Indian Navy’s ‘White Tigers’ squadron completes 60 yrs
Indian Navy’s premier fighter squadron based at INS Hansa, Goa completed 60 years in service to the nation on Tuesday. The INAS 300, the longest serving combat unit of the navy, gave birth to the Indian Navy’s carrier borne aviation on July 7, 1959 and fighter jets from the squadron participated in Operation Vijay in 1961, Indo-China war in 1962 and the Indo-Pak wars in 1965 and 1971. The ‘White Tigers’, as the squadron is popularly known, has the rare distinction of operating all three fighter aircraft of the Indian Navy - Sea Hawk, Sea Harrier and MiG 29K - from all three aircraft carriers - INS Vikrant, INS Viraat and INS Vikramaditya. “In its current avatar as the MiG-29K training squadron, INAS 300 has the responsibility to produce top-notch, war-ready, deck-borne fighter pilots who can be relied upon to defend the fleet or carry out a precision strike on enemy warships when needed,” said a senior naval officer. In 2016, the navy inducted the MiG-29K with a squadron based at INS Hansa and another squadron of MiG-29K fighters deployed aboard the INS Vikramaditya.
