No. 18 Squadron IAF

The squadron was formed on 15 April 1965, with five Folland Gnats and eleven pilots, it operated out of Srinagar AFS. Although it existed during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1965, it did not officially participate in the conflict. A few pilots from this squadron flew operations with 9 Squadron, and 2 Squadron. Squadron Leader K.L. Khanna, was awarded the Vayu Sena Medal during the war. The squadron first saw action during the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971, with the task of defending the Kashmir Valley. It operated out of AFS Srinagar, consisting of four aircraft, 17 officers and 72 men commanded by Wing Commander P Raina. On 4 December, it scrambled to intercept an approaching raid. The raid was never carried out, but the squadron kept flying Combat Air Patrols all day. The squadron was re-formed with the indigenous HAL Tejas on 27 May 2020. ==Aircraft==

{{Gallery |IAF Chief ACM RKS Bhaduria handing over ceremonial key to SQ 18 CO Manish Tolani. |HAL Tejas (LA-5018) of Squadron 18 Flying Bullets doing air maneuver. |HAL Tejas SP-18 fresh off the production line. |Men of the Squadron posing with one of their Folland Gnat fighter jets, a few months before the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 broke out. Fg Offr Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon, PVC is sitting in the 2nd row from the bottom, 4th from the right. ==References==