No.153 Helicopter Unit Daring Dragons

Motto : Apatsu Mitram (A friend in time of need)
Date Raised : 1988-11-01 Location : Udhampur
No 153 Helicopter Units was raised at Air Force Station, Udhampur on 01 November 1988. Initially equipped with the Mi-17 helicopter, the Units upgraded to the Mi-171V in February 2001 and then on to the Mi-17V5 in January 2014. In the period since its inception, 153 HU has actively participated in Operations Meghdoot, Pawan, Rakshak, Blizzard, Baruab, Sarpvinash, Rahat, to name a few. The Units also took part in Operation Safed Sagar, flying extensively over the forbidding heights of Kargil and Dras. In recognition of its services, 153 HU was awarded the Chief of the Air Staff’s Citation in the year 2007 – one of the first Indian Air Force Unitss to be so awarded. The name and crest of the Daring Dragons draw inspiration from the mythical Ladakhi dragon since Ladakh is the main area of operations of the Units.

Aircraft Types operated over the years:

Commanding Officers


24 Nov 88 - 14 Jun 92
Wing Commander
Ram Mohan Shridharan
12033 GD(P)
CO
Udhampur

15 Jun 92 - 07 Jun 94
Wing Commander
Ram Karan Makar
13796 F(P)
CO
Udhampur

21 Jun 94 - 28 Jul 97
Wing Commander
Govindan Ajith Kumar Nair
14677 F(P)
CO
Udhampur

28 Jul 97 - 21 Jun 99
Wing Commander
Karan Vir Singh Parmar
15688 F(P)
CO
Udhampur

21 Jun 99 - 17 Jun 01
Wing Commander
Anup Kumar Prabhakaran
16808 F(P)
CO
Udhampur

18 Jun 01 - 15 Jun 03
Wing Commander
Sachendra Pratap Singh Sisodiya
17454 F(P)
CO
Udhampur

16 Jun 03 - 13 Nov 05
Wing Commander
Rajeev Kumar Chouhan
18556 F(P)
CO
Udhampur

14 Nov 05 - 09 Sep 07
Wing Commander
Rajesh Puri
19919 F(P)
CO
Udhampur

10 Sep 07 - 04 Oct 09
Wing Commander
Sartaj Bedi
21024 F(P)
CO
Udhampur

07 Sep 15 - 25 Dec 17
Wing Commander
Prashant Rawat
25076 F(P)
CO
Udhampur

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.