All you need to know about our REAL Fighters : Indian Air Force

The Indian Air Force on hearing these 4 words the blood circulating faster in our body. Being a civilian what is the 1^st picture that comes to your mind on hearing the word Air Force? Let me guess what most of you will think, probably you will be thinking about Air Shows where in you all sorts of crazy breath taking stunts and the sound of the helicopters travelling over your location. If this is what you think then that’s the perfect track you guys are up to.

Starting off with the motto the Indian Air Force follows its "नभःस्पृशं दीप्तम्" ("Nabhaḥ spr̥śaṁ dīptam") which actually means "Touch the Sky with Glory". These 3 words gives the whole description about the Air Force. Those 3 golden words are beauty in itself.

Quick Statistics about Air Arm of India:-

·         It was founded on 8^th October 1932

·         Number of people – 127,000

·         Notable Commanders –

Ø  Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh

Ø  Air Chief Marshal Pratap Chandra Lal

Ø  Air Marshal Subroto Mukherjee

·         Current Commanders –

Ø  Air Chief Marshal – Arup Raha

Ø  Vice Air Chief Marshal - BS Dhanoa

Insignia Of India Air Force:

The following one is the presently used insignia.

There are 7 commands of the air force:-

Ø  Operational Commands

·         Central Air Command (CAC), headquartered at Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh

·         Eastern Air Command (EAC), headquartered at Shillong, Meghalaya

·         Southern Air Command (SAC), headquartered at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala

·         South Western Air Command (SWAC), headquartered at Gandhinagar, Gujarat

·         Western Air Command (WAC), headquartered at New Delhi

Ø  Functional Commands

·         Training Command (TC), headquartered at Bangalore, Karnataka

·         Maintenance Command (MC), headquartered at Nagpur, Maharashtra

Ranks of the officers:-

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Quick Facts:-

·         IAF has 47 wings and 19 FSBU.

·         A Wing is a formation intermediate between a Command and a Squadron.

·         Each wing is headed by a Group Captain

·         IAF also comprises of squadrons which is headed by CO with group captain.

Flights

Flights are sub-divisions of Squadrons, commanded by a Squadron Leader.

Within this formation structure, IAF has several service branches for day-to-day operations.

I know you guys are wondering so long information and still no mentions of jets, helicopters and other inventories.

So here it goes.

Air Force Inventory:-

Attack	Jaguar, MiG-27, Harpy
Electronic warfare	A-50E/I, DRDO AEW&CS, Ilyushin A-50
Fighter	Su-30MKI, Mirage 2000, MiG-29, HAL Tejas, MiG-21
Helicopter	Dhruv, Chetak, Cheetah, Mi-8, Mi-17, Mi-26, Mi-25/35
Reconnaissance	Searcher II, Heron
Trainer	Hawk Mk 132, HPT-32 Deepak, HJT-16 Kiran, Pilatus C-7 Mk II
Transport	C-17 Globemaster III, Il-76, An-32, HS 748, Do 228, Boeing 737, ERJ 135, Il-78 MKI, C-130J
Air Refuelling	7 Ilyushin Il-78MKIs

Missiles:-

·         Surface to Air-

Ø  S-125 Pechora

Ø  9K33 OSA

Ø  Akash (in progress)

·         Ballistic

Ø  PRITHVI-II

Future Planning:-

IAF plans to set up total of 42 squadrons and already has been recruiting new technology aircrafts by replacing the older ones.

The IAF has placed orders for 48 HAL Tejas fighters, 112 Pilatus PC-7MkII basic trainers,[ 72 HAL HJT-36 Sitara trainers, 10 C-17 Globemaster III strategic air-lifters, 65 HAL Light Combat Helicopters, 139 Mi-17V-5 helicopters and the IAF has also ordered 18 Israeli SPYDER Surface to Air Missile (SAM) units. It was announced in 2012 that India will order 126 Dassault Rafale multi-role fighters at a cost of USD 20 billion as part of the MRCA competition, 6 Airbus A330 tanker aircraft, 22 AH-64E Apache Longbow heavy attack helicopters,[176] 15 CH-47F medium lift helicopters and IAI Harop UCAVs. As of January 2013, news reports have begun to appear that India may order an additional 63 Rafale fighter jets from France, increasing the total number of the French jets to 189. The IAF has issued a Request for Information (RFI) for 16 C-27J Spartan medium military transport aircraft. A new Request For Information has been issued to replace Hawker Siddeley HS 748 for $2.4 billion. The IAF also submitted a request for information to international suppliers for a stealth unmanned combat air vehicle (UCAV) and the Indian Ministry of Defence (MOD) will float a tender for 125 light helicopters.

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In the end let’s not forget the contribution of IAF in wars so let’s recall the name of the memorable battles in which IAF got the great successes –

Ø  World War II

Ø  Indo-Pakistani War of 1947

Ø  Congo Crisis

Ø  Operation Vijay

Ø  Sino-Indian War

Ø  Indo-Pakistani War of 1965

Ø  Operation Poomalai

Ø  Operation Pawan

Ø  Operation Cactus

Ø  Kargil War 

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About the Author: Vinesh Kemchandani is an Ex- Dipsite who has been a state horse rider of Maharashtra since last 3 years and is doing horse riding for 11 years and wants to become an international level rider. He has achievements in other sports too in his kitty. He is excellent in studies and has scored good ranks in many Olympiads at international level. He desires to become an officer and has cleared his NDA in 2015.