No. 220 Squadron IAF

No. 220 Squadron

Active	23 December 1957 — July 2005 1 September 2011 — Present
Country	Republic of India
Branch	Indian Air Force
Role	Close Air Support Air Defence
Garrison/HQ	Halwara AFS
Nickname(s)	"Desert Tigers"
Motto(s)	Shauryam Tejo Dhritih Valour, Energy and Firmness

Military unit

No. 220 Squadron (Desert Tigers) is a fighter squadron and is equipped with Su-30 MKIs and based at Halwara Air Force Station.^[1]

History

From its birth until just short of the Indo-Pak war of 1965, the role of the squadron was Operational Conversion onto Vampire aircraft of the freshly commissioned pilots. The squadron, later re-equipped with the Indigenous HF-24 Marut in April 1969 and flew the Marut in the 1971 Indo-Pak War. In June 1981, the squadron converted onto the MiG-23BN.,^[2] It was raised at IAF Station Jodhpur and in year 1997 It moved to IAF Station Halwara.

IAF had disbanded the 220 Squadron in June 2005 because of very old aircraft, but resurrected that with the induction of the SU 30 MKIs on 25 September 2012.^[3] They received the President's standards at Halwara AFS on 20 September 2013.^[4]

Assignments

Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971

Aircraft

Aircraft Types operated by 220 Squadron^[5]^[6]
Aircraft Type	From	To	Air Base
de Havilland Vampire FB.52	9 January 1963	1 May 2006	AFS Palam
HF-24 Marut	April 1969	June 1981
MiG-23 BN	June 1981	1997
MiG-23 BN	1997	July 2005	AFS Halwara
Su-30 MKI	1 September 2011	Present	AFS Halwara

References

^ "Squadrons and Helicopter Units". Bharat Rakshak. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
^ Pike, John. "Squadron 220". Globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
^ "No.220 Squadron, Indian Air Force - Database". Bharat Rakshak. Retrieved 20 September 2019.
^ "No.220 Squadron - Presentation of the Presidents Standards". Bhaat-rakshak.com=. Retrieved 30 July 2017.
^ "No.220 Squadron Desert Tigers". Retrieved 2 January 2022.
^ "Presidential standards awarded to IAF Units". New Indian Express. 21 November 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2022.

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