Bot at 14:44, 19 December 2022

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{{See also|Bidar Airport}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2022}}
{{Use Indian English|date=October 2022}}
{{Infobox military installation
| name = Bidar Air Force Station
| ensign =
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| location = [[Bidar]], [[Karnataka]]
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| country = [[India]]
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| type = [[List of Indian Air Force stations|Indian Air Force Station]]
| coordinates = {{Coord|17.9|77.47|type:airport_region:IN|name=Bidar Airport|display=inline,title}}
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| pushpin_map = India
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| pushpin_map_caption = Location in India
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| pushpin_label = Bidar Air Force Station
| pushpin_label_position = bottom
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| ownership = [[Ministry of Defence (India)|Ministry of Defence]]
| operator = [[Indian Air Force]]
| controlledby = [[Training Command (India)|Training Command]]
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| condition = Operational
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| garrison = [[No. 52 Squadron IAF]]
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| IATA = IXX
| ICAO = VOBR
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| r1-number = 02/20
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[[File:Air Force Station Bidar.jpg|thumb|The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha presenting the Best Flying Training Establishment Trophy to the Air Officer Commanding, Air Force Station, Bidar, Air Commodore M. Khanna, during the Annual Commanders’ Conference of Training Command, at Bangalore on 15 May 2014.]]
'''Bidar''' '''Air Force Station''' is a flight training establishment of the [[Indian Air Force]]. It was founded during [[World War II]] and has been a training center for [[Indian Air Force]] pilots since 1963. Trainer aircraft like the [[HAL HT-2]] and variants of [[HAL HJT-16 Kiran]] have been used at the airbase for nearly four decades.<ref>{{cite news|title=Grand reception for Hawk aircraft in Bidar|url=http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/grand-reception-for-hawk-aircraft-in-bidar/article1946704.ece|access-date=7 March 2015|work=The Hindu|date=12 November 2022}}</ref> In 2011, the station was remodeled and refurbished, with the runway extended to 9000 feet and new facilities for aircraft engine maintenance and testing added.<ref name=hawk>{{cite web|title=Hawk soars over Bidar |url=http://www.indiastrategic.in/topstories1248_Hawk_soars_over_Bidar.htm |publisher=India Strategic |date= November 2011 |access-date=14 February 2022}}</ref>

Bidar Air Force Station is home to the second biggest training center in India, providing further training to graduates of the [[Air Force Academy (India)|Indian Air Force Academy]] before they are assigned to combat units.<ref name=hawk/> 60-90 [[sortie]]s per day are flown from the base, generating the highest number of single-engine flying hours in India.

Once the home base for the air force's [[No. 52 Squadron IAF|No. 52 Squadron]], the station now houses the three '''Hawk Operational Training Squadrons''' (HOTS-A ''Aggressors'', HOTS-B ''Bravehearts'', and HOTS-C ''Cheetahs''). A fourth squadron is ready to be raised shortly.<ref name=ss /> The '''Weapon System Operators' School''' also functions here.

==Location==
[[File:AFS Bidar.jpg|thumb|Hawk Operational Training Squadron, Air Force Station Bidar]]
[[Bidar]] is located in [[Karnataka]], [[India]]. Its location on the [[Deccan Plateau]] provides protection from the tropical conditions that are experienced on the coast and favorable year-round flying conditions, allowing even non-instrument rated trainees to fly for most of the year.<ref name=hawk />

==Surya Kiran Aerobatic Team==
{{Main|Surya Kiran Aerobatic Team}}
The Indian air force's Surya Kiran Aerobatic Team (SKAT) flew its first six aircraft formation sortie on May 27, 1996 from the Bidar Air Force Station. Unlike other aerobatic teams, which fly either frontline fighter aircraft or advanced jet trainers, SKAT flies the [[HAL HJT-16 Kiran|Kiran MK II]] indigenous basic jet trainer. The team was suspended in February 2011 and was re-established with [[BAE Systems Hawk|Hawk Mk-132]] aircraft in 2017.<ref name=ss>{{cite book|last1=Magazine|first1=Sainik Samachar|title=AFS Bidar, Pilots' Cradle|date=1 October 2012|publisher=Director General (Media & Communications) Directorate of Public Relations, South Block, New Delhi-110 011}}</ref>
[[File:Suryakiran-9 formation triangle.jpg|thumb|Surya Kirans in display for the last time in Aero India 2011]]

