Mega rejig, IAF gets new weapon systems branch

Ajay Banerjee

New Delhi, October 8

In what is the biggest rejig of the force in decades, the Union Government has approved the creation of a weapon systems branch for the officers of the Indian Air Force (IAF).

The announcement was made by IAF Chief Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari in Chandigarh on Saturday during a parade to mark the 90th anniversary celebrations of the Air Force. He said it was the first time since Independence that a new operational branch had been created. The branch will be divided into four sub-streams, each with its own specialisation to carry out launch of weapons, collate information and even operate space assets.

The branch will induct a specialised cadre of officers and be in-charge for all major weapons’ firing, including those launched from some fighter jets, all helicopters and even ground-launched missiles like the S400 imported from Russia. The cadre will also be responsible for UAV and space operations.

Will save Rs 3,400 cr

Creation of weapon systems branch will result in savings of over Rs 3,400 crore due to reduced expenditure on flying training. —Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari

This would essentially be for manning of four specialised streams of surface-to-surface missiles, surface-to-air guided missiles, remotely piloted aircraft (better known as UAVs) and all weapon system operators in twin-engine and multi-crew aircraft, the IAF Chief said.

“Creation of this branch will result in savings of over Rs 3,400 crore due to reduced expenditure on flying training,” he said.

The first sub-stream is ‘flying’. Officers in this category will be weapon systems operators in twin-engine and multi-seat aircraft like fighters jets Sukhoi30 MKI — some 265 in the fleet. All attack helicopters also fall in the same category, including the Boeing Apache AH-64E, the indigenous light combat helicopter (LCH) and the Russian Mi -25/35.

The second sub-stream will be called ‘remote’. Personnel will be operators of many UAVs like the Predator from the US or the armed version of the domestic UAV Rustom (now known as the TAPAS-BH) made by DRDO.

Another sub-stream is ‘intelligence’. This shall comprise analysts of imagery obtained through surveillance assets in space or UAVs. Analysts of intelligence inputs, information warfare specialists, observers and signal intelligence collation will be part of it and so will operators of space systems.

The fourth sub-stream is named ‘surface’. It shall have mission commanders and operators of surface-to-air guided weapons and surface-to-surface missiles. The newly imported S-400 missiles from Russia will be part of it and so will be all air-defence weapons like the Akash missile.

Specialised cadre in 4 sub-streams

Flying: Air Force officers in this category will be weapon systems operators in twin-engine and multi-seat aircraft like fighters jets

Remote: Personnel who will operate UAVs such as drones

Intelligence: Will comprise analysts of imagery obtained through surveillance

Surface: This sub-stream will have commanders and operators of surface-to-air and surface-to-surface weapons