President Kovind to present President's Colour to Air Force station

President of India and the supreme commander of the armed forces Ram Nath Kovind will present the coveted president's colour to Air Force station Hakimpet and five base repair depots housed at Sulur in Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore district, Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Air Command Air Marshal B Suresh said on Wednesday. Elaborating on the ceremony, the Air Marshal said, "It will take place during a ceremonial parade that will witness the presence of various dignitaries including Governor P Sathasivam, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and chief-of-Air Force staff BS Dhanoa."

The award of President's colours/standard is one of the greatest honours bestowed upon an Air Force Unit or Squadron in recognition of exceptional service rendered by it to the nation, both during the war and in peace. He also informed that as part of enhanced security, an integrated perimeter security system is under process for deployment at most of the air force base stations.

"For most of the stations, through an integrated perimeter security system, most of the strategic asset of the Indian Air Force will be very well protected. The project has been cleared and in a few years, most of the bases will have it. We have to switch over from manual protection to a combination of manual plus electronic surveillance. It is completely indigenous and this is the path ahead that we have envisaged," he said replying to a query.