Sirsa Air Force Station or Sirsa AFS (ICAO: VISX) is an Indian Air Force base under Western Air Command, located at Sirsa in the state of Haryana, India.
History
1971 Indo-Pak war
In Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, Pakistan Air Force launched a pre-emptive raid on 12 airforce stations, including Sirsa station. Sirsa was hit by Sqn. Ldr. Alvi with bombs equipped with time-delayed fuses, damaging the runway heavily and forcing the runway to be closed for the rest of the night. Dassault Mystère IV jets from Sirsa base pounded the Pakistan Army pitched against the Indian Army in the Battle of Sabuna Drain. Dassault Mystère also hit a train and destroyed 50 tanks on it between Okara and Sahiwal.
Units
It has No. 21 Squadron IAF of 45 Wing. Wing is an active air force combat formation. No. 15 Squadron IAF operating Su-30MKI is also based here.
Originally the base was home to a squadron each of MiG-23s and MiG-27s, both single-engine fighters, of No. 21 Squadron IAF.