Sarang is an aerobatic air display team of the

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 ...

. Formally established as the No. 151 Helicopter Unit in 2005, the unit flies five modified

HAL Dhruv The HAL Dhruv () is a utility helicopter designed and developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in November 1984. The helicopter first flew in 1992; its development was prolonged due to multiple factors including the Indian Army's requ ...

helicopters and is based out of Sulur Air Force Station near

Coimbatore Coimbatore (Tamil: kōyamputtūr, ), also known as Kovai (), is one of the major Metropolitan cities of India, metropolitan cities in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyy ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

Etymology

The name of the unit ''Sarang'' means

peacock Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

. The peacock is the national bird of India.

History

The display team was originally formed as an evaluation flight squadron for Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH) in 2002. Later, the team was re-tasked to form a

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

aerobatic display unit. The display team was formed in October 2003 and was officially established as No. 151 Helicopter Unit of the Indian Air Force in 2005. The team was initially based out of Yelahanka Air Force Station near

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

before shifting base to Sulur Air Force Station near

in 2009.

Aircraft

The team operates a set of

Mk-I helicopters built by

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is an Indian public sector aerospace and defence company, headquartered in Bengaluru. Established on 23 December 1940, HAL is one of the oldest and largest aerospace and defence manufacturers in the world. H ...

(HAL). , the team utilizes five HAL Dhruv helicopters painted in a special peacock livery and equipped with specialised canisters to produce white smoke during displays. The unit currently operates the following aircraft: *

Mk-I (5) The team performed using four helicopters in tandem before moving to a five helicopter display in 2023.

Service

The first public performance of the team was displayed at the Asian Aerospace show at

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

in 2004. The team performed in the biennial defense air show cum exhibition

Aero India Aero India is a biennial air show and aviation exhibition held in Bengaluru, India, at the Yelahanka Air Force Station. It is organised by the Defence Exhibition Organisation, Ministry of Defence. Organisers The Ministry of Defence, Indian A ...

, Air Force Day and Navy week celebrations and other events of national importance. In February 2024, the team performed in the Singapore Airshow, its second ever performance outside India and the first since the inaugural display in 2004. Apart from aerobatic display, the team is also engaged in disaster management and recovery. The team was involved in rescuing stranded people during the 2013 Uttarakhand floods. The team was also engaged in dropping food packets, relief materials and rescuing stranded people during various natural calamities such as the 2015 Chennai floods,

2018 Kerala floods On 16 August 2018, severe floods affected the south Indian state Kerala, due to unusually heavy rainfall during the monsoon season. It was the worst flood in Kerala in nearly a century. Over 483 people died, and about one million people were e ...

, and the aftermath of

tropical cyclone A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system with a low-pressure area, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depending on its locat ...

s such as Cyclone Ockhi in 2017 and Cyclone Michaung in 2023.

Incidents

In February 2007, the team had its first fatal accident when one of the helicopters crashed near Yelahanka Air Force Station during a practice session before Aero India 2007. Co-pilot Squadron Leader Priyesh Sharma was killed and pilot Wing Commander Vikas Jettley was critically injured. Vikas Jettley also succumbed to the injuries in 2011 after being in a

coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to Nociception, respond normally to Pain, painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal Circadian rhythm, sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate ...

tose state for four years.

Gallery

File:Sarang solo.jpg, Sarang team uses modified

File:IAF Sarang Display Team at Egypt International Airshow.jpg, The team uses multiple helicopters in tandem for air displays File:Sarang.JPG, Canisters are used to produce white smoke during air displays

References

{{Indian Air Force Indian Air Force Aerobatic teams