Understanding Indian Naval Air Arm

Hello aspirants,

Our important post we have enlightened you with the might of our Indian navy, but in this post, we will look into one of the essential naval branches and that is the Indian maritime air arm. Which caters the capability to the Navy for the sea to air combat, aerial operations etc. this post will be new for many aspirants and entertaining as well.

So let's begin

1. Brief Background About The Air Arm

• The Indian naval air arm was founded in 1948 and The first naval air station, INS Garuda, was inaugurated in Cochin on 11 May 1953.
• The initial commissioning of the squadron used Short Sealand aircraft and Fairey Firefly aircraft.
• In early 1960 the No.300 White Tigers Squadron inducted  Sea Hawks aircraft.
• INS Vikrant was inducted in the year 1961, and On 18 May 1961, the first jet landed on board.

2. Role of Indian Naval Air Arm

• The Indian Naval Air Arm is a naval aviation branch of the Indian Navy which is tasked to provide an aircraft carrier based strike capability.
• Adding to that it also can conduct Sea-to air-combat, surface attack, anti-submarine warfare, Search and rescue, aerial surveillance, weather observation, and material transportation.

3. Structure

• Flag Officer Naval Aviation (FONA) controls training, maintenance and other functions of naval aviation.
• Aircraft yards at Kochi, Kerala and Dabolim, Goa are responsible for maintaining the fleet's air arm. An exclusive base, INS Shikra for helicopters was commissioned in Mumbai.
• Size of the arm includes 21 squadrons, 5,000 personnel, 235 human-crewed aircraft.

4. Major Naval Airbase

• The first naval air station, INS Garuda, was inaugurated in Cochin on 11 May 1953.
• A new naval base is being built near Visakhapatnam to keep a watch on Chinese navy activities.
• New airbase set up in Muscat, Oman to tackle piracy in the Gulf of Aden.
• There are two more naval air stations, INS Rajali and INS Parundu in Tamil Nadu.
• The southernmost naval air station, INS Bazz was formally opened on 31 July 2012 by the Chief of the Indian Navy at Cambell Bay in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. This base will provide vigil over straight of Malacca.

5. Arsenal 

• Airbase have aircraft like HAL Tejas, MiG 29k, Boeing P-8I Neptune, Ilyushin Il-38 etc
• Helicopters like HAL Dhruv, Rudra, Kamov Ka-25, Kamov Ka-28, and the Kamov Ka-31Westland Sea King and the Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King for anti-submarine warfare.
• UAV includes IAI-HAL NRUAV,  Heron and Searcher Mk-II These UAVs will have higher endurance and load carrying capability resulting in better reconnaissance capabilities.

Stay tuned to DDE for more information.

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Jai Hind