Vice Chief of the Air Staff (India) explained

Post:Vice Chief
Body:the Air Staff
Flag:File:Flag of Air marshal (India).svg
Flagsize:150px
Flagcaption:Flag of Air Marshal
Incumbent:Air Marshal Amar Preet Singh
Incumbentsince:1 February 2023
Reports To:Chief of the Air Staff
Seat:Air Headquarters, New Delhi
Appointer:ACC
First:Atma Ram Nanda
Abbreviation:VCAS
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]

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]

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]

Order of Precedence

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]

Appointees

No. Rank Name Appointment date Left office References
1Air Vice MarshalDiwan Atma Ram Nanda
2Arjan Singh[8]
3Pratap Chandra Lal[9]
Air Marshal
4Ramaswamy Rajaram
5Shivdev Singh[10]
6Yeshwant Vinayak Malse
7Hari Chand Dewan
8Anand Ramdas Pandit
9Devaiah Subia[11]
10Idris Hasan Latif
11Edul Jahangir Dhatigara
12Lal Singh Grewal
13Dilbagh Singh
14Trilochan Singh Brar
15Jagdish Raj Bhasin
16Prem Pal Singh[12]
17Subramaniam Raghavendran
18Nirmal Chandra Suri
19Palamadai Muthuswamy Ramachandran
20Pondicherry Jayarao Jayakumar
21Pratap Rao
22Satish Kumar Sareen[13]
23Trevor Raymond Joseph Osman[14]
24Anil Yashwant Tipnis[15]
25Prithvi Singh Brar[16]
26Vinod Patney[17]
27Srinivasapuram Krishnaswamy[18]
28Satish Govind Inamdar[19]
29Michael McMahon[20]
30Sunil Kumar Malik[21]
31Ajit Bhavnani[22] [23]
32B. N. Gokhale[24]
33Pradeep Vasant Naik[25]
34Pranab Kumar Barbora[26]
35Norman Anil Kumar Browne[27]
36Krishan Kumar Nohwar[28]
37Dinesh Chandra Kumaria[29]
38Arup Raha[30]
39Ravi Kant Sharma[31] [32]
40Birender Singh Dhanoa[33]
41[34]
42[35]
43Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria[36]
44Harjit Singh Arora[37] [38]
45Vivek Ram Chaudhari[39]
46Sandeep Singh[40]
47Amar Preet SinghIncumbent[41]
** Went on to become Chief of the Air Staff

