The Indian Armed Forces is the armed forces of the Republic of India. It has three branches.- Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Air Force. Indian Armed Forces have the 3rd highest military budget in the world. Its USD 4713.78 billions, highest after USA and China.
President of India is the supreme commander of the Indian Armed Forces. IAF is managed by the Ministry of Defense of India (MoD). The headquarters of the Indian Armed Forces is the Ministry of Defense located in the South Block of presidential palace in New Delhi.
As of military ranking, India has the fourth strongest military in the world after USA, Russia, China. Today, India are one of the most developing countries in the world in terms of military power. In terms of manpower, IAF is the largest in the world.
The minimum age required to join the IAF is 18 years. IAF follows a policy of voluntary recruitment but not mandatory service by youngsters. Indian Armed Forces is the world’s largest military force in the world with 1.4 million active duty personnel and 2.1 million reserved personnel with additional support of the 2 million paramilitary personnel..
IAF have engaged in many wars, skirmishes and military operations. IAF have engaged in the following wars- Indo-Pakistani wars of 1947, 1965, 1971 and 1999, Sino-Indian War of 1962, 1967 and 1987 Sino-Indian border skirmishes, Portuguese-Indian War and Siachen conflict.
Equipment:
As of equipment, Indian Armed Forces have the the equipment of the Indian Army, Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy together.
Indian Ground Forces maintain a total of 4500 tanks out of which, 1657 are Russian T-90 tanks, 248 are indigenous Arjun MBT. The remaining out of 4500 tanks are the Russian-origin T-72 tanks. Arjun MK-II variant is under trials by the Indian Defense Research and Developmrnt Organization (DRDO).
Indian Army under as a part of IAF, maintain 6800 Armored Fighting Vehicles and Armored Carriers. IAF also has 6000-8000 artilllery units.
When it comes to naval power, IAF maintains 1 operational aircraft along with two more in construction, 1 amphibious transport dock, 9 Landing Ship Tanks, 10 Destroyers, 14 Frigates, 1 nuclear powered attack submarine, 1 nuclear powered ballistic missile submarine, 14 diesel powered submarines, 6 mine counter-measure vessels, 24 corvettes, 4 fleet tankers, 25 patrol vessels and many other auxiliary vessels.
IAF maintain more than 2200 aircraft including Air Force aircraft, Naval Air Arm and the Army Aviation Corps.
