T-72 tanks, BMP infantry combat vehicles and disaster relief supplies across difficult terrain.Nyoma airbase was earlier an advanced landing ground (ALG) used by tactical transport aircraft and helicopters. The airstrip had remained unused for decades after the 1962 India-China war before IAF reactivated it in Sept 2009. On Sept 18 that year, an AN-32 became the first fixed-wing aircraft to land on its compacted runway.Defence minister Rajnath Singh laid the foundation stone for the airbase in Sept 2023. Completed last year, its upgrade to a fully equipped airbase capable of handling fighter aircraft is expected to strengthen military logistics, improve connectivity to forward areas and speed up the movement of troops and equipment along the China frontier.IAF had earlier reactivated two other airstrips in Ladakh — Daulat Beg Oldi, at 16,614 feet, in May 2008, and Fukche, at 13,000 feet, in Nov 2008.