Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (India)

Indian Air Force rank

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Deputy Chief of the Air Staff

Flag of an Air Marshal

Incumbent
Air Marshal Tejinder Singh, AVSM, VM

since 1 September 2024

Indian Air Force
Type| Principal Staff Officer
Abbreviation| DCAS
Reports to| Chief of the Air Staff
Seat| Air Headquarters, New Delhi
First holder| Air Vice Marshal Subroto Mukerjee
Salary| ₹224,000 (US$2,700)

The Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (DCAS) is a senior appointment in the Indian Air Force.[1] The DCAS is a PSO (Principal Staff Officer) at Air Force Headquarters in New Delhi. The office is held by a Three Star Officer in the rank of Air Marshal. The current DCAS is Air Marshal Tejinder Singh who took over from Air Marshal Ashutosh Dixit on 1 September 2024.[2]

## History

[edit]

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] In 1968, the post was upgraded to three-star rank Air Marshal.[1]

The DCAS ranks at No. 24 on the Indian order of precedence, along with Lieutenant Generals of the Indian Army and Vice Admirals of the Indian Navy. The DCAS is in the HAG+ pay scale (pay level 16), and draws salary depending on the years in service. However, since they should not draw equivalent or more than the next higher level, the remuneration is capped at ₹224,000.[5][6]

## Appointees

[edit]

S.No.  | Rank  | Name  | Assumed office  | Left office  | Notes

|
|
|
|
|

Deputy Air Commander, Royal Indian Air Force
1  | Air Vice Marshal [n 1] | Subroto Mukerjee**  | 15 August 1947  | 31 January 1949  | [3]
Deputy Chief of the Air Staff
| Air Vice Marshal | Subroto Mukerjee**  | 1 February 1949  | 16 December 1952  | [4]
2  | Aspy Merwan Engineer**  | 17 December 1952  | 30 April 1958  | [7]
3  | Diwan Atma Ram Nanda | 1 May 1958  | 31 December 1962  | [8]
4  | Arjan Singh**  | 1 January 1963  | 4 August 1963  |
5  | Ramaswamy Rajaram | 5 August 1963  | 30 September 1964  | [9]
6  | Minoo Merwan Engineer | 1 October 1964  | 28 February 1968  | [10]
7  | Air Marshal | 1 March 1968  | 4 August 1969  |
8  | Om Prakash Mehra**  | 7 August 1969  | 28 February 1971  | [11]
9  | Hirendra Nath Chatterjee | 30 March 1971  | 31 March 1972  | [11]
10  | Yeshwant Vinayak Malse | 3 May 1972  | 31 March 1973  | [12]
11  | Hari Chand Dewan | 1 April 1973  | 18 October 1973  | [12]
