NEW DELHI: Air Chief Marshal A.P. Singh is likely to fly with the Surya Kiran Aerobatic Team (SKAT) on Tuesday as the Indian Air Force’s premier display squadron marks three decades since its creation at Air Force Station Bidar, Karnataka, in 1996.
The milestone comes months after the team completed its 800th display at Wings India in Hyderabad. Over the past thirty years, Surya Kiran has emerged as the IAF’s aerial ambassador, representing the force at major air shows, national events and international aviation displays across Asia and beyond.
It is among the nine-aircraft aerobatic formations in the world and the only one in Asia. The team flies the Hawk Mk-132 advanced jet trainer, licensed-produced by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), with pilots often maintaining separations of less than five metres during complex manoeuvres.
The squadron is currently commanded by Group Captain Ajay Dasarathi, a Su-30MKI pilot and qualified flying instructor, with Wing Commander Tejeshwar Singh serving as deputy leader.
The team comprises 13 pilots drawn from a few of the IAF’s frontline flying streams.
Its display routine includes loops, barrel rolls, diamond formations, crossovers and the signature heart-shaped manoeuvre, flown at altitudes between 100 and 1,000 feet.
The Hawk jets are fitted with indigenous smoke pods developed at the IAF’s Base Repair Depot in Nashik, allowing the team to trail saffron, white and green smoke during displays.
International deployments have taken the squadron to the UAE, Thailand, Laos, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and China. Among its most notable recent performances was the display over Chennai that drew an estimated 1.7 million spectators along the coastline.
Earlier this year, in March, the team also conducted its first aerobatic display over the Himalayas.
The squadron was formally designated 52 Squadron, “Sharks”, in May 2006, inheriting the legacy of an erstwhile MiG-21 FL unit. It initially flew the HAL Kiran Mk-II trainer aircraft, from which it derived its name, Surya Kiran (Rays of the Sun).
Following the retirement of the Kiran fleet and a brief hiatus, the team was revived in 2015 with the Hawk Mk-132 advanced jet trainer.
The supersonic platform combines modern avionics with a secondary weapons-training role, carrying up to 3,000 kg of bombs, rockets and missiles, besides a 30 mm cannon and can attain speeds of up to Mach 1.2.
The transition gave the squadron a newer platform and allowed it to resume full-scale aerobatic displays after a gap of several years.