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The squadron was commissioned by His Excellency, Shri SC Jamir, the Governor of Goa in the presence of Rear Admiral SK Sinha NM & Bar, Flag Officer Commanding Goa Area & Flag Officer Naval Aviation. Commander Shailender Singh is the first Commanding Officer of INAS 552. This is Navy's fourteenth air squadron to be commissioned. The squadron will be conducting ab-initio training of pilots on Sea Harrier aircraft.
Sea Harrier is a carrier based fighter aircraft capable of both maritime strike and air defence missions. It is an unconventional fighter aircraft capable of vertical or short take off and landing. The complexity of the aircraft design demands intensive flying training in the squadron prior to undertaking tactical missions from the deck of an aircraft carrier. In the earlier days, Royal Air Force in United Kingdom carried out Harrier conversion of pilots. To attain self-sufficiency in the field of fighter training, the Indian Navy decided to conduct training of Sea Harrier pilots in India. Thus, Sea Harrier Operational Flying Training (SHOFTU) was formed as a part of INAS 300 on 16 April 1990. In 1991, SHOFTU was conjoined as a separate flight into the existing Kiran Training Squadron INAS 551.
Post commissioning, Indian Naval Air Squadron 552 would operate as an independent training unit to undertake the arduous task of training young pilots and converting them into professional carrier borne fighter pilots. The squadron forms the bedrock of future naval fighter training.
VG/AK
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