===History===
The Formation Aerobatic Team has been associated with Bidar AFS since 1990 with the arrival of a four-aircraft team called the Formation Aerobatic Team from '''Thunderbolts,''' which used [[Hawker Hunter]] fighters. The SKAT was born in 1996 and developed over time. It was conferred with Squadron status in 2006.

===Training===
Pilots serving as Qualified Flying Instructors (QFIs) with approximately 1,000 hours of experience on fighter aircraft can volunteer to be a part of the SKAT. Volunteers are invited to fly with the team, where their performance and personality traits are evaluated. Over a period of approximately 6 months, selected pilots then fly 70–75 sorties practising various manoeuvres before they are admitted to the formation flying team.

The average tenure of a SKAT pilot is about three years. Two new pilots join the team every six months. Starting at high altitude with a single aircraft sortie, with the team leader or the deputy team leader in the Kiran's left-hand seat, the trainee moves on to two-aircraft and then three-aircraft formation flying. After mastering the skill of flying with two aircraft on either side, the trainee then goes in for four-aircraft and six-aircraft sorties before finally graduating to nine-aircraft sorties. All types of rolls, loops, dives, and formations are flown at various training stages.<ref name=tt>{{cite news|title=AEROBATICS Flying colours of courage|work=The Tribune|date=31 March 2022}}</ref>

===Composition===
The team is led by a ''commanding officer'' who is also the leader of the formation during display sorties. The squad has 13 pilots, out of whom nine perform at any given time. Since their inception in 1996, these display aircraft have enthralled audiences with their maneuvers. Senior and experienced fighter pilots are chosen to be part of the prestigious SKAT, which uses the IAF's basic HJT-16 Kiran Mk-2 trainer aircraft. It has now used the Hawk Mk-132 aircraft since 2017.<ref name="Surya Kiran">[[Surya Kiran]]</ref>{{Circular reference|date=July 2022}}<ref>{{cite news|title=Air Force Dare Devils to Fly Again After 4 Years|agency=NDTV|date=16 February 2022}}</ref>

===Formations and Maneuvers===
*The most popular and also the most dangerous formation of the SKAT has been of the nine aircraft taking off in a V-shaped formation of three and joining up in close formation, maneuvering between speeds of 150 and 650 km per hour with their wing tips five metres apart.<ref>{{cite news|title=Aerobatic team Surya Kiran set to fly into sunset|agency=DNA India|date=4 February 2022}}</ref>
*Six Kiran trainer jets streak barely 50 metres above the ground in an arrowhead formation. With their wingtips separated by five metres, they move into a diamond formation and roll towards their left to form a "card" formation with three aircraft flying abreast and another three trailing just behind.
*Reforming again after "synchro head-on cross", where two aircraft on the same level cross each other at a relative speed of 1100 km/h with a separation of just five metres, the brightly painted red and white aircraft, with their exhausts trailing smoke, dive vertically and then pull up again in different directions to simulate a bomb burst.

==Training overview==

===Kiran Mk II===
{{Main|HAL Kiran}}
In July 2012, the final [[HAL HJT-16 Kiran|Kiran Mk II]] aircraft flew out of Bidar to the [[Tambaram Air Force Station]]. This aircraft had been in service at Bidar for almost three decades.<ref name=ss />

===Hawk Mk 132===
[[File:Hawk Induction at AFS Bidar.jpg|thumb|Hawk Induction Ceremony at AFS [[Bidar]]]]

