INAS 342 is an Indian Naval air squadron, operating

unmanned aerial vehicle An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or unmanned aircraft system (UAS), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft with no human pilot, crew, or passengers onboard, but rather is controlled remotely or is autonomous.De Gruyter Handbook of Dron ...

s, based at INS Garuda,

Kochi Kochi ( , ), List of renamed Indian cities and states#Kerala, formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the Ernakulam district, district of Ernakulam in the ...

. The squadron was raised in 2006 and operates IAI Heron.

History

IAI Heron and Searcher Mark II, were acquired from IAI Malat by the Indian Navy in December 2002. The UAVs would serve for the roles of maritime reconnaissance, search & rescue, battle damage assessment and providing OTOHT data. Earlier in 2002, 16 internal pilots, 11 observers, 8 external pilots, 6 technical officers and 75 technical and non-technical sailors underwent training at IAI Malat. On 31 August 2002, the Intensive Flying and Trials Unit (IFTU) was established at INS Garuda and was tasked with the roles of aircraft acceptance, operator & crew training, evaluation & trials of aircraft and sensors, doctrine formulation, establishing operating & maintenance procedures. In January 2003, Flight Training commenced and eventually the OEM personnel withdrew as the unit personnel took over. Routine and training flying finally was followed by operational exploitation and the unit started regularly participating in exercises off both coasts, from ships and from various military and non-military airfields. The OJT cell was appointed to train the technical officers and sailors of following generations of operators and maintainers. On 6 January 2006, IFTU was formally commissioned as an operational squadron, INAS 342. The first Officer-in-Charge was

Commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

Rajesh Kawatra. On this day, INAS 342 evolved into a fully functional squadron and pioneered a new era in aviation. The INAS 342 originally operated six Israeli-built IAI Herons and six Searcher Mark IIs UAVs. On 11 December 2024, the Indian Navy de-inducted 8 Searcher Mk-II UAVs from INAS 342 and INAS 343 after 22 years of service after a ceremony in Kochi.

References

{{Indian Navy Aircraft squadrons of the Indian Navy Military units and formations established in 2006