Dazzling The Skies: Suryakiran Aerobatic Team Completes 25 Years
![Dazzling The Skies: Suryakiran Aerobatic Team Completes 25 Years](/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Untitled-design-3.png)
(This News Article Is Originally Posted onย The Hindu by Dinakar Peri)
The Suryakiran aerobatic display team of the Indian Air Force (IAF), which has enthralled crowds across the country with their hair-raising maneuvers with their aircraft in red and white, has just completed 25 years.
One of the few nine aircraft display teams in the world and the only one in Asia, the team has carried out over 600 displays across the country and Southeast Asia.
โIn March, the team flew a very special โ75โ formation with 17 aircraft to commence the 75th Independence Day celebrations. The event was 75 weeks to go for the 75th Independence Day,โ one of the team members said. The team is also performing across the country to commemorate the 1971 Liberation War of Bangladesh, he stated.
The team currently has 13 pilots and is led by Group Captain Anoop Singh.
Disbanded once
โSuryakiranโ, which means โrays of the sunโ in Sanskrit, was raised in May 27, 1996, at the IAF air base in Bidar, Karnataka, with six Kiran MkII trainer aircraft. It carried out its first display on September 15, 1996 for the golden jubilee celebrations of the Air Force Administrative College in Coimbatore. However, the team was disbanded in 2011 after the Aero India show due to shortage of training aircraft in the IAF and was resurrected in 2015 on advanced jet trainer Hawk Mk-132 aircraft.
The team was built up to a nine-aircraft team in quick time in 2017, the officer observed and added, โWe got smoke pods in 2020 and commenced display with smoke.โ
At Aero India 2021, the Suryakiran teamed up with the Sarang helicopter display team in the worldโs first-ever integrated display of nine aircraft and four helicopter teams. Their first foreign display was for the Sri Lankan Air Force Day in Colombo in 2001 and the most recent was to commemorate the 20th Sri Lankan Air Force Day.
Rigorous selection
All the pilots of the Suryakiran team are qualified flying instructors and belong to the fighter stream of the IAF selected through a rigorous selection process at a ratio usually around 1:10. โThey all have a high level of experience and proficiency on various frontline fighter aircraft,โ the officer stated.
The Suryakiran team firmly believes in โexcite the ordinary, impress the knowledgeable, and frighten no oneโ, said Wing Commander Venu Nambisan (retd), a former AN-32 navigator and Suryakiran team administrator. โThe Suryakiran team conducts its display to motivate young students to take up a career in the armed forces and to reassure the citizens of the superior flying skills and discipline of the nationโs air warriors,โ he toldย The Hindu.
Wg. Cdr. Nambisan, who had been a fan of the Suryakirans since his cadet days, said, โHaving been allotted the transport stream as navigator, my hopes of joining the team were dashed. So when the team sent out a call for team administrator, I jumped at the opportunity.โ
โNot once, but twice,โ said Wg. Cdr. Nambisan, who was part of the legacy team and part of the core team which resurrected the team on Hawks later. โA rare privilege indeed,โ he said.
This team, which has been the brand ambassador of the IAF, is also the 52 squadron of the IAF and is the youngest fighter squadron with the motto โAlways the Bestโ.