INS Garuda
Indian Naval Air station
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
INS Garuda (ICAO: VOCC), is an Indian naval air station located in Kochi, in the state of Kerala.[3] Commissioned on 11 May 1953, it is the oldest operating air station of the Indian Navy.
INS Garuda | |||||||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||||||
| Airport type | Naval Air Station | ||||||||||||||
| Operator | Indian Navy | ||||||||||||||
| Location | Willingdon Island, Kochi, India | ||||||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 2 m / 8 ft | ||||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 9.941°N 76.275°E | ||||||||||||||
| Website | http://indiannavy.nic.in/INS_Garuda.html | ||||||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||||||
  VOCC  VOCC | |||||||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||||||
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| Source: DAFIF[1][2] | |||||||||||||||
The air station is adjacent to INS Venduruthy, the headquarters of Southern Naval Command. INS Garuda is a major naval air training centre as well as an operational base.
History
The original airstrip near Kochi was built by the Cochin Port Trust to transport senior officials of the British Harbour Corps from the Madras Presidency to supervise the development of modern Kochi port in 1936. During World War II, the rudimentary airstrip was taken over by the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1941 and expanded to establish a RAF experimental station. The Indian Air Force Volunteer Reserve (IAFVR) No. 5 Coastal Defence Flight, flying Westland Wapiti II aircraft was based at the station in May 1941. In December 1942, IAFVR No. 5 was disbanded, and resources transferred to HMS Garuda in Peelamedu (present day Coimbatore International Airport), Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. In 1943, the Kochi facilities were transferred to the Royal Navy (RN) which established an aircraft repair yard at the location to assemble aircraft shipped to India for the war effort. HMS Garuda was decommissioned in September 1946 at the end of the war, and the Kochi infrastructure was transferred to the DGCA.
Post-independence
The Indian Navy acquired the first Short Sealand aircraft on 13 January 1953. The aviation facilities at Kochi were transferred to the Indian Navy and temporarily placed under the command of naval base, INS Venduruthy, on 1 January 1953 to prepare for operating the aircraft. The first Sealand aircraft arrived in Kochi from the UK on 4 February 1953.The facilities were commissioned as a fully operational naval air station under the command of the Indian Naval Air Arm on 11 May 1953 and renamed INS Garuda.[4] Commodore G Douglas, was its first Commanding Officer. Since then, INS Garuda has remained a strategic operating station for the navy, with several training schools, intelligence centres, maintenance and repair facilities and experimental stations based here. A separate civil enclave for domestic travellers was allowed to operate at INS Garuda, which remained operational until July 1999, when the Cochin International Airport was commissioned. The 747 Squadron of the Indian Coast Guard was activated on 22 Apr 2002 within the premises of Naval Base Kochi. The Squadron operates two Dornier 228 aircraft.[5]
Commanding officers
| S.No | Name | Assumed office | Left office | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Commander George Douglas DFC | 11 May 1953 | 1 October 1955 | Later Chief of Naval Aviation (CONA). |
| 2 | Commander Y. N. Singh | 1 October 1955 | 20 December 1957 | |
| 3 | Commander N. S. Tyabji | 20 December 1957 | 4 April 1960 | |
| 4 | Commander K. K. Sanjana | 4 April 1960 | 7 October 1961 | |
| 5 | Commander Elenjikal Chandy Kuruvila | 7 October 1961 | 28 February 1963 | Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. |
| 6 | Commander P. N. Mathur | 19 Mar 1963 | 10 September 64 | |
| 7 | Commander P. I. Telles | 10 September 1964 | 15 June 1966 | |
| 8 | Commander Mihir K. Roy | 8 August 1966 | 7 January 1969 | Later Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command. |
| 9 | Captain K. Gopinath | 4 February 1969 | 11 July 1971 | |
| - | Commodore K. Gopinath | 12 July 1971 | 31 May 1972 | |
