Vice Chief of the Air Staff | |
---|---|
Indian Air Force | |
Abbreviation | VCAS |
Reports to | Chief of the Air Staff |
Seat | Air Headquarters, New Delhi |
Appointer | ACC |
First holder | Atma Ram Nanda |
Deputy | Deputy Chief of the Air Staff |
The Vice Chief of the Air Staff (VCAS) is the deputy to the Chief of the Air Staff of India and second-highest ranking officer of the Indian Air Force. The VCAS is a PSO (Principal Staff Officer) at Air Headquarters at New Delhi. In the event that the Chief of Air Staff (CAS) is absent or is unable to perform his duties, the VCAS assumes the duties and responsibilities of the CAS. The VCAS is normally held by an officer of three star rank and is held by an air officer of the rank of Air Marshal. [1]
The current VCAS is Air Marshal Amar Preet Singh. He succeeded Air Marshal Sandeep Singh to the post on 1 February 2023. As Vice Chief, Air Marshal AP Singh will directly be in charge of IAF's ongoing capability build-up and visualizing its future technology requirements. [2]
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]
The office of VCAS was first held by D. A. R. Nanda. The appointment was then in the two-star rank of air vice marshal. [4] On 15 January 1966, the office was raised to the three-star rank of Air Marshal and Pratap Chandra Lal was promoted to the rank. [5]
The VCAS ranks at No. 23 on the Indian order of precedence, along with the Vice Chiefs of Staff of the Indian Army and Indian Navy and the Army Commanders (GOC-in-C), Naval Commanders (FOC-in-C) and Air Commanders (AOC-in-C). [6] The VCAS is at the Apex Pay grade (Grade 17), with a monthly pay of ₹225,000 (US$3,200). [7]
No. | Rank | Name | Appointment date | Left office | References |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Air Vice Marshal | Diwan Atma Ram Nanda | 1 January 1963 | 4 August 1963 | |
2 | Arjan Singh** | 5 August 1963 | 31 July 1964 | [8] | |
3 | Pratap Chandra Lal** | 1 October 1964 | 14 January 1966 | [9] | |
Air Marshal | 15 January 1966 | 1 September 1966 | [9] | ||
4 | Ramaswamy Rajaram | 13 December 1966 | 18 June 1969 | ||
5 | Shivdev Singh | 15 July 1969 | 31 March 1973 | [10] | |
6 | Yeshwant Vinayak Malse | 1 April 1973 | 30 September 1973 | ||
7 | Hari Chand Dewan | 1 October 1973 | 31 March 1976 | ||
8 | Anand Ramdas Pandit | 1 April 1976 | 31 March 1977 | ||
9 | Devaiah Subia | 1 April 1977 | 19 May 1977 | [11] | |
10 | Idris Hasan Latif** | 20 May 1977 | 31 August 1978 | ||
11 | Edul Jahangir Dhatigara | 4 September 1978 | 31 January 1980 | ||
12 | Lal Singh Grewal | 1 February 1980 | 31 December 1980 | ||
13 | Dilbagh Singh | 1 January 1981 | 31 August 1981 | [11] | |
14 | Trilochan Singh Brar | 22 September 1981 | 31 December 1983 | ||
15 | Jagdish Raj Bhasin | 1 January 1984 | 31 October 1984 | ||
16 | Prem Pal Singh | 1 November 1984 | 31 October 1984 | [12] | |
17 | Subramaniam Raghavendran | 1 January 1986 | 29 February 1988 | ||
18 | Nirmal Chandra Suri** | 1 March 1988 | 31 August 1991 | ||
19 | Palamadai Muthuswamy Ramachandran | 14 October 1991 | 28 February 1993 | ||
20 | Pondicherry Jayarao Jayakumar | 1 March 1993 | 30 April 1994 | ||
21 | Pratap Rao | 6 June 1994 | 31 July 1995 | ||
22 | Satish Kumar Sareen** | 1 August 1995 | 31 December 1995 | [13] | |
23 | Trevor Raymond Joseph Osman | 1 January 1996 | 31 March 1997 | [14] | |
24 | Anil Yashwant Tipnis** | 1 April 1997 | 31 December 1998 | [15] | |
25 | Prithvi Singh Brar | 4 January 1999 | 31 July 2000 | [16] | |
26 | Vinod Patney | 1 August 2000 | 31 July 2001 | [17] | |
27 | Srinivasapuram Krishnaswamy** | 1 August 2001 | 31 December 2001 | [18] | |
28 | Satish Govind Inamdar | 1 January 2002 | 31 January 2003 | [19] | |
29 | Michael McMahon | 1 February 2003 | 30 September 2004 | [20] | |
30 | Sunil Kumar Malik | 1 October 2004 | 31 July 2005 | [21] | |
31 | Ajit Bhavnani | 22 August 2005 | 31 October 2006 | [22] [23] | |
32 | B. N. Gokhale | 1 November 2006 | 31 December 2007 | [24] | |
33 | Pradeep Vasant Naik** | 1 January 2008 | 31 May 2009 | [25] | |
34 | Pranab Kumar Barbora | 1 June 2009 | 31 December 2010 | [26] | |
35 | Norman Anil Kumar Browne** | 1 January 2011 | 31 July 2011 | [27] | |
