SOUTHERN AIR COMMAND
SOUTHERN AIR COMMAND Southern Air Command with its headquarters at Trivandrum was born on July 19, 1984 out of the changed geopolitical situation around southern peninsula since early eighties super power rivalry in Indian ocean, attempts to destabilise the littoral states and continued ethnic problems in Sri Lanka compelled the defence planners to look afresh the defence requirements of peninsular India in order to effectively defend the Island territories and protect our exclusive economic zones extending deep into the oceans. The need was felt to establish a full fledged Operational Air Command covering the geopolitical area of peninsular India extending to 18 deg N including the Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal and Lakshadweep islands in the Arabian sea. Accordingly, on July 20, 1984, Smt. lndira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister of India inaugurated the Headquarters Southern Air Command at Trivandrum at ‘Belhaven Palace’, an old palace of Maharaja of Travancor