Arakkonam Naval Air Station

INS Rajali, also informally known as Arakkonam Naval Air Station, is an Indian naval air station located near Arakkonam in Tamil Nadu in southern India. It operates under the Eastern Naval Command of the Indian Navy, and has the longest military runway in Asia.HistoryThe airfield at Arakkonam was constructed in early 1942, for use by Allies of World War II. The first recorded air operations from the field took place when the No. 2 Squadron of the Royal Indian Air Force, flying Westland Lysander aircraft flew support missions for the British Indian Army between May and Sep 1942.The airfield was abandoned after the war and lay unused until the 1980s, when it was transferred to the Indian Navy who rehabilitated and commissioned the airfield as INS Rajali.INS Rajali was commissioned on 11 March 1992. The commissioning commanding officer was Captain RS Vasan, who subsequently retired in the rank of commodore while on deputation to the Coast Guard as the Regional Commander of Coast Guard Region East. Rajali, named after a bird, was commissioned by then President Sri Venkataraman. The upgraded airbase became home to an anti-submarine warfare squadron, INAS 312, which moved here from INS Hansa in Goa. On 16 April 1988, the Tupolev Tu-142MK-E aircraft were commissioned into the squadron by the then Defence Minister, Shri K. C. Pant, at INS Hansa. The Albatross as they are called celebrated the silver jubilee of induction at Rajali. The replacement aircraft for the TU 142 M are P8i Poseidon and eight of them have started operating from Rajali. The Helicopter Training School which operated from INS Garuda was shifted to Rajali from July 1991 in the year of commissioning itself and has been training rotary-wing pilots of the Navy and the Coast Guard ever since. This self-contained base will be celebrating its silver jubilee on 11 March 2017.