Shillong: The headquarters of the Indian Air Force’s Eastern Air Command in Shillong on Thursday completed 63 years of service.
The occasion was marked by a wreath-laying ceremony by Air Marshal S.P. Dharkar, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Eastern Air Command, at the War Memorial in Shillong, said an official statement.
Eastern Air Command was born in combat and has grown through battles and is one of the lethal arms of the Indian Air Force which controls air operations over a vast area that straddles 11 states, the statement added.
It includes the seven northeastern states, Sikkim, West Bengal, Bihar and parts of Orissa and Jharkhand covering over three lakh square kilometres.
It also controls the air space over the 6300 km long international boundary with China, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and Bangladesh.
The Command participated in the 1962, 1965 and 1971 wars and over the years has contributed towards evacuation of victims of natural calamities like floods, landslides and earthquakes.
Several new inductions have taken place in the Command to meet the changed security scenario, it added.