No.125 Helicopter Squadron Gladiators

Motto : Balidaan Veerasya Bhushanam (Sacrifice is jewel of Brave)
Date Raised : 1983-12-31
125(H) Squadron was raised on 01 Nov 1983 at Pathankot with the Mi 25 attack Helicopters. In June 1990, Mi 35 helicopters were inducted into the Squadron and were subsequently upgraded with night fighting capabilities. In 2019, the squadron inducted the Apache AH-64E. Within four years of its inception, the squadron was deployed during “Op Brasstacks”. Subsequently, the gladiators played a very active role in Sri Lanka during “Op Pawan”. As a part of the Indian peace keeping force, the squadron proved its worth as an offensive arm delivering decisive firepower on numerous occasions. During Kargil conflict, the Squadron undertook missions for airfield sanitization against ANEs. The squadron also has the proud privilege of being deployed overseas twice as a part of UN Peace Keeping Missions in Sierra Leone and Democratic Republic of Congo. OP Khukri, Sake Crisis, capture of Ndrele, crisis at Marabo & Aru and defense of Goma are the occasions which stands testimony to this fact. In June 2015, the Gladiators traversed across the country to North East for “OP Vajra”. In January 2016, the Squadron played a stellar role in confining the terrorists to a restricted area during the terror attack on Air Force Station Pathankot. The Squadron was awarded with citation by the Chief of Air Staff on 08 Oct 2012. The Squadron was also conferred with the President’s Standards on 03 Mar 2017 at Air Force Station Tambaram.

Aircraft Types operated over the years:

Commanding Officers


31 Dec 83 - 13 Apr 86
Wing Commander
Ravindra Vikram Singh
9524 GD(P)
CO
Pathankot

14 Apr 86 - 27 Nov 87
Wing Commander
Suresh Chandra Malhan
11579 GD(P)
CO
Pathankot

28 Nov 87 - 25 Jun 89
Wing Commander
Vikram Singh Ranawat
12390 GD(P)
CO
Pathankot

27 Jun 89 - 31 May 92
Wing Commander
Pramod Yarday
11608 GD(P)
CO
Pathankot

29 Jun 92 - 06 Jun 94
Wing Commander
Johnson Anthony Veliath
13794 F(P)
CO
Pathankot

06 Jun 94 - 18 Aug 94
Wing Commander
Rajbir Singh
14287 F(P)
CO
Pathankot

07 Sep 94 - 26 Sep 96
Wing Commander
Ravi Dhar
14559 F(P)
CO
Pathankot

27 Sep 96 - 27 Jan 98
Wing Commander
Eddya Raman
15882 F(P)
CO
Pathankot

16 Jun 98 - 11 Jun 00
Wing Commander
Bimal Varan Baduni
16397 F(P)
CO
Pathankot

12 Jun 00 - 04 Aug 02
Wing Commander
Tejinder Singh Sareen
17138 F(P)
CO
Pathankot

05 Aug 02 - 08 Aug 04
Wing Commander
Mohan Chander Misra
17715 F(P)
CO
Pathankot

08 May 06 - 21 Oct 08
Wing Commander
Deep Raj Sirohi
19517 F(P)
CO
Pathankot

15 Nov 10 - 23 Jun 13
Wing Commander
Abhijit Singh Ahluwalia
22166 F(P)
CO
Pathankot

24 Jun 13 - 15 May 15
Group Captain
Jasdeep Singh Sandhu
20463 F(P)
CO
Pathankot

Note: All the data available here is publicly available in the Gazette of India, published by the Indian Government, or from public domain sources, press releases about Awards and Right-To-Information (RTI) Requests. Additionally data shared by veterans is added to the page with permission. No data with respect to serving officers below the rank of AVM is displayed. Information in Gazette of India and Award citations and photographs as released by the Indian Air Force are the only details displayed.