INS Garuda , is an Indian naval air station located in Kochi, in the state of Kerala. Commissioned on 11 May 1953, it is the oldest operating air station of the Indian Navy.

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 Cochin 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. 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.

Commanding officers S.No Name Assumed office Left office Notes1Commander George Douglas 11 May 19531 October 1955 Later Chief of Naval Aviation (CONA).2Commander Y. N. Singh1 October 195520 December 19573Commander N. S. Tyabji20 December 19574 April 1960 4Commander K. K. Sanjana4 April 19607 October 1961 5Commander Elenjikal Chandy Kuruvila7 October 196128 February 1963Flag Officer Commanding Western Fleet during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.6Commander P. N. Mathur 19 Mar 196310 September 64 7Commander P. I. Telles10 September 196415 June 1966 8Commander Mihir K. Roy8 August 19667 January 1969Later Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command.9Captain K. Gopinath4 February 196911 July 1971 -Commodore K. Gopinath12 July 197131 May 1972 10Captain C. L. Sach Acharya 8 January 197330 June 1976 11Commodore B. R. Acharya 1 July 197623 April 197712Captain U. C. Tripathi 24 May 19779 Mar 197913Captain V. R. Ravindranath 30 April 197930 June 198113Commodore V. R. Ravindranath 1 July 198128 February 1982 14Commodore H. Johnson 20 March 198221 December 1982Later Vice Chief of the Naval Staff and Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Naval Command15Commodore M. P. Wadhawan 22 December 198210 August 198416Captain Mediome Bhada 10 August 198431 July 198517Captain A. S. Rawat 31 July 198531 December 198517Commodore A. S. Rawat 1 January 19868 June 1987 18Commodore S. Ramsagar 8 June 198711 January 198819Captain Sureesh Mehta27 April 198814 November 1989 Later Chief of the Naval Staff.20Captain V. K. Soni 15 Nov 198931 December 199020Commodore V. K. Soni 1 January 199119 July 1991 21Captain C. Dewan 20 July 199117 January 199322Captain K. M. Thomas 18 January 199330 December 199323Commodore K. M. Thomas 1 January 199427 May 1996 24Commodore R. S. Vasan27 May 199630 July 1998 25Commodore P. Sengupta30 Jul 199830 May 200126Commander Sudhir Pillai 17 September 200117 October 200227Captain Naresh Mohan Kalia18 October 200227 October 2004 28Captain Balvinder Singh Parhar 28 October 200420 April 200629Captain Amit Bhandari 21 April 20066 May 2008 30Captain Vijesh Kumar Garg 6 May 20089 March 2010 30Commodore Vijesh Kumar Garg 10 April 201018 April 201131Captain Himanshu S. Sapre 19 April 201112 September 2013 32Captain M. M. S. Shergill 1 August 201518 May 201633Commodore R. R. Ayyar19 May 201622 January 201934Commodore V. B. Bellary 23 January 201914 December 202235Captain K. Sri Vasta 15 December 202231 December 2022 35Commodore K. Sri Vasta1 January 202314 May 202436Captain Rajan Kapoor 15 May 202430 June 202436Commodore Rajan Kapoor 1 July 2024Present

Units INS Garuda has 2 intersecting runways, allowing almost all operational aircraft to land and take off. Data current as of October 2006.

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.

See also Indian Navy List of Indian Navy bases List of active Indian Navy ships

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 Strategic Forces Command List of Indian Air Force stations List of Indian Navy bases India's overseas military bases

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