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The Eastern Air Command is one of the five operational commands of the Indian Air Force. Currently headquartered in Shillong in Meghalaya. Named No. 1 Operational Group at the time of its inception, 27 May 1958, it was based at Ranikutir in Kolkata as a part of the Govt's increasing emphasis on defence of the eastern borders. The Operational Group was upgraded as Command on 1 December 1959 with headquarters at Fort William, Kolkata and Air Vice Marshal KL Sondhi as the first AOC-in-C of the Eastern Command. After the 1962 Indo-Chinese War, The decision was made to raise a full-fledged command at Shillong. The area of responsibility of the command now covers 11 states, and is bound by the international boundaries of Nepal, Bhutan, China, Myanmar and Bangladesh incorporating 6300 km of common border. Eastern Air Command now has permanent airbases at Chabua, Guwahati, Bagdogra, Barrackpore, Hasimara, Jorhat, Kalaikunda and Tezpur with forward airbases at Agartala, Kolkata, Panagarh and Shillong. Eastern Air Command consists of Air Defence squadrons consisting of the MiG-21 and Ground attack squadrons consisting of the MiG-27. It holds the motto "Samareshu Parakramaha" (Lit: Valour in battle),
| Eastern Air Command | |
|---|---|
 Emblem of the Eastern Air Command | |
| Founded | May 27, 1958 |
| Country | India |
| Branch | Indian Air Force |
| Type | Operational Air Command |
| Role | Air Defence, OCA, Offensive Ground Support, Civilian Relief. |
| Headquarters | Shillong |
| Motto(s) | Sanskrit: Samareshu Parakramah |
| Engagements | 1962 Sino-Indian War, East Pakistan Operations 1971, Operation Meghdoot, Orissa Super-Cyclone Relief, 1999 |
| Commanders | |
| Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief | Air Marshal Surat Singh, AVSM, VM, VSM |
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The Eastern Air Command has a specific mandate both during peace and war. In war situations, the command is tasked to conduct counter air operations and provides offensive air support to Army and Para-Military Forces. In peace, the command swings into action whenever there is a natural calamity. It was extensively involved in relief operations in the aftermath of the supercyclone in Orissa and has provided relief supplies during floods in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh.
The command has three broad spheres of activity - operations, maintenance and administration. The fighter squadrons under the Eastern Air Command are equipped with MiG variants, and pilots are under continuous training for operational flying.
At Tezpur, located on the northern bank of the Brahmaputra in Upper Assam, newly commissioned ab-initio fighter pilots undergo fighter pilot training and on successful completion get inducted into various fighter squadrons in IAF. Majority of the fighter fleet of Eastern Air Command consists of MiG-21 and the MiG-27 (Bahadur).
The transport aircraft and helicopter of the Eastern Air Command are critical in the North-East India. The topography in the hill regions restrict the construction of a standard runway. Tribal settlements in places like Menchuha, Vijaynagar and Tuting in remote and inaccessible areas of Arunachal Pradesh totally depend on the aerial supply by the Air Force. They also depend on these aircraft to airlift their sick and ailing. The district headquarters at Anini, a conglomeration of about ten tribal settlements with a population of a couple of thousand in Arunachal Pradesh is the only one of its kind in the world which is totally air-maintained.
Pilots operate from the advance landing grounds (ALG) with only one third of the length of a regular runway, having unique and uni-directional approach and take off requirements. This coupled with the vagaries of weather expects superior skills from the pilots and their navigators. Both man and machine are stretched to the limits of their capabilities.
Helicopter operations also form a critical part of the responsibilities of the Easter Air Command. For the pilots who negotiate this remote and inaccessible terrain, the experience gained over the last five decades has been well assimilated. The contribution of Eastern Air Command in bringing relief and in aiding civilian population in times of calamity and strife is an unsung saga of commitment, daring and dedication.
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The Eastern Air Command was a major participant in 1962 Sino-Indian War and the Indo-Pak war of 1971.
During the 1962 war, Eastern Air Command was tasked with mounting transport support missions, a task admirably performed by its Dakota and Caribou aircraft. It also mounted reconnaissance and casualty evacuation sorties using the Bell and Sikorsky helicopters it operated at the time.
