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. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

, in the

Indian state India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, for a total of 36 subnational entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into 800 districts and smaller administrative divisions by the respe ...

Telangana Telangana is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated in the Southern India, south-central part of the Indian subcontinent on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ele ...

. The academy was set up to train cadets from the

Indian Air Force The Indian Air Force (IAF) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the air force, air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during armed conflicts. It was officially established on 8 Octob ...

cadre of 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

(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 (ISO 15919, ISO: ) 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, and the commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the Indian Armed ...

Dr. Zakir Hussain Zakir Husain Khan (8 February 1897 – 3 May 1969) was an Indian Education in India, educationist and politician who served as the Vice President of India, vice president of India from 1962 to 1967 and president of India from 13 May 1 ...

on 11 October 1967. The academy was established in 1969 and started operations in 16 Jan 1971. It is located at Dundigal, about from the twin cities of

and

Secunderabad Secunderabad () is a twin cities, twin city of Hyderabad and one of the six zones of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Telangana. It is the headquarters of the South ...

, spread over .

Air Commodore Air commodore (Air Cdre or Air Cmde) is an air officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes ...

J. D. Aquino was the first Commandant of the academy. Historic trainers used by the IAF included: de Havilland Tiger Moth – Basic trainer (1930s–1950s) North American Harvard – Advanced trainer during WWII and post-independence Percival Prentice – Used briefly post-WWII for pilot training A comprehensive overview of these types and their roles in shaping IAF pilot training has been documented by Gupta (2023).

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 Military star ranking is military terminology, used in mainly English speaking countries, to describe general and flag officers. Within NATO's armed forces, the stars are equal to OF-6–10. Star ranking One-star A one-star rank is usual ...

officer holding the rank of Air Marshal. The present commandant of the academy in Air Marshal Praveen Keshav Vohra.

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 The Dassault Rafale (, literally meaning "gust of wind", or "burst of fire" in a more military sense) is a French twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter aircraft designed and built by Dassault Aviation. Equipped with a wide range ...

Su-30MKI The Sukhoi Su-30MKI (NATO reporting name: Flanker-H) is a two-seater, twinjet multirole air superiority fighter developed by Russian aircraft manufacturer Sukhoi and built under licence by India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) for th ...

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

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

, Mirage 2000, Tejas aircraft. For those interested in flying transport aircraft, the IAF offers heavy multi engined

Il-76 The Ilyushin Il-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 as a commercial freighter in 1967, to replace the Antonov An-12. ...

aircraft,

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

and the twin engined multi role An-32 transport aircraft, besides HS 748 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. 245 were built in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. In 1983, Hindustan Aeronautics ...

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 Hughes/McDonnell Douglas/Boeing AH-64 Apache ( ) is an American twin-turboshaft attack helicopter with a tailwheel-type landing gear and a tandem cockpit for a crew of two. Nose-mounted sensors help acquire targets and provide night vis ...

Mi-26 The Mil Mi-26 (, NATO reporting name: Halo) is a Soviet Union, Soviet/Russian heavy Military transport helicopter, transport helicopter. Its product code is ''Izdeliye 90''. Operated by both military and civilian operators, it is the largest ...

, 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 III 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.

In popular culture

* The 1994

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

film Sainyam was filmed and set in the Academy. * A part of the aerial action

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

film, '' Fighter (2024 film)'' was shot in the Air Force Academy (India) in February/March 2023 * Large part of the ''

Vijeta (1982 film) ''Vijeta'' (English: The Victor) is a 1982 Indian coming-of-age Hindi film produced by Shashi Kapoor and directed by Govind Nihalani. It stars Shashi Kapoor, his son Kunal Kapoor, Rekha, Amrish Puri and Supriya Pathak with K.K. Raina, Raja Bu ...

'' was set and shot in the Academy.

References

External links