Air Force Station Hindon (Hindon AFS) (also Hindon) is an

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the air force, air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during armed conflicts. It was officially established on 8 Octob ...

base under the

Western Air Command The Western Air Command (WAC) is the regional command of Indian Air Force headquartered in New Delhi. It is the largest and most important Air Command of the IAF, comprising sixteen Air Force Bases (AFBs), and is responsible for aerial defence of ...

(WAC). It is the biggest and largest air base in Asia. Its area measured 14 km rounded and . This base celebrates Air Force Day on 8 October. It is located near

Loni Loni may refer to: Places * Loni, Ahmednagar, a village in Maharashtra, India * Loni, Bijapur, a village in Karnataka, India * Loni, Ghaziabad, a town in Uttar Pradesh, India * Luni (Punjab), also spelled Loni, a village in Pakistan People and fic ...

Ghaziabad Ghaziabad () is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and a part of Delhi NCR. It is the administrative headquarters of Ghaziabad district and is the largest city in Western Uttar Pradesh, with a population of 1,729,000. Ghaziaba ...

in the state of

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

it also serves traffic of National Capital Region on the outskirts of

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

, close to the Hindon River. Starting 2006, the annual Air Force Day Parade venue was shifted from Palam Airport to Hindon. There is one runway, aligned east–west (09-27), of length x width. The military airbase serves as the home of the IAF

C-17 Globemaster The McDonnell Douglas/Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is a large military transport aircraft developed for the United States Air Force (USAF) between the 1980s to the early 1990s by McDonnell Douglas. The C-17 carries forward the name of two previ ...

and the IAF

C-130J Super Hercules The Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft. The C-130J is a comprehensive update of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules, with new engines, flight deck, and other systems. The C-130J is the ...

, the backbone of Strategic Heavy Air Lift division of the

. The

Airports Authority of India The Airports Authority of India (AAI) is a statutory body under the ownership of the Ministry of Civil Aviation (India), Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India. It is responsible for creating, upgrading, maintaining, and managing civi ...

(AAI) operates a

civil enclave A joint-use airport is an aerodrome that is used for both military aviation and civil aviation. They typically contain facilities of both a civil airport and a military air base. By country India Visakhapatnam Airport operates as a civil enclav ...

at Hindon as part of the government's Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS).

Units

* No. 77 Squadron (

Lockheed C-130J Super Hercules The Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft. The C-130J is a comprehensive update of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules, with new engines, flight deck, and other systems. The C-130J is the ...

) * No. 81 Squadron (

Boeing C-17 Globemaster III The McDonnell Douglas/Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is a large military transport aircraft developed for the United States Air Force (USAF) between the 1980s to the early 1990s by McDonnell Douglas. The C-17 carries forward the name of two previ ...

) * No. 129 Helicopter Unit ( Mil Mi-17IV) * No. 131 Helicopter flight (

HAL Cheetah HAL may refer to: Aviation * Halali Airport (IATA airport code: HAL) Halali, Oshikoto, Namibia * Hawaiian Airlines (ICAO airline code: HAL) * HAL Airport, Bengaluru, India * Hindustan Aeronautics Limited an Indian aerospace manufacturer of figh ...

)

History

Originally the base was home to a squadron each of

MiG-23 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 (; NATO reporting name: Flogger) is a variable-geometry fighter aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau in the Soviet Union. It is a third-generation jet fighter, alongside similar Soviet aircra ...

s single-engine fighters and

MiG-27 The Mikoyan MiG-27 (; NATO reporting name: Flogger-D/J) is a variable-sweep ground-attack aircraft, originally built by the Mikoyan-Gurevich design bureau in the Soviet Union and later licence-produced in India by Hindustan Aeronautics as t ...

s single-engine ground-attack aircraft. After the 1965 war, No. 7 Squadron IAF moved to Hindon along with

Hawker Hunter The Hawker Hunter is a transonic British jet propulsion, jet-powered fighter aircraft that was developed by Hawker Aircraft for the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It was designed to take advantage of the newly dev ...

s, and stayed here till 1969, when it moved to

Bagdogra Bagdogra is a settlement in the Naxalbari (community development block), Naxalbari Community development blocks in India, CD block in the Siliguri subdivision of the Darjeeling district, in the Indian States and territories of India, state of We ...