During the 1971 war, Eastern Air Command was tasked with offensive as well as supply operations. It was involved right from the first clash over Boyra to the Tangail Airdrop. It also operated Mi-4 helicopters in offensive roles behind enemy lines, operating from helicopter bases in Tripura.
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Squadrons include (as of 2015):
| Rank | Name | From | To |
|---|---|---|---|
| Air Vice Marshal | Kundan Lal Sondhi | 7 December 1959[1] | 28 December 1961 |
| Kanwar Jaswant Singh | 3 March 1962[1] | 1 January 1963 | |
| Shivdev Singh | 14 January 1963[1] | 9 June 1963 | |
| Ramaswamy Rajaram | 10 June 1963[1] | 4 August 1963 | |
| Minoo Merwan Engineer | 5 August 1963[1] | 30 September 1964 | |
| Yeshwant Vinayak Malse | 1 October 1964[1] | 30 September 1966 | |
| Ranjan Dutt | 28 October 1966[1] | 31 March 1968 | |
| Air Marshal | Hirendra Nath Chatterjee | 1 April 1968[1] | 23 March 1971 |
| Hari Chand Dewan | 24 March 1971[1] | 31 March 1973 | |
| Maurice Barker | 1 April 1973[1] | 21 April 1976 | |
| Lal Singh Grewal | 24 April 1976[1] | 12 August 1978 | |
| Lakshman Madhav Katre | 4 September 1978[1] | 2 January 1981 | |
| Malcolm Shirley Dundas Wollen | 3 January 1981[1] | 26 February 1983 | |
| Douglas George King-Lee | 1 March 1983[1] | 30 November 1983 | |
| Minoo Jehangir Dotiwalla | 1 December 1983[1] | 31 October 1984 | |
| Kapil Dev Chadha | 5 November 1984[1] | 31 December 1987 | |
| Man Mohan Sinha | 8 February 1988[1] | 31 January 1991 | |
| Rajendra Kumar Dhawan | 11 February 1991[1] | 5 October 1991 | |
| Brijesh Dhar Jayal | 7 October 1991[1] | 30 March 1992 | |
| Dushyant Singh | 1 May 1992[1] | 31 January 1995 | |
| Janak Kapur | 1 February 1995[1] | 31 March 1996 | |
| Prithvi Singh Brar | 1 April 1996[1] | 3 January 1999 | |
| Krishnan Narayan Nair | 4 January 1999[1] | 30 November 2000 | |
| Satish Govind Inamdar | 1 December 2000[1] | 31 October 2004 | |
| Avinash Deodata Joshi | 1 November 2004[1] | 21 August 2005 | |
| Fali Homi Major | 5 September 2005[1] | 31 March 2007 | |
| Pranab Kumar Barbora | 1 April 2007[1] | 31 December 2007 | |
| Shiv Kumar Bhan | 1 January 2008[1] | 31 December 2009 | |
| Krishan Kumar Nohwar | 1 January 2010[1] | 31 July 2011 | |
| Simhakutty Varthaman | 1 August 2011[1] | 31 November 2012 | |
| Ravi Kant Sharma | 1 December 2012[1] | 31 December 2013 | |
| Rakesh Kumar Jolly | 1 January 2014[1] | 31 December 2014 | |
| Shirish Baban Deo | 1 January 2015[1] | 31 August 2015 | |
| Chandrashekharan Hari Kumar | 1 October 2015[1] | 31 December 2016 | |
| Anil Khosla | 1 January 2017[1] | 30 September 2018 | |
| Raghunath Nambiar | 1 October 2018[1] | 28 February 2019 | |
| Rajiv Dayal Mathur | 1 March 2019[1] | 30 September 2020 | |
| Amit Dev | 1 October 2020[1] | 30 September 2021 | |
| Dilip Kumar Patnaik | 3 October 2021[1] | 30 September 2022 | |
| Sujeet Pushpakar Dharkar | 1 October 2022[1] | 30 September 2024 | |
| Surat Singh | 1 October 2024[2] | Incumbent |
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