No. 20 Squadron IAF

No. 20 Squadron
Active	1 June 1956 - Present
Country	Republic of India
Branch	Indian Air Force
Role	Fighter
Garrison/HQ	Lohegaon Air Force Station
Nickname(s)	"Lightnings"
Motto(s)	Vegvankutobhayah Swift and Fearless
Aircraft flown
Attack	Sukhoi Su-30MKI

Military unit

No. 20 Squadron (Lightnings) is a fighter squadron. It is equipped with Sukhoi Su-30MKI and based at Lohegaon Air Force Station, Pune.^[1]

History

The Lightnings stuck with tremendous impact during the December 1971 operations. A decade later, No. 20 Squadron were chosen to form the IAF's formation aerobatic team given the appellation of "Thunderbolts".^[2]

The IAF's most decorated squadron, No.20 Lightnings, was re-commissioned from its number plated status to operational status.^[3] Its pilots and crews were mainly drawn from the first Sukhoi squadron, No. 24 Squadron IAF 'Hunting Hawks,' and have considerable experience on the type. This squadron is considered one of the parent squadrons of the Sukhoi 30 MKI in the IAF. Also the No.20 Squadron played an important role in making the Flankers fully operational in the Indian Air Force.

Aircraft

Aircraft types operated by the squadron^[3]^[4]


Aircraft Type	From	To	Air Base
de Havilland Vampire FB52	1 June 1956	May 1959	AFS Halwara
Hawker Hunter Mk 56	May 1959	1965	AFS Palam
Hawker Hunter Mk 56	1965	February 1968	AFS Hindon
Hawker Hunter Mk 56A	February 1968	July 1996	AFS Pathankot
Mig-21 FL	March 1996	1975	AFS Pathankot
Mig-21 FL	1975	January 1998
Mig-21 Bison	August 2004	May 2005
Sukhoi Su-30 MKI	January 2002	Present	AFS Lohegaon

References

^ "Squadrons and Helicopter Units". Bharat Rakshak. Retrieved 26 July 2012.
^ "Lancer Publishers Online Bookshop".
^ ^a ^b Pillarisetti, Jagan (2 April 2015). "When Lightning Strikes!". Bharat Rakshak. Retrieved 27 June 2021.
^ "No.20 Squadron - Bharat Rakshak:Indian Air Force". bharat-rakshak.com. Retrieved 27 June 2021.

Indian Air Force

Leadership

Minister of Defence
Chief of the Air Staff
Vice Chief of the Air Staff
Deputy Chief of the Air Staff
AOCs-in-C (Commander-in-Chief)
Serving air marshals

Components
& commands

Air Force commands

Operational	Central Air Command Eastern Air Command Southern Air Command South Western Air Command Western Air Command
Functional	Training Command Maintenance Command
Joint	Andaman and Nicobar Command Strategic Forces Command Defence Cyber Agency Defence Space Agency Armed Forces Special Operations Division

Air bases

Western Air Command	Adampur Ambala Amritsar Awantipora Bathinda Chandigarh Faridabad Gurugram Halwara Hindan Leh Palam Pathankot Sarsawa Siachen Glacier Sirsa Srinagar Udhampur
Eastern Air Command	Agartala Bagdogra Barapani AFS Barrackpore Chabua Dum Dum Hasimara Jorhat Kalaikunda Kumbhigram Mohanbari Mountain Shadow Tawang Tezpur Panagarh
Central Air Command	Agra Bihta Darbhanga Bakshi Ka Talab Bamrauli Bareilly Chakeri Gorakhpur Maharajpur
Southern Air Command	Car Nicobar Coimbatore Madurai Port Blair Tambaram Thanjavur
South Western Air Command	Bhuj Jaisalmer Jamnagar Jodhpur Lohegaon Nal-Bikaner Naliya Phalodi Uttarlai Makarpura
Training Command	Begumpet Bidar Dundigal Hakimpet Yelahanka Belgaum
Maintenance Command	Nagpur Ojhar
Advanced Landing Grounds (ALGs)	Along Chinyalisaur Chushul Daulat Beg Oldi Fukche Hayuliang Mechuka Nyoma Pasighat Airport Tawang Thoise Tuting Vijaynagar Walong Ziro

Squadrons

Combat

No. 1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
14
15
16
17
18
20
23
24
27
29
30
31
45
47
101
102
106
220
221
222
223
224

Transport

No. 11
12
19
25
33
41
43
44
48
49
59
77
78
81
87

Helicopters

Squadrons	No. 104 125
Units	No. 105 107 109 110 111 112 114 115 116 117 118 119 127 128 129 130 143 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159
Flights	No. 121 122 126 131 132

Acrobatic display

Communication

AHQCS

EW/AWS

RPA

No. 3001
3002
3003
3004
3005

Number plated

No. 10
21
22
26
28
32
35
37
51
108

Aircraft

Military
academies

Education & training	Sainik School Armed Forces Medical College Ajmer Military School Bangalore Military School Belgaum Military School Chail Military School Dholpur Military School Rashtriya Indian Military College
Schools & colleges	Air Force Academy Air Force Administrative College Air Force School, Coimbatore Air Force School, Jodhpur Flying Instructors School Indian Air Force Test Pilot School Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment Air Defence College College of Air Warfare
Tri-service institutions	Defence Services Staff College National Defence Academy National Defence College College of Defence Management Military Institute of Technology