Sulur AFS

Sulur Air Force Station is an Indian Air Force base at Sulur, near Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, operated by Southern Air Command. Covering 1,050.51 acres, it is the second largest IAF station after Hindon and is tasked with the air defence of the southern Indian coastline.

The airfield was established in the early 1940s by the Royal Navy as RNAS Sulur, a transit base for Allied forces, and was commissioned in 1942 as a Royal Air Force station under South East Asia Command. It was burnt down during the Quit India Movement of 1942, then transferred to the Royal Navy and commissioned as HMS Vairi in 1945; the Royal Indian Air Force also operated from the field. A 1945 Royal Navy report recorded nine aircraft standing areas, four aprons, 16 aircraft pens and storage hangars, with fuel stations, armoury and officer accommodation. Fleet Air Arm types operated included the Beechcraft Expeditor, Avro Anson, Fairey Swordfish, Stinson Reliant, Supermarine Walrus, Sea Otter and, from 1945, the Fairey Barracuda.

After independence the Indian Navy took over the station as INS Hansa, flying Hawker Sea Hawk, Breguet Alizé and de Havilland Vampire aircraft until their transfer to Dabolim in 1961. The Indian Air Force assumed control in 1956 and converted the base into a repair station, raising No. 5 Base Repair Depot. Hangars and NCO accommodation followed in 1964, and No. 33 Equipment Depot was commissioned in 1967, with the station overhauling Folland Gnat and Avro HS 748 aircraft. Sulur supported operations during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War. No. 43 Wing was raised on 14 October 1985, absorbing part of 5 BRD's assets, and the base supported the Indian Peace Keeping Force deployment to Sri Lanka in 1987. In November 2010 it became a field base for the Garud Commando Force. Since 2017 it has performed structural and engine repair, overhaul and LRU maintenance for IAF trainer aircraft, and No. 24 Type Training School (TETTRA) was established in August 2023.

Resident units include No. 43 Wing, No. 5 BRD, No. 610 Garud unit, No. 45 Squadron "Flying Daggers" with HAL Tejas (formed July 2018), No. 33 Squadron "Himalayan Geese" with Antonov An-32, No. 109 Helicopter Unit "The Knights" with Mil Mi-17, and No. 151 Helicopter Unit, the Sarang display team, operating modified HAL Dhruvs since its move from Yelahanka in 2009. No. 18 Squadron "Flying Bullets" operated Tejas from Sulur from 27 May 2020 until its move to Naliya in September 2024.

The station is equipped with a Category II instrument landing system, radio communications facilities, a transportable radar and a multi-Doppler weather radar. It houses storage hangars, an aircraft maintenance and overhaul facility, equipment overhaul, testing and calibration shops, and a flying school, and hosts fighters, transport aircraft, helicopters, microlights and paragliders at a single site.