| 10 | Captain C. L. Sach Acharya | 8 January 1973 | 30 June 1976 | |
| 11 | Commodore B. R. Acharya | 1 July 1976 | 23 April 1977 | |
| 12 | Captain U. C. Tripathi | 24 May 1977 | 9 Mar 1979 | |
| 13 | Captain V. R. Ravindranath NM VSM | 30 April 1979 | 30 June 1981 | |
| 13 | Commodore V. R. Ravindranath NM VSM | 1 July 1981 | 28 February 1982 | |
| 14 | Commodore H. Johnson VSM | 20 March 1982 | 21 December 1982 | Later Vice Chief of the Naval Staff and Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command |
| 15 | Commodore M. P. Wadhawan NM VSM | 22 December 1982 | 10 August 1984 | |
| 16 | Captain Mediome Bhada | 10 August 1984 | 31 July 1985 | |
| 17 | Captain A. S. Rawat NM | 31 July 1985 | 31 December 1985 | |
| 17 | Commodore A. S. Rawat VSM | 1 January 1986 | 8 June 1987 | |
| 18 | Commodore S. Ramsagar VrC NM | 8 June 1987 | 11 January 1988 | |
| 19 | Captain Sureesh Mehta | 27 April 1988 | 14 November 1989 | Later Chief of the Naval Staff. |
| 20 | Captain V. K. Soni NM | 15 Nov 1989 | 31 December 1990 | |
| 20 | Commodore V. K. Soni NM | 1 January 1991 | 19 July 1991 | |
| 21 | Captain C. Dewan YSM | 20 July 1991 | 17 January 1993 | |
| 22 | Captain K. M. Thomas NM | 18 January 1993 | 30 December 1993 | |
| 23 | Commodore K. M. Thomas NM | 1 January 1994 | 27 May 1996 | |
| 24 | Commodore R. S. Vasan | 27 May 1996 | 30 July 1998 | |
| 25 | Commodore P. Sengupta | 30 Jul 1998 | 30 May 2001 | |
| 26 | Commander Sudhir Pillai NM | 17 September 2001 | 17 October 2002 | |
| 27 | Captain Naresh Mohan Kalia | 18 October 2002 | 27 October 2004 | |
| 28 | Captain Balvinder Singh Parhar | 28 October 2004 | 20 April 2006 | |
| 29 | Captain Amit Bhandari | 21 April 2006 | 6 May 2008 | |
| 30 | Captain Vijesh Kumar Garg | 6 May 2008 | 9 March 2010 | |
| 30 | Commodore Vijesh Kumar Garg | 10 April 2010 | 18 April 2011 | |
| 31 | Captain Himanshu S. Sapre | 19 April 2011 | 12 September 2013 | |
| 32 | Captain M. M. S. Shergill | 1 August 2015 | 18 May 2016 | |
| 33 | Commodore R. R. Ayyar | 19 May 2016 | 22 January 2019 | |
| 34 | Commodore V. B. Bellary | 23 January 2019 | 14 December 2022 | |
| 35 | Captain K. Sri Vasta | 15 December 2022 | 31 December 2022 | |
| 35 | Commodore K. Sri Vasta | 1 January 2023 | 14 May 2024 | |
| 36 | Captain Rajan Kapoor | 15 May 2024 | 30 June 2024 | |
| 36 | Commodore Rajan Kapoor | 1 July 2024 | Present |
Units
INS Garuda has 2 intersecting runways, allowing almost all operational aircraft to land and take off.[6]
Indian Naval Air Squadrons based at INS Garuda as of 2011 include:
- INAS 550, a reconnaissance and training squadron operating Dornier 228 aircraft
- INAS 336, an anti-submarine warfare and advanced training squadron, operating Westland Sea King Mk 42B helicopters
- INAS 321, a search and rescue and logistics squadron, operating HAL Chetak helicopters
- INAS 322, a search and rescue and logistics squadron, operating HAL Dhruv helicopters
- INAS 334, an anti-submarine warfare squadron operating Sikorsky MH-60R SeaHawk helicopters
- INAS 342, operating IAI Heron and IAI Searcher Mk. II UAVs
INS Garuda also has a number of naval aviation training schools:
- Observer School trains pilots and technical personnel in maritime reconnaissance, patrol, evacuation and search and rescue (SAR) missions
- School for Naval Airmen (SFNA) and the Naval Institute of Aviation Technology (NIAT) impart theoretical training to naval aviation personnel and those associated with flying operations
- Aeronautical Training Institute (ATI) conducts training for officers and sailors in aircraft maintenance
- School for Naval Oceanography and Meteorology (SNOM)
INS Garuda also has facilities for imparting training in airborne anti-submarine operations affiliated with the Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) School on INS Venduruthy. The school's facilities include a Thales Underwater Systems LOFAR (Low Frequency Analysis & Recording) training simulator.[7]
See also
- Indian Navy
- Integrated commands and units
- Armed Forces Special Operations Division
- Defence Cyber Agency
- Integrated Defence Staff
- Integrated Space Cell
- Indian Nuclear Command Authority
- Indian Armed Forces
- Special Forces of India
- Other lists