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

, subsequently during the

East Pakistan Operations 1971 East Pakistan Air Operations covers the activity of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) and Pakistan Army Aviation units in former East Pakistan during the Bangladesh Liberation War. The operations involved the interdiction, air defense, ground suppo ...

it flew in on 6 December 1971. Prior to the No. 3 Squadron moved here in July 1971 and was operating Mystère IVAs at the time. After the war it moved back to Hindon, until it shifted base to

Pathankot Pathankot () is a city and the district headquarters of the Pathankot district in Punjab, India. Pathankot is the sixth most populous city of Punjab, after Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Patiala and Bathinda. Its local government is a municipal ...

in 1975. In the mid-1980s, it was identified by ornithologist Dr.

Salim Ali Sálim Moizuddin Abdul Ali (12 November 1896 – 20 June 1987) was an Indian ornithologist and naturalist. Sometimes referred to as the "Birdman of India", Salim Ali was the first Indian to conduct systematic bird surveys across India and wrot ...

among the 10 air bases in India prone to bird hits, due to the presence of slaughterhouses and dumping grounds in its vicinity being close to the

industrial city. In the coming years, the number of accidents increased. Finally in 1997, when three plane crashes occurred within a span of few days, Hindon was abandoned as a fighter base and remained home to

Avro Avro (an initialism of the founder's name) was a British aircraft manufacturer. Its designs include the Avro 504, used as a trainer in the First World War, the Avro Lancaster, one of the pre-eminent bombers of the Second World War, and the d ...

s and

Mi-17 The Mil Mi-17 (NATO reporting name: Hip) is a Soviet-designed Russian military helicopter family introduced in 1975 (Mi-8M), continuing in production at two factories in Russia, in Kazan and Ulan-Ude. It is known as the Mi-8M series in Russia ...

helicopters and transport aircraft in the following years, apart from being used by the IAF Aircrew Examination Board. However, in 2003, with growing terrorist threats, its importance as a strategic air base to provide air cover to the capital was realised, as Hindon-based fighters could reach the skies over New Delhi within five minutes as compared to the 15-plus minutes it would take from other closest bases, namely

Sirsa Air Force Station Sirsa Air Force Station or Sirsa AFS (ICAO: VISX) is an Indian Air Force base under Western Air Command, located at Sirsa in the state of Haryana, India. History In Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, Pakistan Air Force launched a pre-emptive raid on ...

, Ambala Air Force Base and Chandigarh Air Force Station, and thus Hindon was reactivated and area around it was cleaned up. September 2005, saw Air Chief Marshal S.P. Tyagi becoming the first Chief of Air Staff to earn para wings while in office, as he finished his fifth and final para jump at Air Force Station Hindon. In 2006, Indian Air Force shifted its 74th-anniversary celebration venue from Palam Airport in Delhi, to Hindon to avoid airspace closure for commercial traffic, where the Air Force Day Parade cum investiture ceremony was held on 8 October, and an air display by 66 aircraft. This also gave the IAF aircraft more air space during the air show, till then was uses primarily as a helicopter base. After that it has become an annual event at the station. On 1 June 2007, Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal F. H. Major flagged off a

microlight Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and conventional three-axis control aircraft with ailer ...

expedition, part of the IAF's Platinum Jubilee celebrations, aiming to creating a record by completing the expedition, Around the World in 80 Days. Wing Commanders Rahul Monga and Anil Kumar reached Hindon back on 19 August, and covering 40,497 km in 80 days they achieved a speed of 21.092 km/h thus beating the previous record of 16.53 km/h set by Colin Bodil of the U.K. in 2001. Although the FAI ( Fédération Aéronautique Internationale - world governing body for air sports, aeronautics and astronautics world records) has denied their claim as both the pilots and the Indian Air Force could not furnish any proof for such a feat. In 2007, when the

