Every war the Indian Army Aviation Corps has fought
The wars of 1965 and 1971 were flown by the Air Observation Post flights that preceded the corps, and few details survive in the sources checked. India and Pakistan each claim the Siachen glacier, which India has held since April 1984, and interpret the line beyond point NJ9842 differently. Accounts of the Kargil intruders and of the 2015 raid on the Myanmar border also differ by side and are attributed. No role for the corps in Operation Sindoor in May 2025 was described in the official accounts checked. Where a consolidated sortie or loss figure exists in the official record it is given here; where accounts disagree, the range is shown and the disagreement named. Blank cells are blank because no figure could be verified, not because the fighting was small.
From the Air OP flights of the 1965 war to a raid on the Myanmar border in 2015.
| Conflict | Years | Against | Main aircraft | Sorties | Aircraft lost | |
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| Indo-Pakistani war of 1965including the Rann of KutchAir Observation Post flights (predecessors of the Army Aviation Corps) | 1965 | Pakistan | Auster AOP, HAL Pushpak | |||
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Artillery spotting and reconnaissance for the army. Wikipedia records that the Air OP flights took part in the Rann of Kutch operations and in other sectors of the 1965 war, and that the HAL Pushpak light aircraft was used in that war. The Rann of Kutch clashes began on 8 April 1965, months before the main war of 5 August to 23 September. The Air OP aircraft were small, slow and unarmed; their task was to find targets for the artillery and to watch the battlefield from low level. The air war of 1965 itself, with its contested loss claims, belongs to the two air forces and is covered on the Indian Air Force page. Outcome Ceasefire on 23 September 1965; both sides claimed victory. No details of Air OP sorties, losses or awards were confirmed for this page. Indian and Pakistani accounts of the war’s outcome differ.
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| Indo-Pakistani war of 1971the Bangladesh Liberation WarAir Observation Post flights | 1971 | Pakistan | Air OP aircraft and light helicopters | |||
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Artillery spotting, reconnaissance and liaison for the army. The Air OP flights flew in several sectors of the 1971 war, according to Wikipedia’s history of the corps, but the sources checked for this page give no detail of their missions, the types used or any losses. Wikipedia credits the corps and its predecessors with two Maha Vir Chakras and 16 Vir Chakras across its history; which of them were won in 1971 was not confirmed. The war’s best-known helicopter operation, the Meghna crossing of 9 December, was flown by 14 Indian Air Force Mi-4s, not by the Air OP flights. The war lasted from 3 to 16 December 1971 and ended with the surrender of about 93,000 Pakistani troops in the east. Outcome Pakistani forces in the east surrendered on 16 December 1971; Bangladesh became independent; the western front ended in a ceasefire. Thinly sourced; included because the corps counts the war in its lineage. Each side’s loss claims for the war as a whole are on the Indian Air Force page.
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| Operation Meghdoot and the Siachen conflictSiachen glacierAir OP flights, then the Army Aviation Corps | 1984– | Pakistan | HAL Cheetah, HAL Chetak, HAL Cheetaland 2 more | |||
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Supply, casualty evacuation and artillery direction at extreme altitude. Indian troops occupied the Siachen glacier in Operation Meghdoot, launched on 13 April 1984, four days ahead of Pakistan’s planned Operation Ababeel, according to Wikipedia. The first air landing on the glacier had been made by an IAF Chetak on 6 October 1978. Since then army helicopters have kept the posts supplied: Wikipedia describes the corps’s pilots flying in supplies, flying out the injured and directing artillery fire. The Cheetah and its re-engined Cheetal have done most of the work; a Cheetal set a world landing record of 7,070 m on 2 November 2004, the Dhruv Mk.3 was cleared for the sector in September 2007, and Wikipedia says the Prachand became the first attack helicopter to land there. India’s highest helipad, at Point Sonam, is at 21,000 ft. The dispute turns on the 1949 and 1972 agreements, which carried the line beyond point NJ9842 only "thence north to the glaciers"; India occupied about 2,500 sq km in 1984. Wikipedia gives 36 Indian and 200 Pakistani casualties in the initial fighting; India’s Defence Minister said in 2019 that more than 1,100 Indian soldiers had died defending the glacier, most of them from weather and altitude. A ceasefire has held since 2003. Outcome India has held the glacier since April 1984; Pakistan contests it and holds the western slopes of the Saltoro Ridge. India and Pakistan interpret the line beyond NJ9842 differently and each claims the glacier; neither government’s formal statement was reached for this page. Initial casualty figures are as given by Wikipedia, without a named side.
