Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (India)

Last updated

Deputy Chief of the Air Staff
Flag of Air marshal (India).svg
Flag of an Air Marshal
Air Marshal Bharti.jpg
since 1 June 2025
Air Force Ensign of India.svg  Indian Air Force
TypePrincipal Staff Officer
AbbreviationDCAS
Reports to Chief of the Air Staff
Seat Air Headquarters, New Delhi
First holder Air Vice Marshal Subroto Mukerjee

The Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (DCAS) is a senior appointment in the Indian Air Force. [1] The DCAS is a Principal Staff Officer (PSO) to the Chief of the Air Staff at Air Force Headquarters in New Delhi. The office is held by a three star officer in the rank of Air Marshal.

Contents

The current DCAS is Air Marshal Awadhesh Kumar Bharti, SYSM, AVSM, VM who assumed the appointment on 1 June 2025. [2]

History

At the time of independence of India on 15 August 1947, Air Commodore Subroto Mukerjee was appointed Deputy Air Commander, Royal Indian Air Force, in addition to being Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO) at the newly-formed Air HQ. [3] On 15 November the same year, he was promoted to the acting rank of Air Vice Marshal.

In 1949, the RIAF was reorganised and the post was re-designated Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (DCAS). The DCAS continued to be the Deputy Air Commander. On 1 January 1963, the post of Vice Chief of the Air Staff was created and became the second-highest post of the Indian Air Force. [4] In 1968, the post was upgraded to three-star rank Air Marshal. [1]

The DCAS ranks at No. 24 on the Indian order of precedence, along with Lieutenant Generals of the Indian Army and Vice Admirals of the Indian Navy. The DCAS is in the HAG+ pay scale (pay level 16), and draws salary depending on the years in service. However, since they should not draw equivalent or more than the next higher level, the remuneration is capped at ₹224,000. [5] [6]

Appointees

S.No.RankNameAssumed officeLeft officeNotes
Deputy Air Commander, Royal Indian Air Force
1 Air Vice Marshal [n 1] Subroto Mukerjee**15 August 194731 January 1949 [3]
Deputy Chief of the Air Staff
Air Vice Marshal Subroto Mukerjee**1 February 194916 December 1952 [4]
2 Aspy Merwan Engineer**17 December 195230 April 1958 [7]
3Diwan Atma Ram Nanda1 May 195831 December 1962 [8]
4 Arjan Singh**1 January 19634 August 1963
5 Ramaswamy Rajaram 5 August 196330 September 1964 [9]
6 Minoo Merwan Engineer 1 October 196428 February 1968 [10]
7 Air Marshal 1 March 19684 August 1969
8 Om Prakash Mehra**7 August 196928 February 1971 [11]
9Hirendra Nath Chatterjee30 March 197131 March 1972 [11]
10Yeshwant Vinayak Malse3 May 197231 March 1973 [12]
11 Hari Chand Dewan 1 April 197318 October 1973 [12]
12Sarosh Jehangir Dastur12 November 197327 June 1974 [13]
13Devaiah Subia27 June 197431 March 1977
14Jafar Zaheer20 May 197723 August 1978
15Lal Singh Grewal24 August 197831 January 1980
16 Malcolm Wollen 16 April 19802 January 1981 [14]
17Chandra Kant Viswanath Gole15 January 198130 June 1983 [15]
18Kapil Dev Chadha8 July 198331 October 1984
19Johney William Greene1 January 198531 May 1986 [16]
20 Surinder Mehra**1 June 198628 February 1987 [17]
21 Prithi Singh 1 March 198731 July 1988 [18]
22Rajendra Kumar Dhawan1 August 19881 April 1990
23 Brijesh Dhar Jayal 2 April 19906 October 1991 [19]
24 Trilochan Singh Brar 7 October 199130 April 1993
25Prabhat Kumar Varma1 May 199328 February 1994
26Sharadkumar Ramakrishna Deshpande1 March 199431 January 1996
27 Srinivasapuram Krishnaswamy**1 February 199623 July 1996
28Man Mohan Singh Vasudeva24 July 199631 August 1997
29Syed Shahid Hussain Naqvi1 September 199730 September 1999 [20]
30Satish Govind Inamdar1 October 199930 November 2000 [21]
31Tej Mohan Asthana1 December 200017 March 2002
32Raghu Rajan5 June 200231 March 2004
33Jaspal Singh Gujral1 April 200430 April 2005
34Arvind Kumar Nagalia24 August 200528 February 2007 [22]
35 Norman Anil Kumar Browne**1 March 200731 May 2009 [23]
36Nirdosh Vatsyayan Tyagi1 June 200931 January 2011 [24]
37Ravi Kant Sharma1 February 201130 November 2012
38Subramanyam Sukumar1 December 201228 February 2014
39 Sridharan Panicker Radha Krishnan Nair 1 March 201430 April 2014
40 Shyam Bihari Prasad Sinha 1 May 201431 December 2015 [25]
41 Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria**1 January 201628 February 2017
42 Raghunath Nambiar 1 March 201730 September 2018
43 Vivek Ram Chaudhari**1 October 201830 September 2019 [26]
44 Sandeep Singh 1 October 201930 April 2021 [27]
45 Suraj Kumar Jha 1 May 202131 July 2021
46 Narmdeshwar Tiwari 1 October 202130 April 2023
47 Ashutosh Dixit 15 May 202331 August 2024 [28]
48 Tejinder Singh 1 September 202430 April 2025 [29]
49 Awadhesh Kumar Bharti 1 June 2025Incumbent [2]

** Went on to become Chief of the Air Staff

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Appointed as an Air Commodore, promoted to the rank of Air vice-marshal on 15 November 1947.