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: India Strategic – The authoritative monthly on Defence and Strategic Affairs. indiastrategic.in. 22 March 2019.
  2. Web site: Air Marshal Sandeep Singh AVSM VM assumes the Appointment of Vice Chief of the Air Staff. PIB. 2021-10-13.
  3. Web site: RIAF APPOINTMENTS . archive.pib.gov.in . 14 August 1947. 11 January 2022.
  4. Web site: THE GAZETTE OF INDIA . archive.pib.gov.in . 12 January 1963. 11 January 2022.
  5. Web site: HIGHER RANK FOR AIR CHIEF . pibarchive.nic.in . 20 January 1966.
  6. Web site: Office of the President of India . . 2010-08-05 . 1979-08-26 . President's Secretariat.
  7. Web site: Report of the Seventh Central Pay Commission . https://web.archive.org/web/20151120092637/http://7cpc.india.gov.in/pdf/sevencpcreport.pdf . dead . 20 November 2015 . 20 November 2015 . 2023-03-30.
  8. Web site: Marshal of The Air Force Indian Air Force Government of India . indianairforce.nic.in.
  9. Web site: Pratap Chandra Lal Padam Vibhushan, Padam Bhushan, DFC CAS Indian Air Force Government of India . indianairforce.nic.in.
  10. Book: Chowdhry . Mohindra S. . Defence of Europe by Sikh Soldiers in the World Wars . 2018 . Troubador Publishing Ltd . Leicestershire . 978-1788037-983 . 365–366 . https://books.google.com/books?id=twFQDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA365 . en . 7. Sikhs in the Second World War.
  11. Web site: Air Marshal Devaiah Subia . Bharat Rakshak. 2023-03-30.
  12. Web site: AIR MARSHAL PP SINGH APPOINTED VICE CHIEF OF AIR STAFF . pibarchive.nic.in . 16 November 1984.
  13. Web site: Satish Kumar Sareen PVSM AVSM VM ADC CAS Indian Air Force Government of India . indianairforce.nic.in.
  14. Web site: Air Marshal Trevor Osman . The General Thimayya Memorial Trust.
  15. Web site: A.Y. Tipnis PVSM,AVSM, VM, ADC CAS Indian Air Force Government of India . indianairforce.nic.in.
  16. Web site: rediff.com: Kargil hero is IAF vice-chief . www.rediff.com.
  17. Web site: Vinod Patney Vice-Chief of Air Staff . . 2000-06-18 .
  18. Web site: Latest Releases . pibarchive.nic.in.
  19. Web site: New vice-chiefs for Navy, IAF . . 2001-12-27 .
  20. Web site: Air Marshal McMahon is new IAF vice-chief - Times of India . The Times of India.
  21. Web site: English Releases . pib.nic.in.
  22. Web site: Bhavnani is new Vice Chief of Air Staff . www.rediff.com.
  23. Web site: Air Marshal Bhavnani new Vice Chief of Air Staff . www.outlookindia.com.
  24. Web site: Air Marshal B N Gokhale takes over as new Vice Chief of Air Staff . news.webindia123.com . 1 December 2015 . 21 March 2019 . 21 March 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190321111012/https://news.webindia123.com/news/articles/India/20061101/495267.html . dead .
  25. Web site: PV Naik new Vice Chief of Air Staff . www.hindustantimes.com . Hindustan Times.
  26. Web site: AIR MARSHAL PK BARBORA NEW VICE CHIEF . pib.nic.in . PIB.
  27. Web site: Air Marshal NAK Browne will be The Next Chief of Air Staff . pib.nic.in . PIB.
  28. Web site: Air Marshal K K Nohwar, chief of the Eastern Air Command, will take over as the new IAF vice chief on August 1. . timesofindia.indiatimes.com . TOI.
  29. Web site: Air Marshal Kumaria to take over as IAF Vice Chief . www.firstpost.com.
  30. Web site: Air Marshal Arup Raha Take Over as Vice Chief of Air Staff . pib.nic.in . PIB.
  31. Web site: Vice Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal RK Sharma PVSM AVSM VM ADC Retires on 31 May 2015 . pib.nic.in/.
  32. Web site: Air Marshal R K Sharma to retire . economictimes.indiatimes.com.
  33. Web site: Air Marshal BS Dhanoa takes charge as Vice Chief of Air Staff . zeenews.india.com.
  34. Web site: Air Marshal SB Deo takes over as Vice Chief of the Air Staff of Indian Air Force . pib.nic.in.
  35. News: Air Marshal Anil Khosla to take charge as Vice Chief of Air Force on Monday. Press Trust of India. 2018-09-28. Business Standard India. 2018-10-01.
  36. Air Marshal Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria PVSM AVSM VM ADC Takes Over as Vice Chief of the Air Staff . 1 May 2019. Press Information Bureau.
  37. IAF_MCC. 1178935291228241920. Air Marshal Harjit Singh Arora, took over as Vice Chief of the Air Staff today. He was commissioned into the fighter stream of IAF in Dec 1981. He has a vast experience of operational flying on modern and legacy fighters in the IAF inventory.. 2019-10-01.
  38. Web site: Air Marshal Harjit Singh Arora AVSM ADC assumes charge as Vice Chief of the Air Staff. 2019-10-01.
  39. Web site: AIR MARSHAL VIVEK RAM CHAUDHARI PVSM AVSM VM ASSUMES CHARGE AS VICE CHIEF OF THE AIR STAFF. PIB. 2021-07-01.
  40. Web site: Air Marshal Sandeep Singh AVSM VM assumes the Appointment of Vice Chief of the Air Staff. PIB. 2021-10-13.
  41. AIR MARSHAL AP SINGH ASSUMES APPOINTMENT OF VICE CHIEF OF THE AIR STAFF. PIB. 2023-02-01.