Power and Rank:
Indian Air Force is the air-warfare branch of the Armed Forces of India. Its main function is to maintain the aerospace security of India and rescue operations.
Indian Air Force is the second largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. It is the 4th largest air force in the world.
Under Great Britain:
IAF was founded back in October 1932 as a supporting arm of the Royal Air Force and was called Royal Indian Air Force. When India became independent in 1947, it served under the Republic of India. In 1950, prefix Royal was removed from Royal Indian Air Force.
After that, IAF has participated in many rescue operations and wars. Today, India’s air warriors are playing a vital role in India’s security. It has a total of more than 179,000 personnel. This includes 139,576 active duty personnel 140,000 reserved personnel. Its Headquarters are located in New Delhi. Motto of IAF is “Glory that touches the sky”. President of India acts as the Commander-in-Chief of IAF.
Command Structure:
It is headed by the Chief-of-Air-Staff. IAF has currently 7 commands, distributed in different parts of country. They are:
- Central Air Command (CAC) – Allahabad, U.P
- Eastern Air Command (EAC) – Shillong, Meghalaya.
- Southern Air Command (SAC) – Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
- South-Western Air Command (SWAC) – Gandhinagar, Gujrat.
- Western Air Command (WAC) – New Delhi
- Training Command (TC) – Bangalore, Karnataka
- Maintenance Command (MC) – Nagpur, Maharashtra.
When it comes to planes, IAF has more than 1780 total aircraft. This includes 825 fighter and strike aircraft. IAF has 250 transport aircraft . The remaining aircraft include trainer aircraft and helicopters. The Helicopters include two types- Attack and transport. However, India maintains very small amount of attack Helicopters. It has served in four wars with neighboring country Pakistan and one war with China (Sino-Indian War).
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