List of Indian Air Force stations
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Indian Air Force currently operates seven Air Commands. Each command is headed by an Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the rank of Air Marshal.
The Air Force currently has over 60 air stations all over India. These are grouped into seven commands: Western Air Command at New Delhi, Delhi. Eastern Air Command at Shillong, Meghalaya. Central Air Command at Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh. Southern Air Command at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. South Western Air Command at Gandhinagar, Gujarat. Training Command at Bengaluru, Karnataka, and Maintenance Command at Nagpur, Maharashtra. The largest airbase is in Hindon, Uttar Pradesh.
Gwalior hosts the Indian Air Force's elite Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment (TACDE), a premier unit for advanced fighter pilot training in aerial tactics, comparable to the US Navy's TOPGUN, focusing on operational doctrines and tactics for aircraft.
There are a number of new air stations being built across India, in line with India's strategic doctrine. The Indian Navy has some separate air stations for its aviation wing.
The Western Air Command is the largest air command. It operates sixteen airforce stations in Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. The Eastern Air Command operates fifteen airforce stations in eastern and north-eastern India. The Central Air Command operates two airforce stations in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and surrounding states of central India. Southern Air Command's tasks include protecting the vital shipping routes. It operates nine air stations in Southern India and two in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. South Western Air Command is the front line of defence against Pakistan. This important command operates twelve air stations in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.
List of air stations
Note: Station and unit details are from Scramble.nl (2009) and outdated.[1] Article needs to be revised/updated.
The other Air Force stations that come under Maintenance Command are not air stations and are mostly signal units and station repair depots situated in different towns. Delhi, for example, has a few BRDs and SUs that come under Maintenance Command.
List of advance landing grounds
Along China border
The Chinese Military has an integrated Western Theater Command across the LAC with India.[14] The Indian military has divided the LAC into 3 sectors - the Western Sector across Ladakh and Chinese-held Aksai Chin, the Central Sector across Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand states, and the Eastern Sector across Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.[15] Similarly, the Indian Airforce has the Delhi-based Western Air Command, Prayagraj-based Central Air Command, and Shillong-based Eastern Air Command to cover the LAC.
- Ladakh
- Daulat Beg Oldi ALG[16] serves Trans-Karakoram Tract (Shaksgam), Aksai Chin and Siachen Glacier.
- Kargil Airport ALG
- Fukche ALG[16] serves the Demchok sector.
- Padum ALG[16] Serves Ladakh LAC and Kargil LOC as a second line of defence airport.
- Thoise ALG[17]
- Parma Valley ALG near Chushul (to be reactivated)[18][19][20]
- Himachal Pradesh shares a 250 km border with Tibet (China).[21]
- Shimla Airport,[21] civil airport available for military use. Serves Kaurik, Tashigang-Shipki La and Nelang-Pulam Sumda disputed area.
- Kullu-Manali Airport,[21] civil airport available for military use. Serves Kaurik, Tashigang, Shipki La, and the Nelang-Pulam Sumda disputed area.
- Kibber-Rangrik, surveyed as of July 2020,[21] construction was approved in the January 2023 to be completed by 2024–25.[22] Will be closest ALG to Chumar, Kaurik, and Tashigang-Shipki La disputed area.
- Uttarakhand has 350 km border with Tibet.[23]
- Chinyalisaur Airport ALG serves the disputed Barahoti and Nelang-Pulam Sumda sectors. ITBP has 42 BoPs (border outposts) in Barahoti sector and Mana Pass area (Nelang-Pulam Sumda sector).[23]
- Pithoragarh Airport ALG serves the disputed Kalapani territory.
- Gauchar Airport ALG.
- Sikkim
- Pakyong Airport AGL serves Doklam disputed area.
- Arunachal Pradesh
- Aalo ALG, formerly Along.[24][25]
- Mechuka Advanced Landing Ground.[24]
- Pasighat ALG[24]
- Tawang Air Force Station
- Tuting ALG[24]
- Vijoynagar ALG[24]
- Walong Advanced Landing Ground.[26]
- Ziro ALG[24][25]
- Daporijo ALG.[27][28]
- Alinye ALG, Dibang Valley District.[27][28]
- To be reactivated as of September 2025. The airstrip was utilised by the United States Air Force as a staging ground during The Hump airlift campaign of the World War II. Following the Indian Independence, the strip was converted into mud-paved runway. However, the plans to revive the facility never went through and has not seen combat service since 1947.[18]
- Hayuliang ALG, Anjaw District.
Along Pakistan border
List of road runways
_Mirage_-2000_lands_at_Yamuna_Expressway,_in_Uttar_Pradesh_on_May_20,_2015.jpg)
In India, road runways are called 'emergency landing facilities' (ELF). ELFs are activated in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh,Assam and union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. A total thirteen locations have been chosen for development of such road runways.[29]
- Yamuna Expressway: India has successfully tested its road runway on a stretch of the Yamuna Expressway in Uttar Pradesh on 21 May 2015.[30] It was built at a cost of ₹130 billion for its combat jets of the Indian Air Force (IAF), a first for military aviation in the country. In June 2016, the Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari announced that the government was considering developing 'road runways' for commercial operations as well.[31]
- Agra–Lucknow Expressway (Lucknow): The Bangarmau Airstrip is located 65 km (40 mi) from Lucknow on the expressway and has been tested multiple times since 2015 with fighter aircraft and military transport aircraft.[32][33][34]
- National Highway 925 (Barmer): on 9 September 2021, the Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, and the Minister of Defence, Rajnath Singh, inaugurated India's first road runway on a National Highway NH925 in Barmer, Rajasthan and, a mock emergency landing was conducted with the two ministers and the Air Chief Marshal R. K. S. Bhadauria on-board a military transport aircraft.[35][36]
- National Highway 16 (Bapatla): an emergency landing facility airstrip was activated on National Highway 16 on 18 March 2024. The 4.1 kilometres (2.5 miles) long by 33 metres (108 feet) wide strip has been constructed by the National Highways Authority of India. Aircraft, including Sukhoi Su-30MKI, BAE Systems Hawk, Antonov An-32, and Dornier 228, conducted landing trials on the same day.[37]
- National Highway 44 (Anantnag): an ELF was tested on 2 April 2023 from 03:45 to 04:30 am in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag district. The road runway is 3.5 kilometres (2.2 miles) long. Five helicopters, including two Chinook, two Dhruv, and one Mi-17 of IAF were part of the trial. It also included Sukhoi Su-30MKI and HAL Tejas. The road runway construction started in 2020 at a cost of ₹119 crore (equivalent to ₹140 crore or US$15 million in 2023).[29][38]
- Ganga Expressway: Indian Air Force fighter jets and transport aircraft conducted landing and take-off drills on 2 May 2025 from its 3.5 km (2.2 mi)-long airstrip on the Expressway near Shahjahanpur. This is the first such airstrip in India with night landing capacity. To assess the capability the drill was conducted in two phases in both day and night (9 pm to 10 pm IST). The aircraft included Su-30MKI, Mirage 2000, MiG-29, Jaguar, C-130J Super Hercules, An-32, and the Mi-17 V5 helicopter.[39][40][41]
- Moran Bypass: An ELF was activated on the Moran Bypass of National Highway-37 in the Dibrugarh district, Assam on 14 February 2026.[42] Built at a cost of Rs.100 crores,It was inaugurated with a landing by an IAF C-130J during the Prime Minister's visit to the state.Spanning over 4.6 kilometres,It is the First ELF located in Northeast India.[43][44]