Indian Air Force : a brief overview

  

• The Indian Air Force(Bharatiya Vayu Sena) is the air arm of the Indian armed forces.
• It ranks fourth amongst the strongest air-forces of the world
• The top three being USA, Russia and Israeli
• Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during armed conflict

 When was it established ?

• It was officially established on 8 October 1932 as an auxiliary air force of the British Empire which honored India's aviation service during World War II with the prefix Royal
• As of 1 July 2017, 139,576 personnel are in service with the Indian Air Force
• After India gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1947, the name Royal Indian Air Force was kept and served in the name of Dominion of India
• With the government's transition to a Republic in 1950, the prefix Royal was removed after   only three years

Mission of the Indian Airforce

•  The IAF's mission is defined by the Armed Forces Act of 1947, the Constitution of India, and the Air Force Act of 1950.^[14] It decrees that in the aerial battlespace 

 "Defence of India and every part there of including preparation for defence and all such acts as may be conducive in times of war to its prosecution and after its termination to effective demobilisation."

• In practice, this is taken as a directive meaning the IAF bears the responsibility of safeguarding Indian airspace and thus furthering national interests in conjunction with the other branches of the armed forces. The IAF provides close air support to the Indian Army troops on the battlefield as well as strategic and tactical airlift capabilities.

The Leadership 

• The President of India holds the rank of Supreme Commander of the IAF
• The Chief of Air Staff, an air chief marshal, is a four-star officer and is responsible for the bulk of operational command of the Air Force.
• Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa, PVSM, AVSM, YSM, VM, ADC is the 25th Chief of the Air Staff of the Indian Air Force. He assumed the post on 31 December 2016 after Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha retired
• There is never more than one serving ACM at any given time in the IAF
• The rank of Marshal of the Air Force has been conferred by the President of India on one occasion in history, to Arjan Singh
• 26 January 2002 Mr. Singh became the first and so far, only five-star rank officer of the IAF 

 


Officer Ranks of Indian Airforce 

 Airmen Ranks of the Indian Airforce

  
Structure of the Indian Airforce

• Command : The Indian Air Force is divided into five operational and two functional commands.
• Each Command is headed by an Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief with the rank of Air Marshal. 
• The purpose of an operational command is to conduct military operations using aircraft within its area of responsibility
• The responsibility of functional commands is to maintain combat readiness
• Aside from the Training Command at Bangalore, the primary flight training is done at the Air Force Academy, Dundigul (located in Hyderabad), followed by operational training at various other schools

 Operational Commands

• Central Air Command (CAC), headquartered at Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh
• Eastern Air Command (EAC), headquartered at Shillong, Meghalaya
• Southern Air Command (SAC), headquartered at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
• South Western Air Command (SWAC), headquartered at Gandhinagar, Gujarat
• Western Air Command (WAC), headquartered at New Delhi

Functional Commands

• Training Command (TC), headquartered at Bangalore, Karnataka
• Maintenance Command (MC), headquartered at Nagpur, Maharashtra

Stations

• Within each operational command are anywhere from nine to sixteen bases or stations, each commanded by an air commodore. A station typically has one wing and one or two squadrons assigned to it.

Wings

• A wing is a formation intermediate between a command and a squadron. It generally consists of two or three IAF squadrons and helicopter units, along with forward base support units (FBSU). FBSUs do not have or host any squadrons or helicopter units but act as transit airbases for routine operations. In times of war, they can become fully fledged air bases playing host to various squadrons. In all, about 47 wings and 19 FBSUs make up the IAF.^[103][104] Wings are typically commanded by a group captain.

Squardons and Units

• Squadrons are the field units and formations attached to static locations. Thus, a flying squadron or unit is a sub-unit of an air force station which carries out the primary task of the IAF. A fighter squadron consists of 18 aircraft; all fighter squadrons are headed by a commanding officer with the rank of wing commander.^[105] Some transport squadrons and helicopter units are headed by a commanding officer with the rank of group captain.

Flight

• Flights are sub-divisions of squadrons, commanded by a squadron leader. Each flight consists of two sections

Sections

• The smallest unit is the section, led by a flight lieutenant. Each section consists of three aircraft.

IAF has several service branches for day-to-day operations.

Flying Branch

Technical Branch

Ground Duty Branch 

• Logistics
• Administration
• Accounts
• Education
• Medical & Dental
• Meteorological 

Honorary Ranks

• Sachin Tendulkar was the first sportsperson and the first civilian without an aviation background to be awarded the honorary rank of group captain by the Indian Air Force

 Non combatants enrolled civilians

• Non combatants enrolled (NCs(E)) were established in British India as personal assistants to the officer class, and are equivalent to the orderly or sahayak of the Indian Army.^[132]
  Almost all the commands have some percentage of civilian strength which are central government employees. These are regular ranks which are prevalent in ministries. They are usually not posted outside their stations and are employed in administrative and non-technical work

 Training and Education

• The Indian Armed Forces have set up numerous military academies across India for training its personnel, such as the National Defence Academy (NDA). Besides the tri-service institutions, the Indian Air Force has a Training Command and several training establishments. While technical and other support staff are trained at various Ground Training Schools, the pilots are trained at the Air Force Academy, Dundigul (located in Hyderabad). The Pilot Training Establishment at Allahabad, the Air Force Administrative College at Coimbatore, the Institute of Aerospace Medicine at Bangalore, the Air Force Technical College, Bangalore at Jalahalli, the Tactics and Air Combat and Defence Establishment at Gwalior, and the Paratrooper’s Training School at Agra are some of the other training establishments of the IAF.