The 37 Wing Air Force Station at Car Nicobar has an area of 204 hectares (504 acres).

[3] The airstrip was brought into operation by the IAF by raising Staging Post[clarification needed] in the year 1956, with its role as a refuelling station for all aircraft flying across the Bay of Bengal.

[4] The air station was devastated by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, when 116 IAF officers and men, and wives and children, died.

IAF personnel worked night and day: the runway was repaired, navigational aids and the basic infrastructure were put back in place.

On 14 April, just three-and-a-half months later, the Car Nicobar Air Station resumed operations.