Indian Air Force officer

Indian Air Force protect and secure India's airspace from potential threats of aerial aggression of other nations, from potential terrorist attacks, and from unauthorised use of India's airspace by any aircraft or other unmanned aerial vehicles (such as drones). Indian Air Force gets engaged in aerial warfare when any armed conflict develops between or among nations. The Air Force also carries out missions to put a deterrent to enemy attacks as well as for any pre-emptive measures required to neutralise threats from other nations or terrorist organisations.

During full scale wars or for other purposes, Indian Air Force provides air support to the Indian Army and Indian Navy. Indian Air Force also has the capabilities for rapid search and rescue mission, evacuation of distressed people from dangerous territories, and airlifting people from a warzone or areas of military operations or terrorist attacks. During natural calamities such as flood and earthquake, Indian Air Force has the capability to deliver relief supplies and evacuate people.

When need arises, Indian Air Force can provide services like evacuation, search and rescue missions, delivering relief operations, etc. to friendly nations. Depending upon strategic interests, Indian Air Force can work jointly with the Air Forces of other nations.

Organisation

As an Officer with the Indian Air Force, you will be based out of an Air Force base or station. An Air Force base or station has one or two Squadrons. A Squadron is a field formation attached to a base or station. There are fighter squadrons as well as transport squadrons. Typically, each fighter squadron is a unit of 18 aircraft. There are helicopter units also under a Squadron. Two or three Squadrons makes a Wing. A Wing also include a helicopter units and forward base support units (FBSU). Forward base supper units act as transit airbases for routine operations.

The entire Air Force is primarily divided into five operational commands which carry out the military operations in the sky. Each operational command manages the Air Force operations for a geographic region. In India, we have Central Air Command, Eastern Air Command, Southern Air Command, South Western Air Command, and Western Air Command. Each command managers operations of 9-16 Air Force bases or stations. A station generally has one Wing which consists of two or three Squadrons.   

Apart from the operational commands, there are Maintenance Command and Training Command. These are functional commands and their responsibility is to ensure that all aircraft, helicopters and other equipment and weapon systems as well as human resources are combat ready at all time.

Your Work

• You can be a Fighter Pilot with the Indian Air Force Flying branch or work in the technical or non-technical ground duty branches. If you want to fly the fighter jets such as the supersonic Sukhoi, MIG, Dassault Mirage, or Jaguar, then you must be passing out from NDA or enter the Air Force through Combined Defence Services Examination (CDSE) or AFCAT (Air Force Common Admission Test). Alternatively you can obtain the NCC 'C' Certificate to apply for the Flying branch to become a Fighter Pilot. You may also get an opportunity to fly transport aircraft and helicopters.
• If you are working in the Ground Duty (Technical) branch, your job will be to maintain the various aircrafts that are used by the Indian Air Force to make sure all the aircrafts remain airworthy when required. You will be working in the role of an Aeronautical Engineer-Electronics or in the role of an Aeronautical Engineer-Mechanical.
• If you are working in the Ground Duty Administration branch, you will be responsible for the proper management of people resources and all material resources of the Indian Air Force.
• Some of you will get opportunities to work as Air Traffic Controller and Fighter Controller. Air Traffic Controllers manage flight paths of aircrafts. They assist Fighter Pilots in taking off and land. They ensure that there is no collision or untoward incidents. Fighter Controllers supervise radar operations and ensure that there is a good coordination with the airborne fighter pilots.
• If you are working in the Ground Duty Accounts branch, your responsibility will include handling of important financial transactions, maintaining books of accounts and prepare financial statement for efficient management of Air Force operations. You will also work in the role of an Internal Auditor.
• If you are working in the Ground Duty Logistics branch, you will be responsible for the management of the materials and resources of the Indian Air Force, including machinery, equipment and weaponry. You will source, procure, manage the inventory and ensure appropriate logistics of the materials and resources.   
• If you are working in the Ground Duty Education branch, you will be responsible for staff training which include both commissioned officers, non-commissioned officers and airmen. You will plan, organise and deliver pre-commission, post-commission and in-service training to Air Force personnel.
• If you are working with the Ground Duty Meteorology branch you will be engaged in the operations of high-tech systems which monitor weather conditions and analyse satellite images for weather forecasting. You role will be to advise fighter operations.

