 The mission of the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in northern and eastern Sri Lanka lasted some thirty months and the statistics tell it all. Some 70,000 sorties (armed attack, especially one made from a place surrounded by enemy forces) were flown by the IAF`s transport and helicopter force to and within Sri Lanka, without a single aircraft lost or mission aborted.
In support of nearly 100,000 troops and paramilitary forces, IAF An32s maintained a continuous air link from air bases in Southern India to Divisional headquarters at Palaly (Jaffna), Vavuniya, Trincomalee and Batticaloa, transporting men, equipment, rations and evacuating casualties on the outbound flights, No. 19 Squadron being the main formation involved. Earlier, during the massive build up in the Jaffna peninsula in October 1987, the IAF carried out more transport and helicopter sorties in support of the ground forces in action than at any such concentrated space and time in the history of the armed forces of India. In 20 days, some 3000 strategic transport and assault helicopter sorties were carried out during the bitter fighting to disarm the LTTE as a key provision of the Indo-Sri Lanka agreement.
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