12  | Sarosh Jehangir Dastur | 12 November 1973  | 27 June 1974  | [13]
13  | Devaiah Subia | 27 June 1974  | 31 March 1977  |
14  | Jafar Zaheer | 20 May 1977  | 23 August 1978  |
15  | Lal Singh Grewal | 24 August 1978  | 31 January 1980  |
16  | Malcolm Wollen | 16 April 1980  | 2 January 1981  | [14]
17  | Chandra Kant Viswanath Gole | 15 January 1981  | 30 June 1983  | [15]
18  | Kapil Dev Chadha | 8 July 1983  | 31 October 1984  |
19  | Johney William Greene | 1 January 1985  | 31 May 1986  | [16]
20  | Surinder Mehra**  | 1 June 1986  | 28 February 1987  | [17]
21  | Prithi Singh | 1 March 1987  | 31 July 1988  | [18]
22  | Rajendra Kumar Dhawan | 1 August 1988  | 1 April 1990  |
23  | Brijesh Dhar Jayal | 2 April 1990  | 6 October 1991  | [19]
24  | Trilochan Singh Brar | 7 October 1991  | 30 April 1993  |
25  | Prabhat Kumar Varma | 1 May 1993  | 28 February 1994  |
26  | Sharadkumar Ramakrishna Deshpande | 1 March 1994  | 31 January 1996  |
27  | Srinivasapuram Krishnaswamy**  | 1 February 1996  | 23 July 1996  |
28  | Man Mohan Singh Vasudeva | 24 July 1996  | 31 August 1997  |
29  | Syed Shahid Hussain Naqvi | 1 September 1997  | 30 September 1999  | [20]
30  | Satish Govind Inamdar | 1 October 1999  | 30 November 2000  | [21]
31  | Tej Mohan Asthana | 1 December 2000  | 17 March 2002  |
32  | Raghu Rajan | 5 June 2002  | 31 March 2004  |
33  | Jaspal Singh Gujral | 1 April 2004  | 30 April 2005  |
34  | Arvind Kumar Nagalia | 24 August 2005  | 28 February 2007  | [22]
35  | Norman Anil Kumar Browne**  | 1 March 2007  | 31 May 2009  | [23]
36  | Nirdosh Vatsyayan Tyagi | 1 June 2009  | 31 January 2011  | [24]
37  | Ravi Kant Sharma | 1 February 2011  | 30 November 2012  |
38  | Subramanyam Sukumar | 1 December 2012  | 28 February 2014  |
39  | Sridharan Panicker Radha Krishnan Nair | 1 March 2014  | 30 April 2014  |
40  | Shyam Bihari Prasad Sinha | 1 May 2014  | 31 December 2015  | [25]
41  | Rakesh Kumar Singh Bhadauria**  | 1 January 2016  | 28 February 2017  |
42  | Raghunath Nambiar | 1 March 2017  | 30 September 2018  |
43  | Vivek Ram Chaudhari**  | 1 October 2018  | 30 September 2019  | [26]
44  | Sandeep Singh | 1 October 2019  | 30 April 2021  | [27]
45  | Suraj Kumar Jha | 1 May 2021  | 31 July 2021  |
46  | Narmdeshwar Tiwari | 1 October 2021  | 30 April 2023  |
47  | Ashutosh Dixit | 15 May 2023  | 31 August 2024  | [28]
48  | Tejinder Singh  | 1 September 2024  | Incumbent | [2]

