• President Droupadi Murmu presented the President’s Standard and Colours to four Indian Air Force units at a ceremony held at the Hindan Air Force Station in Ghaziabad.

• The President's Standard and Colours is the highest military honour for any armed forces unit. 

• The President is the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces.

• Two squadrons — 45 Squadron and the 221 Squadron — received the President’s Standard.

• The 11 Base Repair Depot and 509 signal unit received the President’s Colours.

• This is the first time that four units of the IAF have received the President’s Standard and Colours together.

• The selected Units are recognised for the meritorious services rendered by them during the past 25 years. 

Four units

• The 45 Squadron, also called the ‘Flying Daggers’, was raised in 1959. The squadron took part in ‘Operation Vijay’ for the liberation of Goa from Portuguese rule in 1960. In the 1971 India-Pakistan war, the unit was responsible for the air defence in the Punjab and Rajasthan sectors, flying 258 missions that were instrumental in safeguarding the forward air bases against enemy air attacks.

• The 221 squadron is known as the ‘Valiants’. It was raised on February 14, 1963, in Barrackpore equipped with Vampire aircraft. Barely two years after its formation, the squadron was pressed into action in the Eastern theatre during the 1965 India-Pakistan war, where it made commendable contributions. In August 1968, the squadron was one of the first to be re-equipped with the Su-7 supersonic attack fighter. During the 1971 India-Pakistan War, operating in the eastern theatre, the squadron undertook extensive counter-air, close air support and photo reconnaissance missions.

• The 11 Base Repair Depot is a premier and only fighter aircraft base repair depot of the IAF that was established under Maintenance Command in April 1974 at Ojhar, Nashik. Su-7 was the first aircraft to be overhauled by the depot. In the subsequent years, variants of MiG-21, MiG-23 and MiG-29 aircraft have been overhauled.

• The 509 signal unit was established on March 1, 1965, and is presently functioning as an Air Defence Direction Centre in Meghalaya. The watershed moments in the unit’s history date back to the Bangladesh Liberation War of 1971 wherein it emerged as the epicentre of all air defence activities over East Pakistan.

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