Enterprising: You should have interests for Enterprising Occupations. Enterprising occupations involve taking initiatives, initiating actions, and planning to achieve goals, often business goals. These involve gathering resources and leading people to get things done. These require decision making, risk taking and action orientation.

Realistic: You should have interests for Realistic Occupations. Realistic occupations involve more practical and hands-on activities than paperwork or office work. Realistic occupations often involve physical activities for getting things done using various tools and equipment. 

Investigative: You should have interests for Investigative Occupations. Investigative occupations involve working with ideas and quite a lot of thinking, often abstract or conceptual thinking. These involve learning about facts and figures; involve use of data analysis, assessment of situations, decision making and problem solving.

Abilities

Abstract Reasoning: The ability to understand ideas which are not expressed in words or numbers; the ability to understand concepts which are not clearly expressed verbally or otherwise.

Articulation: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.

Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.

Bodily-Kinaesthetic Intelligence: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and bodily motion; the ability to keep or regain your body balance when in an unstable position; the ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, hands, arms, fingers, or legs.

Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules and common logic to specific problems to produce answers that are logical and make sense. For example, understanding the reasons behind an event or a situation using general rules and common logic.

Emotional Intelligence: The ability to understand your own and others' emotions and feelings; empathy for others; adjusting your behaviour or self-control and self-regulation according to others' emptions and situations.

Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.

Hand-Eye Coordination: The ability to make quick and precise hand movements as per visual observations and understanding (that is, what you see and comprehend).

Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.

Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information from various sources, concepts, and theories to form general rules or conclusions. For example, analysing various events or situations to come out with a set of rules or conclusions.

Inter-Personal: The ability to build and maintain good relationships with others at workplaces and elsewhere.

Intrapersonal: The ability to clearly understand your strengths and weaknesses, what your capabilities are, what you can do and cannot do, what you like and dislike.

Manual Dexterity:  The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.

Mental Stamina: The ability to sustain prolonged mental effort.

Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).

Numerical Reasoning: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, divide, and perform other basic numerical calculations correctly.

Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.

Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.

Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.

Physical Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.

Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.

Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a long period of time without being distracted.

Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.

Verbal Reasoning: The ability to think and reason with words; the ability to reason out ideas expressed in words.

Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.

Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.

Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.

Knowledge

English Language: Knowledge about English grammar, words, spelling, sentence construction, using English to communicate with others, reading in English, etc.

Public Safety and Security: Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to maintain law and order situations, providing state or national security for protecting geographical territories, marine territories and sky from potential enemy attacks and protecting people and properties.

Skills

Active Learning: Focused and continuous learning from various sources of information, observation and otherwise for application in getting work done.

Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, understanding the points being made by others, asking questions, etc.

Communication in English: Skills in communicating effectively in writing as well as verbally with others in English language.

Communication in Vernacular Languages: Skills in communicating effectively in writing as well as verbally with others in a local or indigenous language such as Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Gujarati, Bengali, Assamese, etc.

Coordination: Skills in working together with other people to get things done.

Critical Thinking: Skills in analysis of complex situations, using of logic and reasoning to understand the situations and take appropriate actions or make interpretations and inferences.

Directing: Skills in directing others' actions to get things done.

Instruction: Skills in training others how to do something.

Judgment and Decision Making: Skills in considering pros and cons of various decision alternatives; considering costs and benefits; taking appropriate and suitable decisions.

Managing Human Resources: Skills in motivating, developing, and leading people as they work, identifying the best people for the job.

Negotiation: Skills in bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.

Persuasion: Skills in persuading others to change their minds or behaviour.

Problem Solving: Skills in analysis and understanding of problems, evaluating various options to solve the problems and using the best option to solve the problems.

Reading Comprehension: Skills in understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.

Supervising: Skills in Supervising and monitoring performance of others, businesses, and different projects.

Technical: Skills in using various technologies and technical methods to get things done or solve problems.

Time Management: Skills in prioritizing work, managing time effectively.

Personality

You are always or mostly organised in your day-to-day life and activities.

You are always or mostly careful about your actions and behaviour.

You are always or mostly disciplined in your action and behaviour.

You are always calm or generally remain calm in most situations.

You are helpful to others sometimes.

You don't trust others easily.

You are always practical or in most situations.

You always or mostly prefer to stick within a routine or carry out routine and repetitive activities.