South Western Air Command

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South Western Air Command
Indian Air Force
SWAC Emblem.png
Emblem of the South Western Air Command
Founded23 July 1980
Country India
Branch Indian Air Force
TypeOperational Air Command
Role Air Defence, Maritime strike role.
Headquarters Gandhinagar
Mottos Sanskrit: Jai Shree Varte Veeramh
Victory embraces the brave
Engagements Atlantique incident, Bhuj earthquake relief, 2001, Gujarat flood relief, 2005
Commanders
Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Air Marshal Tejinder Singh, AVSM, VM

The South Western Air Command (SWAC) is one of the five operational commands of the Indian Air Force, headquartered in Gandhinagar. It was raised in Jodhpur in July 1980 from the No.1 Operations Group of the Western Air Command. Its operations sector includes most of Rajasthan, through Gujarat and Saurashtra, as far south as Kutch and Pune. The SWAC moved to its current headquarters in Gandhinagar in May 1998, and incorporates the Indian airbases of Bhuj, Jaisalmer, Phalodi, Naliya, Jamnagar, Jodhpur, Uttarlai/Barmer and Pune. It controls air operations in the south western air sector, which includes most of Rajasthan, and south through Gujarat to Saurashtra, and Kutch to Pune. It also operates the forward airbases at Vadodara, Nal and Suratgarh. The SWAC's role has historically been largely of air defence, although it has been reported to have incorporated a strike profile.

Contents

Organisation

Squadrons include:

SquadronBaseEquipmentNotes
No. 20 Squadron IAF Lohegaon Air Force Station Su-30MKI No. 2 Wing
No. 30 Squadron IAF Lohegaon Air Force Station Su-30MKI No. 2 Wing
No. 15 Squadron IAF Bhuj Air Force Station Su-30 MKI No. 27 Wing
No. 31 Squadron IAF Jodhpur Air Force Station Su-30 MKI No.32 Wing
No. 107 Helicopter Unit, IAF Jodhpur Air Force Station Mi-8 No. 32 Wing
No. 116 Helicopter Unit, IAF Jodhpur Air Force Station HAL Chetak No. 32 Wing
No. 119 Helicopter Unit, IAF Jodhpur Air Force Station Mi-8 No. 32 Wing
No. 143 Helicopter Unit, IAF Jodhpur Air Force Station HAL Prachand
No. 6 Squadron IAF Jamnagar Air Force Station JaguarIS/IM/IBNo. 33 Wing
No. 28 Squadron IAF Jamnagar Air Force Station Mig 29 No.33 Wing
No. 141 SSS Flight, IAF Jamnagar Air Force Station HAL Chetak No. 33 Wing IAF
No. 18 Squadron IAF [1] Naliya Air Force Station HAL Tejas No. 49 Wing
No. 23 Squadron IAF Suratgarh Air Force Station Mig-21 No. 35 Wing IAF
No. 104 Helicopter Squadron, IAF Suratgarh Air Force Station Mi-35 No. 35 Wing
No. 11 Squadron IAF Vadodara Air Force Station Airbus C295 No. 36 Wing
No. 44 Squadron IAF Nagpur Air Force Station Il-76MDNo. 44 Wing
No. 4 Squadron IAF Uttarlai Air Force Station Su-30 MKI No. 5 FBSU

Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief

Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief South Western Air Command
S.NoRankNameAssumed officeLeft officeReferences
1 Air Marshal Jagdish Raj Bhasin23 July 198030 June 1983 [2]
2Chandra Kant Viswanath Gole1 July 198331 October 1984 [2]
3Subramaniam Raghavendran1 November 19846 January 1986 [2]
4Prem Pal Singh8 January 198628 February 1987 [2]
5 Surendra Kumar Mehra 1 March 198731 July 1988 [2]
6Partha Kumar Dey1 August 198831 March 1992 [2]
7 Brijesh Dhar Jayal 1 April 199230 September 1993 [2]
8 Satish Kumar Sareen 6 October 19933 June 1994 [2]
9 Kodendera Cariappa Cariappa 6 June 199431 January 1996 [2]
10Sharadkumar Ramakrishna Deshpande1 February 199630 November 1997 [2]
11 Srinivasapuram Krishnaswamy 1 December 199731 October 1999 [2]
12 Vinod Kumar Bhatia 1 November 199931 July 2001 [2]
13Michael McMahon1 August 200131 January 2003 [2]
14 Shashindra Pal Tyagi 1 February 200314 November 2003 [2]
15Adi Rustomji Ghandhi17 November 200331 June 2004 [2]
16Satish Kumar Jain12 July 200428 February 2006 [2]
17Pramod Kumar Mehra1 March 200630 April 2007 [2]
18Kanwar Dalinderjit Singh1 May 200730 September 2009 [2]
19Paramjit Singh Bhangu1 October 200931 December 2010 [2]
20Anjan Kumar Gogoi1 January 201128 February 2013 [2]
21Daljit Singh1 March 201331 October 2014 [2]
22 Birender Singh Dhanoa 1 November 201431 May 2015 [2]
23 Ravinder Kumar Dhir 1 June 201530 September 2018 [3]
24 Harjit Singh Arora 1 October 201830 September 2019 [4]
25 Surendra Kumar Ghotia 1 October 201930 April 2021 [5]
26 Sandeep Singh 1 May 202130 September 2021 [6]
27 Vikram Singh 1 October 202130 April 2023 [7]
28 Narmdeshwar Tiwari 1 May 202330 April 2025 [8]
29 Nagesh Kapoor 1 May 202531 December 2025 [9]
30 Tejinder Singh 1 January 2026Incumbent [10]

References

  1. ↑ Thomas, Wilson (27 May 2020). "IAF operationalises second LCA squadron, inducts first LCA Tejas in FOC standard". The Hindu. ISSN   0971-751X . Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 "South Western Air Command - BRF". Bharat Rakshak. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
  3. ↑ "Air Marshal R K Dhir takes over as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of South-Western Air Command". The Economic Times. 14 July 2018. ISSN   0013-0389 . Retrieved 29 December 2025.
  4. ↑ "Air Marshal Harjit Singh Arora AVSM takes over Command as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief South Western Air Command" (Press release). 2 October 2018. Retrieved 2 October 2018.
  5. ↑ "Air Marshal SK Ghotia to take over as AOC-in-C South Western Air Command". ANI News. Retrieved 29 December 2025.
  6. ↑ "Air Marshal Sandeep Singh takes charge as chief of South Western Air Command". The Indian Express. 1 May 2021. Retrieved 29 December 2025.
  7. ↑ "Air Marshal Vikram Singh takes charge at South Western Air Command". The Indian Express. 4 October 2021. Retrieved 29 December 2025.
  8. ↑ PTI (1 May 2023). "Air Marshal Narmdeshwar Tiwari takes charge as AOC-in-C of South Western Command". ThePrint. Retrieved 29 December 2025.
  9. ↑ PTI (1 May 2025). "Air Marshal Nagesh Kapoor takes charge as AOC-in-C of South Western Air Command". ThePrint. Retrieved 8 December 2025.
  10. ↑ "AIR MARSHAL TEJINDER SINGH TAKES OVER AS AIR OFFICER COMMANDING-IN-CHIEF SOUTH WESTERN AIR COMMAND, INDIAN AIR FORCE". Press Information Bureau. 1 January 2026.
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