The first squadron of Su-30MKI jet fighters, armed with an air-based version of BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles entered service in the Indian Air Force Monday, The Times of India reported.

According to the article, the planes will enter service during a ceremony set to take place at Thanjavur Air Force Station in India’s Tamil Nadu.

The Air Force Station houses the 222nd “Tigershark” squadron, the first to receive the Su-30MKIs, reconfigured for BrahMos missiles.

According to the newspaper, the BrahMos-equipped Sukhoi fighters will become a “platform to keep a ‘strategic eye’ over the Indian Ocean Region, especially the Bay of Bengal,” and will be able to carry out “long-range precision strikes against hostile aircraft carriers or other high-value targets by day and night in all-weather conditions.”

A source close to India’s Ministry of Defence said the squadron would receive 18 fighters before the end of this year.