References

  1. 1 2 "Deputy Chief of Air Staff Appointments at Air Head Quarters". Bharat Rakshak. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  2. 1 2 "Air Marshal A.K. Bharti Takes Charge as Deputy Chief of the Air Staff". 13 June 2025. Retrieved 27 December 2025.
  3. 1 2 "RIAF APPOINTMENTS" (PDF). archive.pib.gov.in. 14 August 1947. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  4. 1 2 "THE GAZETTE OF INDIA" (PDF). archive.pib.gov.in. 12 January 1963. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  5. ↑ "President's Secretariat" (PDF). Office of the President of India. Rajya Sabha. 26 August 1979. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
  6. ↑ "Table of Precedence (Updated)" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
  7. ↑ "Air Vice Marshal Engineer" (PDF). pibarchive.nic.in. 2 December 1954.
  8. ↑ "AIR FORCE HOCKEY FROM MONDAY" (PDF). archive.pib.gov.in. 13 November 1959. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  9. ↑ "AVM RAJARAM NEW COMMANDANT OF NDC" (PDF). pibarchive.nic.in. 10 January 1966.
  10. ↑ "BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES" (PDF). archive.pib.gov.in. 1 March 1968.
  11. 1 2 "AIR MARSHAL H. N. CHATTERJEE - NEW DEPUTY AIR CHIEF" (PDF). archive.pib.gov.in. 18 March 1971. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  12. 1 2 "AIR MARSHAL MALSE APPOINTED VICE CHIEF OF AIR STAFF" (PDF). archive.pib.gov.in. 17 March 1973. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  13. ↑ "DASTUR APPOINTED DEPUTY CHIEF OF AIR STAFF" (PDF). archive.pib.gov.in. 13 November 1973. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  14. ↑ "AIR MARSHAL WOLLEN APPOINTED DEPUTY CHIEF OF AIR STAFF" (PDF). archive.pib.gov.in. 15 April 1980. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  15. ↑ "AIR MARSHAL GOLE APPOINTED DEPUTY CHIEF OF AIR STAFF" (PDF). archive.pib.gov.in. 15 January 1981. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  16. ↑ "AIR VICE MARSHAL GREENE PROMOTED AND APPOINTED DEPUTY CHIEF OF AIR STAFF" (PDF). archive.pib.gov.in. 2 January 1985. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  17. ↑ "NEW APPOINTMENT FOR AIR MARSHAL MEHRA" (PDF). archive.pib.gov.in. 27 February 1987. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  18. ↑ "PIB (Defence Wing)" (PDF). archive.pib.gov.in. 30 July 1988. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  19. ↑ "AIR JAYAL APPOINTED DEPUTY CHIEF OF AIR STAFF" (PDF). archive.pib.gov.in. 8 April 1990. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  20. ↑ "AIR MARSHAL SS HUSSAIN NAQVI IS THE NEW DEPUTY CHIEF OF AIR STAFF" (PDF). archive.pib.gov.in. 9 September 1997. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  21. ↑ "AIR MARSHAL SG INAMDAR TAKES OVER EASTERN AIR COMMAND" (PDF). archive.pib.gov.in. 1 December 2000. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  22. ↑ "Air Marshal AK Nagalia takes over as the Deputy Chief of Air Staff". archive.pib.gov.in. 25 August 2005. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  23. ↑ "Air Marshal Nak Browne takes Over as the Vice Chief of Air Staff (VCAS)". archive.pib.gov.in. 1 January 2011. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  24. ↑ "One Shaurya Chakra, Three Vayu Sena Medals for Gallant Air Force Pilots". archive.pib.gov.in. 25 January 2011. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  25. ↑ "Deputy Chief of Air Staff Flies Tejas". archive.pib.gov.in. 3 September 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  26. ↑ "IAF Announces Major Reshuffle, Air Marshal VR Chaudhari Takes Over as Deputy Chief of Air Staff". India.com. 8 October 2018. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  27. ↑ "Air Marshal Sandeep Singh, Deputy Chief of the Air Staff". SPS Aviation. 1 September 2019. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  28. ↑ "AIR MARSHAL ASHUTOSH DIXIT TAKES OVER AS DEPUTY CHIEF OF THE AIR STAFF" (Press release). PIB. 15 May 2023.
  29. ↑ "AIR MARSHAL TEJINDER SINGH TAKES OVER AS DEPUTY CHIEF OF THE AIR STAFF" (Press release). PIB. 1 September 2024.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.