An aircraft of the Indian Air Force (IAF), at Air Force Station, Agra, August 18, 2023.
PTI Photo
The Indian Air Force will get its first batch of weapons systems officers next year for handling missiles, drones and space-based systems, Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal V R Chaudhari said in the national capital on Wednesday.
“We've got the government sanction for establishing this branch completely. The Air Force Common Admission Test was conducted a few weeks ago for the selection of candidates to join this branch. The first batch of 33 officer cadets will join the (IAF) academy at the beginning of next year and will get commissioned at the end of next year as weapon system branch officers,” Air Chief Marshal Chaudhari said at an event in New Delhi.
Last year the government approved opening up a new branch – the first one since independence – to handle weapon systems, freeing the fighter pilots for their core competence, flying combat jets.
The new branch will have four sub-branches – (1) to operate the weapons in twin and multi-crew aircraft (2) for handling space-based intelligence and satellite images (3) to operate remotely piloted aircraft and (4) mission commanders and operators for surface-to-ground weapons, surface-to-surface missiles and close-in weapon systems.
The IAF chief said a dedicated weapon system school would be set up at Air Force Station, Begumpet.
The training will occur in two stages – the first stage will be conducted at the IAF academy at Dundigal, whereas the second part of the training will be conducted at the new school at Begumpet. The syllabus would be common for all the four sub-branches.
While making the announcement last year, he stated that the introduction of such a branch would save the air force of Rs 3,400 crore on training - as trained pilots would not be taken away for non-flying tasks.
Air Chief Marshal Chaudhari said the IAF will post its officers as Additional Defence Attaches in Armenia, Spain and Ivory Coast. A Liaison Officer will also be posted in the American Pacific Air Command.
As many as 155 women Agniveers are undergoing training at the IAF training centre in Belgaum and there are 17 women officers in the fighter branch.