Indian Air Force Academy, Dundigal is a Defence Service training institute located in Medchal-Malkajgiri district from

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern Indi ...

, in the

Indian state India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, with a total of 36 entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and smaller administrative divisions. History Pre-indepen ...

Telangana Telangana (; , ) is a state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the eleventh-largest state and the twelfth-most populated state in India with a geographical area of and 35 ...

. The academy was set up to train cadets from Indian Airforce Service cadre officers. It imparts training to the flying, technical and ground duty branches as well as officers of the Indian Navy & the Indian Coast Guard. This is a home for the officer trainees who learn their specialisation and are nurtured to become capable leaders. After one year's training, officer cadets are commissioned into various branches of the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) is the air force, air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks third amongst the air forces of the world. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct ...

(IAF). It inducted women cadets into the IAF for the first time in June 1993.

History

The foundation stone of the Air Force Academy was laid by the then

President of India The president of India ( IAST: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, as well as the commander-in-chief of the Indian Armed Forces. Droupadi Murm ...

Dr. Zakir Hussain (8 February 1897 – 3 May 1969) known as Dr. Zakir Husain, was an Indian educationist and politician who served as President of India from 13 May 1967 until his death on 3 May 1969. Born into an Afridi Pashtun family in Hyderabad, Husa ...

on 11 October 1967. The academy was established in 1969 and started operations in 1971. It is located at Dundigal, about from the twin cities of

and

Secunderabad Secunderabad, also spelled as Sikandarabad (, ), is a twin city of Hyderabad and one of the six zones of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in the Indian state of Telangana. It is the headquarters of the South Central Railway ...

, spread over . Air Commodore J. D. Aquino was the first Commandant of the academy.

Commandant

The Commandant is the head and in-charge of all the functioning of the Air Force Academy. The Commandant of the Academy is a

Three-star rank An officer of three-star rank is a senior commander in many of the armed services holding a rank described by the NATO code of OF-8. The term is also used by some armed forces which are not NATO members. Typically, three-star officers hold the ...

officer holding the rank of Air Marshal.

Training

In this academy, IAF pilots are trained to learn flying through successive stages. Those who pass out as fighter pilots serve in front-line combat squadrons equipped with Rafale,

Su-30MKI The Sukhoi Su-30MKI (NATO reporting name: Flanker-H) is a twinjet multirole air superiority fighter developed by Russia's Sukhoi and built under licence by India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for the Indian Air Force (IAF). A varian ...

MiG-29 The Mikoyan MiG-29 (russian: Микоян МиГ-29; NATO reporting name: Fulcrum) is a twin-engine fighter aircraft designed in the Soviet Union. Developed by the Mikoyan design bureau as an air superiority fighter during the 1970s, the Mi ...

MiG-21 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 (russian: Микоян и Гуревич МиГ-21; NATO reporting name: Fishbed) is a supersonic jet fighter and interceptor aircraft, designed by the Mikoyan-Gurevich Design Bureau in the Soviet Union. Its nickn ...

Mirage 2000 The Dassault Mirage 2000 is a French multirole, single-engine, fourth-generation jet fighter manufactured by Dassault Aviation. It was designed in the late 1970s as a lightweight fighter to replace the Mirage III for the French Air Force (' ...

, Tejas aircraft. For those interested in flying transport aircraft, the IAF offers heavy multi engined

Il-76 The Ilyushin Il-76 (russian: Илью́шин Ил-76; NATO reporting name: Candid) is a multi-purpose, fixed-wing, four-engine turbofan strategic airlifter designed by the Soviet Union's Ilyushin design bureau. It was first planned as a comme ...

aircraft,

C-17 Globemaster III The McDonnell Douglas/Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is a large military transport aircraft that was developed for the United States Air Force (USAF) from the 1980s to the early 1990s by McDonnell Douglas. The C-17 carries forward the name of t ...

and the twin engined multi role

An-32 The Antonov An-32 ( NATO reporting name: Cline) is a turboprop twin-engined military transport aircraft. Design and development The An-32 is essentially a re-engined An-26. It is designed to withstand adverse weather conditions better than the ...

transport aircraft, besides

HS 748 The Hawker Siddeley HS 748 is a medium-sized turboprop airliner originally designed and initially produced by the British aircraft manufacturer Avro. It was the last aircraft to be developed by Avro prior to its absorption by Hawker Siddeley ...

and the

Dornier 228 The Dornier 228 is a twin- turboprop STOL utility aircraft, designed and first manufactured by Dornier GmbH (later DASA Dornier, Fairchild-Dornier) from 1981 until 1998. Two hundred and forty-five were built in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. In ...

light utility transport aircraft. By joining the helicopter fleet, the trainees learn to fly at treetop height and landing in remote areas. The curriculum also includes flying helicopter gunships like Indian developed Dhruv, Attack helicopter like

AH-64 Apache The Boeing AH-64 Apache () is an American twin- turboshaft attack helicopter with a tailwheel-type landing gear arrangement and a tandem cockpit for a crew of two. It features a nose-mounted sensor suite for target acquisition and night v ...

, Mi-26, heavy-lift choppers, casualty evacuation, para dropping of troops and air lifting of supplies. The academy imparts specialist training to young men and women who shoulder responsibility as leaders in other areas of air force operations. These are administrative, air controlling, meteorological, logistics, accounts and education branches. Swimming, field and indoor games are included in the evening routine. Officers from friendly foreign countries are also occasionally trained at the Air Force Academy. The following are the types of training conducted at the academy: * Flying training If a cadet has joined the Flying Branch, training is divided into Stage I, II and III. Each stage takes the trainee pilots from fundamental to more complex levels of aviation. It is after Stage I that the cadets are sent for specialisation on fighter, helicopter or transport aircraft. * Air Traffic Control Officers' training The training at the Air Force Academy for Air Traffic Control is designed on the basis of the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) procedures, altered to suit the military aviation requirements. * Ground Duty Officers' training Ground Duty Officers' training is for all non-technical branches of the Indian Air Force. If the cadet has joined the Administrative, Logistics, Accounts, Education or Meteorology division, they will be trained at the Air Force Academy before joining the Air Force as Ground Duty Officer. * Joint Services training Cadets of the Flying, Air Traffic Control and the Ground Duty Branches are imparted Joint Services Training here for 22 weeks.Training for Aeronautical Engineering Branches
/ref> The cadets selected for entry into the Aeronautical Engineering Branches are sent to the Air Force Technical College at Jalahalli, Bangalore. Training includes common service subjects like administration and service knowledge.

References

External links

Dundigul Air Force Academy at Global Security
{{Indian Air Force Indian Air Force Air force academies Military academies of India Universities and colleges in Hyderabad, India Airports in Telangana 1969 establishments in Andhra Pradesh

History

Commandant

Training

See also

References

External links