36 | Krishan Kumar Nohwar | 1 August 2011 | 31 May 2012 | [28] | |
37 | Dinesh Chandra Kumaria | 1 June 2012 | 30 June 2013 | [29] | |
38 | Arup Raha** | 1 July 2013 | 31 December 2013 | [30] | |
39 | Ravi Kant Sharma | 31 December 2013 | 30 May 2015 | [31] [32] | |
40 | Birender Singh Dhanoa** | 31 May 2015 | 31 December 2016 | [33] | |
41 | Shirish Baban Deo | 31 December 2016 | 30 September 2018 | [34] | |
42 | Anil Khosla | 1 October 2018 | 30 April 2019 | [35] | |
43 | Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria** | 1 May 2019 | 30 September 2019 | [36] | |
44 | Harjit Singh Arora | 1 October 2019 | 30 June 2021 | [37] [38] | |
45 | Vivek Ram Chaudhari** | 1 July 2021 | 30 September 2021 | [39] | |
46 | Sandeep Singh | 1 October 2021 | 31 January 2023 | [40] | |
47 | Amar Preet Singh | 1 February 2023 | Incumbent | [41] |
** Went on to become Chief of the Air Staff
Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh, was a senior air officer of the Indian Air Force. He served as the 3rd Chief of the Air Staff from 1964 to 1969, leading the Air Force through the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. He was the first and only officer of the Indian Air Force (IAF) to be promoted to five-star rank as Marshal of the Indian Air Force, equal to the army rank of Field Marshal.
Air Chief Marshal Idris Hasan Latif, PVSM was a former air officer in the Indian Air Force. He served as the 10th Chief of Air Staff (CAS) of the Indian Air Force (IAF) from 1978 to 1981. After retiring from the air force, he served as 11th Governor of Maharashtra from 1982 to 1985.
Air Marshal Subroto Mukerjee OBE was an Indian military officer who was the first Indian Commander-in-Chief (C-in-C) of the Indian Air Force. He was awarded several honours during the course of a three-decade-long career, ended by his untimely demise in 1960. He has been called the Father of the Indian Air Force.
Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major, PVSM, AVSM, SC, VM, ADC served as the 21st Chief of the Air Staff of the Indian Air Force, taking office on 1 April 2007, and becoming the first helicopter pilot in the service to be promoted to the office of Chief. He retired on 31 May 2009, and was succeeded in office by Air Chief Marshal P V Naik.
Air Chief Marshal Srinivasapuram Krishnaswamy PVSM, AVSM, VM & Bar, ADC is a former Air Officer in the Indian Air Force (IAF). He served as the 19th Chief of the Air Staff from 2001 to 2004. He raised the first electronic warfare squadron in the Indian Air Force. He has the rare distinction of having commanded three operational commands of the IAF - the Western, South-Western and Central Air Commands.
Air Chief Marshal Anil Yashwant Tipnis, PVSM, AVSM, VM, ADC served as Chief of the Air Staff of the Indian Air Force from 31 December 1998 to 31 December 2001. He commanded the Air Force to distinction during the Kargil War, when the force flew air superiority and close air support at heights of over 18,000 feet
Air Chief Marshal Hrushikesh Moolgavkar, PVSM, MVC was a former Air officer in the Indian Air Force. He served as the 9th Chief of the Air Staff of the Indian Air Force from 1 February 1976 till 31 August 1978.
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Air Marshal Chandrashekharan Hari Kumar, PVSM, AVSM, VM, VSM, ADC is a retired officer of the Indian Air Force. He served as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C), Western Air Command from 1 January 2017 to 28 February 2019. He assumed the office from Air Marshal Shirish Baban Deo and was succeeded by Air Marshal Raghunath Nambiar.
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Air Chief Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria, is a retired Indian Air Force officer, who served as the Chief of the Air Staff of the Indian Air Force, having assumed office on 30 September 2019 after the retirement of Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa. He retired on 30 September 2021 and was succeeded by Air Chief Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari.
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