Vice Chief of the Air Staff (Pakistan)

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Vice Chief of the Air Staff
وائس چیف آف ایئر سٹاف
Air Force Ensign of Pakistan.svg
Incumbent
Air Marshal
Air Force Ensign of Pakistan.svg  Pakistan Air Force
Type Second-in-command of Pakistan Air Force
AbbreviationVCAS
Reports to Chief of the Air Staff
Seat AHQ (PAF), Islamabad
Deputy Deputy Chief of the Air Staff

The Vice Chief of the Air Staff (VCAS) is the principal deputy and second-in-command of the Pakistan Air Force, reporting under the Chief of the Air Staff. [1] [2] Before Mohammad Akhtar's appointment, the position was called Chief of Staff. When he took over, it was renamed Deputy Chief of Air Staff, and in 1979, it became Vice Chief of Staff, typically held by an Air Marshal, a three-star rank air force officer, who is responsible for flight safety, intelligence, procurement, public relations, and the PAF Air War College. [2]

Contents

List of Vice Chiefs of the Air Staff

Each individual listed below has held the same position, which was titled Chief of Staff (C.O.S.) from 1948 to 1964, Deputy Chief of Air Staff (DCAS) from 1964 to 1979, with the exception of Stephen Aratoon Yusaf, who served as Chief of Staff from 1969 to 1970 alongside DCAS Khyber Khan. Since 1979, the position has been titled Vice Chief of the Air Staff (VCAS). [3]

NameAppointment dateLeft officeReferences
Douglas Lloyd AmlotApril 1949July 1951 [4] [5]
Haider Raza20 December 195420 June 1957 [3]
Maqbool Rabb21 June 195724 March 1959 [3]
M. A. Rahman 29 March 195925 November 1964 [3]
Mohammad Akhtar26 November 19648 April 1966 [3]
Stephen Aratoon Yusaf9 April 196618 April 1967 [3]
Abdul Qadir19 April 196713 January 1969 [3]
Khyber Khan 1 February 196919 March 1970 [3]
Stephen Aratoon Yusaf1 May 196928 February 1970 [3]
Eric G. Hall 1 April 19703 June 1972 [3]
Saeedullah Khan 22 June 197229 June 1973 [3]
Chaudhary Rab Nawaz21 July 197312 May 1974 [3]
Michael John O'Brian 13 May 197431 August 1975 [3]
M. Mahmood Hasan1 September 197522 July 1978 [3]
Ayaz Ahmed Khan10 August 197921 July 1981 [3]
A Rashid Shaikh22 July 1981April 1984 [3]
Jamal A. Khan April 1984December 1985 [3]
Shabbir Hussain SyedDecember 1985March 1988 [3]
Farooq Feroze Khan March 1988December 1989 [3]
Syed Masood HatifFebruary 1990July 1993 [3]
Shafique HaiderJuly 1993November 1994 [6]
Muhammad Arshad ChaudhryDecember 1994January 1997 [3]
Pervaiz Mehdi Qureshi May 1997November 1997 [6]
AliuddinDecember 1997November 1999 [6]
Hifazat Ullah Khan 29 March 20094 October 2010
Tahir Rafique Butt 5 October 20108 June 2012
Farhat Hussain Khan9 June 20129 July 2013 [7]
Sohail Gul8 August 201410 April 2015 [8]
Saeed Muhammad Khan11 April 20155 October 2017 [9]
Farooq Habib6 October 20173 November 2018 [10]
Aasim Zaheer4 November 201817 January 2020 [11]
Ahmer Shehzad Leghari 18 January 202019 March 2021 [12]
Syed Noman Ali20 March 202120 March 2022
Muhammad Zahid Mahmood 21 March 2022August 2023 [13]
Hamid Randhawa 14 September 202314 November

2024

 [14]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "PAF Structure – Principal Staff Officers". Pakistan Air Force . Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  2. 1 2 Khan, H. "Command & Structure". PakDef Military Consortium. Archived from the original on 21 August 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 History of the Pakistan Air Force, 1947-1982, Pakistan Air Force, 1982 (p. 222)
  4. ↑ AMLOT TO OFFICIATE FOR ATCHERLEY New RPAF Commander's Impressive Record. The Civil and Military Gazette of Lahore. 11 November 1949. Amlot has assumed command of the R.PA.F., during the absence of Air Vice-Marshal R. L. R. Atcherley in Australia. Air Commodore Amlot has been with the R.P.A.F. since August 1948. Prior to his appointment in April this year as Chief of Staff.
  5. ↑ "Air Commodore D L Amlot (37441)".
  6. 1 2 3 Shaikh, A. Rashid (2000). The Story of Pakistan Air Force: A Battle Against Odds, 1988-1998. Shaheen Foundation. p. 370.
  7. ↑ "Air Marshal Farhat Hussain Khan Appointed as Vice chief of Air Staff" (PDF). Pakistan Air Force. 9 June 2012.
  8. ↑ "Sohail Gul appointed Vice Chief of Air Staff". Dawn . 8 August 2014. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  9. ↑ "Saeed appointed Vice Chief of Air Staff". The Nation . 11 April 2015. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  10. ↑ "Air Marshal Farooq Habib appointed as Vice Chief of the Air Staff". The News International. 6 October 2017. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  11. ↑ "Aasim Zaheer named Vice Chief of Air Staff". Dawn . 4 November 2018. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  12. ↑ Anis, Muhammad (18 January 2020). "Air Marshal Leghari made VCAS, Commodore Faisal promoted". The News International . Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  13. ↑ "Air Marshal Zahid becomes Vice Chief of Air Staff". The News International . 22 March 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  14. ↑ "Hamid Rashid Randhawa", Wikipedia, 16 July 2025, retrieved 7 September 2025
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