Flying training at Bidar is now done on the [[BAE Systems Hawk#Hawk 132|Hawk Mk 132]] aircraft. The Hawk brings a step-up in capability as a training aircraft, bridging the gap between the basic piston-engined trainer and the high-performance flying of an advanced fighter aircraft. It is aerodynamically much more forgiving and is an introduction for trainee pilots to familiarise on before they go into fighters.<ref name=hawk />
[[File:Hawk Simulator.jpg|thumb|The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha in a HAWK MK 132 simulator at Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., during the Aero India-2015, in Bangalore on 19 February 2015.]]
The ''Stage-III training'', ahead of the pilots graduating to the supersonic jets such as [[MiG-21]]s, [[SEPECAT Jaguar|Jaguar]]s, [[Mirage 2000|Mirage]]s and [[Su-30MKI|Sukhoi SU-30MKI]]s is carried out at Bidar.<ref name=ss />

==Accidents==
*On March 18, 2006, Wing Commander Dheeraj Bhatia and Squadron Leader Shailendra Singh were killed while flying the Kiran aircraft. This was the first-ever crash involving a Surya Kiran team.
*on January 21, 2009, an Indian Air Force Kiran on a routine practise session crashed near Bidar, killing Wing Commander Daliwal.<ref>{{cite news|title=IAF pilot killed in Surya Kiran crash|url=http://www.rediff.com/news/2009/jan/21surya-kiran-crash-iaf-pilot-killed.htm|access-date=9 March 2015|agency=Rediff.com|date=21 January 2022}}</ref> This was the second fatal Surya Kiran air mishap.<ref>{{cite news|title=Rising Air Crashes in IAF|agency=Press Information Bureau|publisher=Ministry of Defence (Government of India)|date=25 February 2022}}</ref>

==Distinguished Officers==
*'''Flight Lieutenant Rajika Sharma''' of the Station was the first woman officer of the Indian Air Force to scale [[Mount Everest]]. She was a MET officer posted to the station when she achieved this distinction.<ref name=ss />
*'''Air Marshal Ramesh Rai''' commanded the Bidar Air Force Station, and the Advance HQ at Kolkata. The HAWK advanced jet trainers (AJT) were inducted during his tenure at Bidar, wherein he pioneered the training system for the AJT. He served as the Chief of Central Air Command before taking over as AOC-in-C, Training Command.<ref>{{cite news|title=Air Marshal Ramesh Rai takes over as Air officer Commanding-in-Chief of Training Command, IAF|agency=Press Information Bureau|publisher=Government of India (Ministry of Defence)|date=1 July 2022}}</ref>
*'''Air Marshal Paramjit Singh Gill''' AVSM VM, Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO) of WAC, was Chief Instructor (CI) at Air Force Stn Bidar.<ref>{{cite news|title=Air Marshal Paramjit Singh Gill AVSM VM Assumes Appointment of SASO, WAC|agency=Press Information Bureau|publisher=Government of India (Ministry of Defence)|date=8 June 2022}}</ref>
*'''Air Marshal VR Iyer''', Air Officer in Charge of Personnel at Air HQ, being a qualified flying instructor, has imparted training at Air Force Station Bidar.<ref>{{cite news|title=Air Vice Marshal VR Iyer to take over as Air Officer in charge personnel at Air HQ on Promotion|agency=Press Information Bureau|publisher=Ministry of Defence (Government of India)|date=31 January 2022}}</ref>
*The AFS Bidar was commanded by '''Air Chief Marshal PV Naik''' VSM ADC.<ref>{{cite news|title=AIR MARSHAL PV NAIK IS THE NEW VICE CHIEF OF AIR STAFF|agency=Press Information Bureau|publisher=Ministry of Defence, Government of India|date=1 January 2022}}</ref>

==Galleries==
<gallery mode="packed-hover" heights="180">
File:Hawk Fighter Aircraft.JPG|Hawk flying over AFS Bidar
File:Indian Air Force BAE Systems Hawk 132 Lofting-1.jpg|Indian Air Force BAE Systems Hawk 132 Lofting-1
</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Commons category|Bidar Air Force Station}}

{{Airports in India}}
{{Bidar topics}}

[[Category:Bidar]]
[[Category:Indian Air Force]]
[[Category:Indian Air Force bases]]

Bidar Air Force Station - Revision history

Bot at 14:44, 19 December 2022