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| Indian Peace Keeping Force in Sri LankaOperation PawanArmy Aviation Corps | 1987–1990 | Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam | HAL Chetak, HAL Cheetah | |||
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Reconnaissance, observation and liaison for 54 Infantry Division. Less than a year after its formation, the corps went to war in Sri Lanka. Wikipedia says Nos. 10, 26 and 31 Reconnaissance and Observation Flights supported 54 Infantry Division, and that the last flight withdrew from the island in March 1990. Wikipedia’s IPKF article names No. 664 AOP Squadron with Chetaks and Cheetahs. The force had been sent under the 1987 Indo-Sri Lankan Accord; it ended up fighting the LTTE, which blamed it for the deaths of 17 LTTE prisoners in Sri Lankan custody, and it began withdrawing in 1989 on the orders of the newly elected President Ranasinghe Premadasa. India’s Defence Minister George Fernandes gave its losses in 1999 as 1,165 killed and 3,009 wounded; LTTE casualties are not known. Outcome The IPKF left in March 1990 without defeating the LTTE. Army Aviation losses not confirmed. The LTTE and later Sri Lankan governments viewed the IPKF’s role differently from India.
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| UN Operation in Somalia IIUNOSOM IIArmy Aviation Corps | 1993–1994 | 0 | ||||
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Helicopter support to the Indian brigade under UN command. An Army Aviation unit served with the United Nations in Somalia from October 1993 to November 1994 and flew more than 2,000 hours without an accident, according to Wikipedia’s history of the corps. The types flown were not confirmed for this page. Outcome The unit returned in November 1994; UNOSOM II itself ended in March 1995 and is widely regarded as a failure. Single source for the Indian aviation unit. |
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| Kargil WarOperation VijayArmy Aviation Corps | 1999 | Pakistan | Light helicopters | 3,100 | ||
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Reconnaissance, artillery direction, casualty evacuation and supply for 3rd Infantry and 8th Mountain Divisions. When intruders occupied heights above the Kargil–Leh road in 1999, the corps flew 3,100 operational sorties in support of the army’s 3rd Infantry Division and 8th Mountain Division, according to Wikipedia, and 663 and 666 Reconnaissance and Observation Squadrons received the Chief of the Army Staff’s unit citation. The light helicopters flew in the narrow valleys below the occupied peaks, where the IAF lost a Mi-17 and its four crew in the first days, as recorded on the IAF page. Pakistan at first described the intruders as independent Kashmiri militants; Wikipedia says later statements by its Prime Minister and army chief showed the involvement of Pakistani paramilitary forces, while India described them from the outset as Pakistani regular and paramilitary troops. India gives its own losses as 527 killed; Pakistani figures range from 357 to over 4,000 depending on the Pakistani leader quoted. Outcome Indian forces retook the heights by 26 July 1999. The types flown were not confirmed. Pakistani casualty figures are disputed within Pakistan itself.
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| Cross-border raid on the Myanmar borderthe June 2015 counter-insurgency operationArmy Aviation Corps | 2015 | NSCN-K and KYKL | HAL Dhruv | 0 | ||
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Insertion of 21 Para (Special Forces) by Dhruv helicopters. About 70 commandos of 21 Para (Special Forces) were flown to the border on 9 June 2015 and fast-roped from Dhruv helicopters just inside Indian territory, according to Wikipedia; IAF Mi-17s stood by to recover them. India said the raid, which lasted about 40 minutes, destroyed one camp each of the NSCN-K and the KYKL and killed about 38 insurgents. Myanmar’s government said the operation did not take place on its territory. The NSCN-K said its camp was not hit, that it suffered no casualties, and challenged the Indian Army to show the bodies. Outcome India said two militant camps were destroyed; Myanmar said the operation did not take place on its territory. Casualty figures are India’s claim and are denied by the NSCN-K; the location is disputed by Myanmar. |
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Nothing matches that search.
Every figure, checked
- MiGFlug Order of Battle: Indian Air Force dataset (verified 30 September 2026)Consistency check: IAF entries for 1965, 1971, Meghdoot, IPKF, Kargil and Operation Sindoor, and the IAF’s own Apache, Prachand and Dhruv rows.
Figures verified 2026-10-01. Back to the Army Aviation Corps (India).