No. 224 Squadron was raised on July 4, 1983 at AFS Adampur in Punjab with MiG-23 MF. The Squadron became operational with its primary role as Air Defence (AD) and the secondary role as Ground Attack (GA). The ‘Warlords’ moved from Adampur to nearby Halwara, also in Punjab in April ’96 and then to Jamnagar, in Western Gujrat in September ’97. The Squadron was actively involved in providing AD cover over the western sector since its inception till shifting location to Jamnagar, where it continued to do the same. In the latters years, the Squadron was assigned both AD and GA roles in addition to the peace time secondary role of Banner Target Towing (BTT).In their nearly two-and-a-half decades of operations, the ‘Warlords’ have participated in various operations that include ‘Op Meghdoot’ in the air defence of Siachen Glacier are from 1985-86. In a unique first, the Squadron has the rare distinction of having operated from Leh, the highest airfield in India, located at 11,000 feet above mean sea level (AMSL). The Squadron also has the unique distinction of being the first fighter aircraft to ever operate from Thoise airfield in Ladakh. These airfields owing to their high altitude, limit the performance of the aircraft, thereby reducing the margin for error considerably. The MiG-23 MF by virtue of its very powerful engine can operate under such marginal conditions with an experienced pilot on controls. And the first landing is most significant given the complete absence of any datum for reference. The Warlords were adjudged the ‘Best Over-all’ Fighter Squadron of the Western Air Command in 1985-86. In ‘Op Safed Sagar’, the Squadron operated a six-aircraft detachment in Western sector during Kargil Operations and undertook round-the-clock air defence of Saurashtra and Kutchh area. During ‘Op Parakram’, the Squadron operated from two locations in the Rajasthan Sector. The Squadron continued to remain deployed there even after cessation of ‘Op Parakram’ for air defence duties.The Squadron also participated in ‘Ex-Vayu Shakti’ or the ‘Fire Power Demonstration’ of the IAF held at Pokharan range in February ’99 and ’04 where they were tasked to carry out low level banner towing in formation apart from dropping the flare bomb to be used as a target for air-to-air missile firing. The last flight of the MiG-23 MF brought to an end temporarily on 31 March 2007, the 'Warlords' operations as it got number-plated with the MiG-23MF having flown 32,581 hours with the squadron. The squadron stood up on the Jaguar aircraft in 2008