** Went on to become Chief of the Air Staff

## See also

[edit]

* Chief of the Air Staff
* Vice Chief of the Air Staff
* Deputy Chief of the Army Staff
* Deputy Chief of the Navy Staff

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Appointed as an Air Commodore, promoted to the rank of Air vice-marshal on 15 November 1947.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b "Deputy Chief of Air Staff Appointments at Air Head Quarters". Bharat Rakshak. Retrieved 2021-12-25.
2. ^ a b "AIR MARSHAL TEJINDER SINGH TAKES OVER AS DEPUTY CHIEF OF THE AIR STAFF" (Press release). PIB. 2024-09-01.
3. ^ a b "RIAF APPOINTMENTS" (PDF). archive.pib.gov.in. 14 August 1947. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
4. ^ a b "THE GAZETTE OF INDIA" (PDF). archive.pib.gov.in. 12 January 1963. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
5. ^ "President's Secretariat" (PDF). Office of the President of India. Rajya Sabha. 26 August 1979. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
6. ^ "Table of Precedence (Updated)" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs. Retrieved 27 December 2021.
7. ^ "Air Vice Marshal Engineer" (PDF). pibarchive.nic.in. 2 December 1954.
8. ^ "AIR FORCE HOCKEY FROM MONDAY" (PDF). archive.pib.gov.in. 13 November 1959. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
9. ^ "AVM RAJARAM NEW COMMANDANT OF NDC" (PDF). pibarchive.nic.in. 10 January 1966.
10. ^ "BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES" (PDF). archive.pib.gov.in. 1 March 1968.
11. ^ a b "AIR MARSHAL H. N. CHATTERJEE - NEW DEPUTY AIR CHIEF" (PDF). archive.pib.gov.in. 18 March 1971. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
12. ^ a b "AIR MARSHAL MALSE APPOINTED VICE CHIEF OF AIR STAFF" (PDF). archive.pib.gov.in. 17 March 1973. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
13. ^ "DASTUR APPOINTED DEPUTY CHIEF OF AIR STAFF" (PDF). archive.pib.gov.in. 13 November 1973. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
14. ^ "AIR MARSHAL WOLLEN APPOINTED DEPUTY CHIEF OF AIR STAFF" (PDF). archive.pib.gov.in. 15 April 1980. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
15. ^ "AIR MARSHAL GOLE APPOINTED DEPUTY CHIEF OF AIR STAFF" (PDF). archive.pib.gov.in. 15 January 1981. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
16. ^ "AIR VICE MARSHAL GREENE PROMOTED AND APPOINTED DEPUTY CHIEF OF AIR STAFF" (PDF). archive.pib.gov.in. 2 January 1985. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
17. ^ "NEW APPOINTMENT FOR AIR MARSHAL MEHRA" (PDF). archive.pib.gov.in. 27 February 1987. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
18. ^ "PIB (Defence Wing)" (PDF). archive.pib.gov.in. 30 July 1988. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
19. ^ "AIR JAYAL APPOINTED DEPUTY CHIEF OF AIR STAFF" (PDF). archive.pib.gov.in. 8 April 1990. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
20. ^ "AIR MARSHAL SS HUSSAIN NAQVI IS THE NEW DEPUTY CHIEF OF AIR STAFF" (PDF). archive.pib.gov.in. 9 September 1997. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
21. ^ "AIR MARSHAL SG INAMDAR TAKES OVER EASTERN AIR COMMAND" (PDF). archive.pib.gov.in. 1 December 2000. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
22. ^ "Air Marshal AK Nagalia takes over as the Deputy Chief of Air Staff". archive.pib.gov.in. 25 August 2005. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
23. ^ "Air Marshal Nak Browne takes Over as the Vice Chief of Air Staff (VCAS)". archive.pib.gov.in. 1 January 2011. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
24. ^ "One Shaurya Chakra, Three Vayu Sena Medals for Gallant Air Force Pilots". archive.pib.gov.in. 25 January 2011. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
25. ^ "Deputy Chief of Air Staff Flies Tejas". archive.pib.gov.in. 3 September 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
26. ^ "IAF Announces Major Reshuffle, Air Marshal VR Chaudhari Takes Over as Deputy Chief of Air Staff". India.com. 2018-10-08. Retrieved 2021-12-25.
27. ^ "Air Marshal Sandeep Singh, Deputy Chief of the Air Staff". SPS Aviation. 2019-09-01. Retrieved 2021-12-25.
28. ^ "AIR MARSHAL ASHUTOSH DIXIT TAKES OVER AS DEPUTY CHIEF OF THE AIR STAFF" (Press release). PIB. 2023-05-15.

* v
* t
* e

Indian Air Force

Leadership|

* Minister of Defence
* Chief of the Air Staff
* Vice Chief of the Air Staff
* Deputy Chief of the Air Staff
* AOCs-in-C (Commander-in-Chief)
* Serving marshals

Components
& commands|

| Air Force commands|

| Operational|

* Central Air Command
* Eastern Air Command
* Southern Air Command
* South Western Air Command
* Western Air Command

|

Functional|

* Training Command
* Maintenance Command

Joint|

* Andaman and Nicobar Command
* Strategic Forces Command
* Defence Cyber Agency
* Defence Space Agency
* Armed Forces Special Operations Division

