IAF to operationalise second squadron of Tejas; IAF Chief to do it

This event will be conducted at Air Force Station, Sulur near Coimbatore. The squadron will be equipped with LCA Tejas FOC Aircraft and will be the second IAF Squadron to fly LCA Tejas,” the IAF said in a statement.

NEW DELHI: The Indian Air Force will operationalise a second squadron of the Tejas Light Combat Aircraft this week. IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria will operationalize the squadron at Sulur in Tamil Nadu on Wednesday.

The IAF’s Number 18 Squadron, “Flying Bullets”, will be raised with Tejas aircraft in the Final Operational Configuration. “The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria, will operationalise No. 18 Squadron ‘Flying Bullets’ of the Indian Air Force on May 27.

This event will be conducted at Air Force Station, Sulur near Coimbatore. The squadron will be equipped with LCA Tejas FOC Aircraft and will be the second IAF Squadron to fly LCA Tejas,” the IAF said in a statement.

The 18 Squadron was formed on April 15, 1965 and had actively participated in the 1971 India-Pakistan war with Pakistan and was decorated with the highest gallantry award ‘Param Vir Chakra’ awarded to Flying Officer Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon posthumously. It earned the sobriquet of ‘Defenders of Kashmir Valley’ by being the first to land and operate from Srinagar.

The squadron was flying the MiG 27 aircraft before it got number plated on April 15, 2016. Number plating means that a squadron is temporarily wound down and can be revived again with a different aircraft. The squadron was resurrected on April 1 this year at Sulur for the induction of the Tejas jets.

The IAF’s first LCA Tejas squadron, Number 45 the Flying Daggers, was raised in 2016. The fourth-generation Tejas has been indigenously designed by the Aircraft Development Agency (ADA) under the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

The IAF had ordered 40 LCAs. The Rajnath Singh led Defence Acquisition Council in March had cleared the procurement of 83 of the more advanced Mk1A version of the aircraft from HAL-- estimated to be Rs 38,000 crore- by finalising the contract.

The Mk1A version will have an active electronically scanned array radar, beyond visual range missiles and an electronic warfare suite. The raising of new squadrons is crucial for the IAF, because it is faced with a depleting strength of fighter squadrons from an authorised strength of 42 down to around 30.