The 509 Signal Unit of the Air Force, responsible for monitoring airspace adjacent to China in the north-eastern states, is set to receive the prestigious ‘President’s Colours’ honour.
Scheduled for March 8 at Hindon Airbase near Delhi, President Draupadi Murmu will confer this honour. Notably, during the 1971 war, the unit’s headquarters in Shillong served as the command-and-control center during the air attack on the Governor-House of Dhaka. Led by Group Captain Vivek Sharma, the unit stands as the Air Defence Direction Center for the entire North-East, equipped with cutting-edge radar technology atop Meghalaya’s highest peak.
Ahead of the ceremony later this week, Station Commander of ‘509 Signal Unit’, Group Captain Vivek Sharma, while talking to the media in New Delhi said that his unit is working as the Air Defence Direction Center for the entire North-East. The location of his unit in Shillong is on the highest peak of Meghalaya where a special THD 555 radar is installed. This is the reason why this unit is also known as ‘Peak-Hawk’ and its motto is ‘Satatan Tatpar’.
Group Captain Vivek Sharma said that in the year 2019, this signal unit of the Air Force was upgraded as Integrated Air Command and Control System (IACCS). Since then, this unit has been operating as a node of the Eastern Air Command (EAC) of the Air Force. The EAC of the Indian Air Force is headquartered in Shillong and looks after the security of the airspace along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China from Sikkim to Arunachal Pradesh.
According to the Indian Air Force, the 509 unit is the ‘focal point’ of all network centric operations as all the fighter jets, ground and air radars and surface-to-air missile units of the Eastern Command are connected to it.
The ‘President’s Standard’ and ‘President’s Colours’ (emblems and insignia of the President) are awarded to those units of the armed forces which have performed excellent work in the service and security of the country for 25 years. The 509 Signal Unit was formed in 1965. Combat units of the armies are awarded ‘President’s Standard’ and non-combat units are awarded ‘Colours’. The President of the country is also the Supreme Commander of the armed forces.
The other three units of the Indian Air Force that will be awarded the President’s Standard and President’s Colours at Hindon Air Base on March 8 include: Base Repair Depot (11 BRD) at Nashik, 221 Squadron at Halwara (Punjab) and 45 Squadron (Flying Daggers) at Sulur (Tamil Nadu).
Base Repair Depot (11 BRD)
11 BRD, the only fighter aircraft base repair depot of the Indian Air Force, was formed in 1974. The motto of this base depot, which started with the overhauling of Sukhoi-7, is ‘Kayakalp’. After MiG-21, MiG-23 and MiG-27, these days this depot is busy overhauling Sukhoi (Su-30 MKI) and MiG-29.
BRD’s Air Officer Commanding (AOC), Commodore Ashutosh Vaidya, said due to the indigenous repair depot, no significant impact of the breakup of the Soviet Union and the recent Covid-19 restrictions and Russia-Ukraine war has been seen in the Air Force operations. In the last 50 years, 11 BRDs have overhauled about 600 aircraft.
221 Squadron at Halwara (Punjab)
Sukhoi (Su 30 MKI) fighter jets have been deployed in Halwara-based 221 Squadron since 2017. But this squadron, known as ‘Valiant’, was formed in 1963. During that time this squadron was stationed in Barrackpore, West Bengal and had vampire aircraft. Apart from the 1965, 1971 and Kargil wars, the squadron played an important role during ‘Operation Meghdoot’ in Siachen. During Operation Meghdoot, MiG-23 of this squadron had landed at Leh Air Field for the first time.
45 Squadron (Flying Daggers)
Indigenous Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas has been deployed in Sulur-based 45 Squadron since 2016-17. Popularly known as ‘Flying-Daggers’, this squadron was formed in 1959 and its motto is ‘Ajitakshay’. In 1999, the MiG-21 Bison fighter jet of the same squadron had shot down a Pakistani Navy reconnaissance aircraft ‘Atlantic’ in Kutch due to intrusion into Indian airspace with an R-60 infrared missile. This was the last ‘kill’ of the Indian Air Force in the 20th century. In those days this squadron was stationed at Naliya Airbase in Kutch.
