Southern Air Command (India)


The Southern Air Command of the Indian Air Force is headquartered in Thiruvananthapuram, which is on the southwestern side of India. This is one among the seven commands of IAF. This command was started on 19 July 1984 and is relatively new among the other commands. The conflicts in Sri Lanka and the need for establishing a strong base over the Indian Ocean resulted to the formation of this new command. The SAC was inaugurated by Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India.
From 1984 to 1999, the command grew from 5 lodger units to 17 lodger units under its jurisdiction.
Air-sea rescue in the Indian Ocean may be among the command's tasks.

Organization

Squadrons include:
SquadronBaseEquipmentNotes
No. 121 Helicopter Flight, IAFCar Nicobar Air Force StationMil Mi-8No. 37 Wing
No. 122 Helicopter Flight, IAFCar Nicobar Air Force StationMil Mi-8No. 37 Wing
No. 33 Squadron IAFSulur Air Force StationAntonov An-32No. 43 Wing
No. 109 Helicopter Unit, IAFSulur Air Force StationMi-17 V5No. 43 Wing
No. 45 Squadron IAFSulur Air Force StationHAL TejasNo. 43 Wing
No. 18 Squadron IAFSulur Air Force StationHAL Tejas
No. 222 Squadron IAFThanjavur Air Force StationSukhoi Su-30 MKINo. 47 Wing

Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief

RankNameFromTo
Air MarshalJasbir Walia1 06 201531 7 2016
Air MarshalSunderraman Neelakantan1 08 20161 03 2017
Air MarshalRakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria1 03 20171 08 2018
Air MarshalBalakrishnan Suresh1 08 201830 10 2019
Air MarshalAmit Tiwari1 11 2019Present