Air bases|

| Western Air Command|

* Adampur
* Ambala
* Amritsar
* Awantipora
* Bathinda
* Chandigarh
* Faridabad
* Gurugram
* Halwara
* Hindan
* Leh
* Palam
* Pathankot
* Sarsawa
* Siachen Glacier
* Sirsa
* Srinagar
* Udhampur

|

Eastern Air Command|

* Agartala
* Bagdogra
* Barapani AFS
* Barrackpore
* Chabua
* Dum Dum
* Hasimara
* Jorhat
* Kalaikunda
* Kumbhigram
* Mohanbari
* Mountain Shadow
* Tawang
* Tezpur
* Panagarh

Central Air Command|

* Agra
* Bihta
* Darbhanga
* Bakshi Ka Talab
* Bamrauli
* Bareilly
* Chakeri
* Gorakhpur
* Maharajpur

Southern Air Command|

* Car Nicobar
* Coimbatore
* Madurai
* Port Blair
* Tambaram
* Thanjavur

South Western Air Command|

* Bhuj
* Jaisalmer
* Jamnagar
* Jodhpur
* Lohegaon
* Nal-Bikaner
* Naliya
* Phalodi
* Uttarlai
* Makarpura

Training Command|

* Begumpet
* Bidar
* Dundigal
* Hakimpet
* Yelahanka
* Belgaum

Maintenance Command|

* Nagpur
* Ojhar

Advanced Landing Grounds (ALGs)|

* Along
* Chinyalisaur
* Chushul
* Daulat Beg Oldi
* Fukche
* Hayuliang
* Mechuka
* Nyoma
* Pasighat Airport
* Tawang
* Thoise
* Tuting
* Vijaynagar
* Walong
* Ziro

Squadrons|

| Combat|

* No. 1
* 2
* 3
* 4
* 5
* 6
* 7
* 8
* 9
* 14
* 15
* 16
* 17
* 18
* 20
* 23
* 24
* 27
* 28
* 30
* 31
* 45
* 47
* 101
* 102
* 106
* 220
* 221
* 222
* 223
* 224

|

Transport|

* No. 11
* 12
* 19
* 25
* 33
* 41
* 43
* 44
* 48
* 49
* 59
* 77
* 78
* 81
* 87

Helicopters|

| Squadrons|

* No. 104
* 125

|

Units|

* No. 105
* 107
* 109
* 110
* 111
* 112
* 114
* 115
* 116
* 117
* 118
* 119
* 127
* 128
* 129
* 130
* 143
* 152
* 153
* 154
* 155
* 156
* 157
* 158
* 159

Flights|

* No. 121
* 122
* 126
* 131
* 132

Acrobatic display|

* No. 52
* 151 HU

Communication|

* AHQCS

EW/AWS|

* No. 50
* 181
* 200

RPA|

* No. 3001
* 3002
* 3003
* 3004
* 3005

Number plated|

* No. 10
* 21
* 22
* 26
* 29
* 32
* 35
* 37
* 51
* 108

Aircraft|

* List of active Indian military aircraft
* List of historical aircraft of the Indian Air Force

Military
academies|

| Education & training|

* Sainik School
* Armed Forces Medical College
* Ajmer Military School
* Bangalore Military School
* Belgaum Military School
* Chail Military School
* Dholpur Military School
* Rashtriya Indian Military College

|

Schools & colleges|

* Air Force Academy
* Air Force Administrative College
* Air Force School, Coimbatore
* Air Force School, Jodhpur
* Flying Instructors School
* Indian Air Force Test Pilot School
* Tactics and Air Combat Development Establishment
* Air Defence College
* College of Air Warfare

Tri-service institutions|

* Defence Services Staff College
* National Defence Academy
* National Defence College
* College of Defence Management
* Military Institute of Technology

Insignia|

* Awards and decorations
* Ranks and insignia (Officers, JCOs, Airmen)
* Air Force Day
* Air Warrior Drill Team

History & future|

* Royal Indian Air Force
* History of the Indian Air Force
* Future of the Indian Air Force

Other|

* List of exercises of the Indian Air Force

* Category

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