(AAI) and the Indian Air Force (IAF) launched a pilot project to test joint management of the airspace, Hindon was opened to civilian flights, though its open for flights only during stipulated hours of the day. After the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks IAF moved

MiG-29 The Mikoyan MiG-29 (; NATO reporting name: Fulcrum) is a twinjet, twin-engine fighter aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. Developed by the Mikoyan design bureau as an air superiority fighter during the 1970s, the MiG-29, along with the large ...

s to the air base in order "to protect the capital from aerial threats."IAF closely monitoring Pakistan activity
Express Buzz (Indian Express), 25 December 2008. Hindon was amongst nine airfields in the Western Air Command (WAC) for the Modernization of Air Field Infrastructure programme (MAFI), started in 2009. Due its proximity to the Delhi, work at the station which included equipping it with sensitive radars was to commence first. This work completed in 2011 when the first of six

C-130J Hercules The Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft. The C-130J is a comprehensive update of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules, with new engines, flight deck, and other systems. The C-130J is th ...

tactical transport aircraft arrived from the US. Hindon was designated to become home base for these aircraft and for this purpose, the Hindon runway was extended and modern hangars, servicing and operations facilities suitable for the C-130J aircraft were added. Hindon currently hosts 18 C-130J's. In June 2011, the IAF signed a contract with the USAF to purchase 10

's. With the No. 81 Squadron bed down, the contract includes a dual-bay hangar, squadron operations facility, and other facilities and utilities to support aircraft operations. Deliveries began in June 2013 and are to continued through December 2014."Purchase of Transport Aircraft."
''pib.nic.in'', 12 December 2011. Retrieved: 2 August 2012.

Historical use

* No. 5 Squadron IAF –

Jaguar The jaguar (''Panthera onca'') is a large felidae, cat species and the only extant taxon, living member of the genus ''Panthera'' that is native to the Americas. With a body length of up to and a weight of up to , it is the biggest cat spe ...

IS/IB * No. 14 Squadron IAF – Jaguar IS/IB * No. 23 Squadron IAF –

MiG-21 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet aircraft, jet fighter aircraft, fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan, Mikoyan-Gurevich OKB, Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. Its nicknames in ...

bis * No. 24 Squadron IAF – MiG-21 bis The

Garud Commando Force The Garud Commando Force is the special forces of the Indian Air Force. It was formed on 6 February 2004 and with a plan to have around 2,000-personnel strength. The unit derives its name from ''Garuda'', a Hindu deity. Garud forces are tasked ...

of the Indian Air Force are trained at this base.

Civil Enclave

The Ministry of Civil Aviation proposed the idea of a

at Hindon, built and operated by the AAI, because slot constraints at the

Indira Gandhi International Airport Indira Gandhi International Airport is the primary international airport serving New Delhi, the capital of India, and the National Capital Region (NCR). The airport, spread over an area of ,

prevented the operation of flights under the government's Regional Connectivity Scheme called

UDAN ''Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik'' (Hindi for "Let the common citizens of the country fly"), known by its acronym ''UDAN-RCS'' ('Udan' is Hindi for "flight") is a regional airport development program of the Government of India and part of the Regio ...

. The Indian Air Force permitted the Civil Aviation ministry to use the air base for civil operations in August 2017. Since the government has an agreement with the Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), the operators of Delhi airport, prohibiting operations of another airport within a radius of 150 kilometres from Delhi airport, the MoCA negotiated with DIAL for permissions. DIAL gave approval in September 2017 for temporary civil operations from Hindon. When DIAL's on-going expansion of Delhi Airport is completed around September 2022, all UDAN operations would revert to Delhi Airport. The Uttar Pradesh government gave its approval for the project in March 2018. The enclave is built on 7.5 acres at Sikandarpur village in Sahibabad, adjacent the airbase. The terminal has a capacity of serving 300 passengers an hour. 45.2 crores is being used to build the new civil terminal. Air traffic control will be provided by the

. It was inaugurated by prime minister Narendra Modi on 8 March 2019.

References

External links