No. 102 Squadron IAF

No. 102 Squadron
No. 102 Squadron
Active	25 August 1981 - Present
Country	Republic of India
Branch	Indian Air Force
Role	Reconnaissance
Garrison/HQ	Chabua AFS
Nickname(s)	"Trisonics"
Motto(s)	Samdhanam Ripudamanayah
Aircraft flown
Fighter	Su-30MKI

No. 102 Squadron (Trisonics) is a fighter squadron and is equipped with Su-30MKI and based at Chabua Air Force Station.^[1]

History

The squadron was raised as the 102 Survey Flight at Barrackpore in December 1951 with one B-24. Later two Dakotas and two Doves were added and the unit moved to Palam.

In 1959, they were merged with the 106(SR) Squadron "Lynx".

102 Squadron reformed on the MiG-25RB/RU Foxbat (Garuda) in August 1981.

The Squadron ceased to exist in 2003 and all assets were transferred to 35 Squadron "Rapiers".

The squadron was re-formed in March 2011 and now fly the Su-30MKI.

Secret Spying Aircraft

In May 1997, a MiG-25R aircraft broke the sound barrier over Islamabad during one of its many secret reconnaissance missions over Pakistan, emitting a sonic boom. The sound was mistaken for a bomb blast. While the Indian Airforce made no official claims about this secret reconnaissance mission, Pakistan did make a statement. It claimed that the pilot aboard the Indian MiG-25 aircraft deliberately sent the sonic boom to remind the Pakistani Airforce that it had no equal in its inventory. Despite a fully-loaded weight of 40-tonnes, it flew 50 km per minute, faster than a bullet. At its fastest speed, it could even zip faster than missiles. Thus, it was considered the right weapon for spying The MiG-25 was fitted with powerful 1,200 mm cameras that captured photographs even as it flew thrice the speed of sound, at an altitude three times the height of Mount Everest. Its cameras could check on Delhi without leaving Bareilly. This meant that if it flew over Punjab or Kashmir, it could easily check on Pakistan too..