President Ram Nath Kovind arrived in Goa on Sunday for his three-day long visit to the state, during which he is scheduled to attend an event organized by the Navy.
An aircraft carrying Mr. Kovind reached Dabolim airport in the afternoon, from where he was airlifted to Bambolim helipad. There he was received by the state’s Deputy Chief Minister Chandrakant Kavlekar and Protocol Minister Mauvin Godinho.
Mr Kovind will confer the President’s colors on Naval Aviation on Monday morning during an event organized by INS Hansa, a naval air station near Dabolim.
“The event coincides with the Diamond Jubilee of INS Hansa and the liberation of Goa,” a Navy spokesperson said in a media release here.
The Naval Jet Flight, established at Coimbatore in 1958 with Sea Hawk, Alizee and Vampire aircraft, was later commissioned as INS Hansa on 5 September 1961. After the liberation of Goa, Dabolim airfield was taken over by the Navy and INS in April 1962. Hansa was transferred to Dabolim in June 1964.
“Commissioned as a modest air station with only a few aircraft, INS Hansa has grown in its prowess over the past six decades and is currently operating over 40 military aircraft, with an average annual flight of over 5,000 hours. The air station also supports civil aviation. Handling domestic and international flights 24×7 with an average of 29,000 flights a year,” the spokesperson said.
INS Hansa is the residence of the Indian Navy’s Frontline Air Squadron – INAS 310 ‘Cobra’ with Dornier-228 aircraft, INAS 315 ‘Winged Stallion’ with long-range maritime patrol aircraft IL-38SD, INAS 339 ‘Falcons’ airborne. with early warning to the Kamov-31 helicopter; INAS 303 ‘Black Panthers’ and INAS 300 ‘White Tigers’ with supersonic carrier-borne MiG 29K fighters, and INAS 323 ‘Harriers’ with ALH Mk III helicopters, he said.
“The air station will soon operate a Boeing P8I long-range maritime reconnaissance aircraft with the commissioning of INAS 316,” the spokesperson said.
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