While there has been progressive increase in the strategic importance of the southern peninsula, the threat scenario has become more operationally challenging, a situation the HQ SAC needs to contend with.

On July 19, the Southern Air Command (SAC)—youngest operational command of the Indian Air Force (IAF)—entered its silver jubilee year. To contain the operational challenges arising on account of the changed geopolitical situation in India’s southern peninsula in the early 1980s, a need was felt to establish an IAF command which would cover the geographical areas of not only the peninsular India but extending to its island territories of Andaman/Nicobar in the Bay of Bengal in the east and the Lakshadweep islands in the Arabian Sea in the west. Thus was born Southern Air Command (SAC) with its headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala on July 19, 1984. The command moved into its permanent location at Akkulam in 1996.

Formation of this command and its sub-units was dictated by the need to provide a ready basic infrastructure to enable quick deployment of combat forces to cater for sudden threats developing in peninsular India and the nation’s island territories. The responsibility of defending India’s largest geographical land mass within existing resources was truly onerous and yet a resolute team of air warriors under the effective leadership of its pioneers nurtured and met the operational challenges of the times. The challenges ranged from effectively controlling all air operations in Sri Lanka and Maldives during Op Pawan and Op Cactus, respectively, to providing succour during the Tsunami of 2004. The command has also been entrusted with the responsibility to provide comprehensive air defence (AD) of the entire southern peninsula on account of the proliferation of air power capabilities to non-state actors like the LTTE in Sri Lanka.