Indian Naval Air Squadron (INAS) 552
Indian Naval Air Squadron (INAS) 552, the training squadron for jump jet Sea Harrier aircraft, was commissioned at the Indian Navy’s premier air station, INS Hansa at Goa. The squadron was commissioned by Mr SC Jamir, Governor of Goa in the presence of Rear Admiral SK Sinha, FOC, Goa Area and Flag Officer, Naval Aviation. Cdr Shailender Singh is the first commanding officer of INAS 552. This is Navy’s fourteenth air squadron to be commissioned.
Sea Harrier is a carrier based fighter aircraft capable of both maritime strike and air defence missions. It is an unconventional fighter aircraft capable of vertical or short take-off and landing. The complexity of the aircraft design demands intensive flying training in the squadron prior to undertaking tactical missions from the deck of an aircraft carrier.
In the earlier days, Royal Air Force in United Kingdom carried out Harrier conversion of pilots. To attain self-sufficiency in the field of fighter training, Indian Navy decided to conduct training of Sea Harrier pilots in India. Thus, Sea Harrier Operational Flying Training Unit (SHOFTU) was formed as a part of INAS 300 on April 16, 1990. In 1991, shoftu was conjoined as a separate flight into the existing Kiran Training Squadron, INAS 551.
Indian Naval Air Squadron 552 would operate as an independent training unit to convert young pilots into carrier-borne fighter pilots.
