INS Kohassa

INS Kohassa[3][4] (IATA: IN 0053, ICAO: VODX) is an Indian naval air station under the joint-services Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) of the Indian Armed Forces. It is located at Shibpur, a village located on North Andaman Island.[5][6]

INS Kohassa
Summary
Airport typeNaval Air Station
OperatorIndian Navy
LocationShibpur, Diglipur, Andaman & Nicobar Islands
Coordinates13°14′0″N 93°3′0″E
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
1,006 3,301

History

INS Kohassa was established as Naval Air Station (NAS) Shibpur in 2001 as a Forward Operating Air Base (FOAB) for enhanced surveillance in North Andaman. Presently, Dornier Do 228 aircraft and HAL Chetak helicopters of the navy and the Indian Coast Guard land at Shibpur once in a week, on their transit for surveillance of North Andaman Islands. In addition, the Indian Air Force operates its Dornier aircraft between Port Blair and Diglipur every Thursday for courier duties. In 2009, the government of India accorded sanction to commission NAS Shibpur as a full-fledged air station.[7] The length of the runway is being extended to 12,000 ft and will enable day and night operations.[8]

Dornier Do 228s of the navy and coast guard conducted search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 from this base.[9]

In 2017, it was reported that the runway length would be extended to 3000m after acquisition of about 100 hectares of land. This will enable the operation of wide-bodied civil and defense flights.[10] The station, earlier known as NAS Shibpur, was renamed as INS Kohassa after the extension of facilities in January 2019.[11][12]

See also
Indian navy
Integrated commands and units
Other lists

References
  1. http://airportguide.com/airport/India/Andaman_and_Nicobar_Islands/Madhupur-IN-0053/ Airportguide.com
  2. http://skyvector.com/airport/VODX/Shibpur-Naval-Air-Station-Airport SkyVector Shibpur
  3. "INS Kohassa – a New Bird's Nest in the Andamans". Press Information Bureau, Government of India. 24 January 2019.
  4. "Headquarters Andaman Nicobar Command ANC to enhance its operational capability with the upcoming commissioning of INS Kohassa". Press Information Bureau, Government of India. 18 January 2019.
  5. Pandit, Rajat (6 February 2010). "Strategically-important A&N Command to get a boost". The Times of India. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
  6. "Andamans, not just an Indian mainland buffer". Frontier India. 3 August 2012. Archived from the original on 27 December 2017. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  7. "Naval Aviation - Air Stations". Indian Navy. Indian Navy. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  8. "Tiger Outsmarts Dragon in Andaman Waters". The New Indian Express. 23 March 2014. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
  9. "Indian navy finds no sign of missing Malaysian jet". Global Times. 16 March 2014. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  10. Sputnik. "India Clears Way to Expand Naval Air Station in Indian Ocean". sputniknews.com. Retrieved 17 May 2017.
  11. "India adds more teeth in Andamans, Indian Navy to get new airbase 'INS Kohasa'". 6 January 2019. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
  12. @indiannavy (24 January 2019). "INS Kohassa - A new bird's nest in the Andamans commissioned by Admiral Sunil Lanba CNS" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.