Indian Air Force is made up of three main Branches- Flying Branch, Technical Branch and Ground Duty Branch. This article is all about ‘How to join IAF Ground Duty Branch as an Officer’. Yes, I will be dealing only with Ground Duty Branch here. And the job post that this article is about, is that of a Commissioned Officer. Flying and Technical Branches are exclusive to candidates hailing from Science background schooling. But in case of Ground Duty Branch, even non science schooled candidates may apply and go on to become Commissioned Officers in IAF. As usual, I will cover details such as- Entry Schemes, Age Limit, Educational Qualifications and other Eligibility Criteria, Examinations, Exam dates, useful websites etc.
Talking about Ground Duty Branch of IAF, it can be further divided into five sub branches. They are.
- Administration Branch
- Logistics Branch
- Accounts Branch
- Education Branch
- Meteorology Branch
In case of all of the above mentioned sub branches, two types of Commissions are available- Permanent Commission (PC) and Short Service Commission (SSC). Male candidates have the freedom to choose between PC and SSC, when it comes to job post. But females only have SSC option available on front of them. In case of PC Officer, he will serve IAF till the age of superannuation. In case of an SSC Officer, the tenure will be 10 years long. An additional period of 4 years may be added to this period, to make the total tenure 14 years long!
To join the Ground Duty Branch as an Officer, one has to appear for AFCAT (Air Force Common Admission Test) conducted by the IAF, clear it and then go on and clear SSB Interview and Medical examination. But each of the above mentioned sub branch comes with a bunch of requirements such as educational qualifications, age limit etc. We will check them out in the next section.
Let us take the above mentioned sub branches one by one and analyze them. We will check out each sub branch and see educational qualifications, eligibility criteria, examination to clear etc, in the next section.
1 ADMINISTRATION BRANCH
This Branch is all about overall management of Human resources as well as material resources. Some Administration Branch Officers may even be selected to perform Duties such as- Air Traffic Control and Flight Control (after further training).
In Administration Branch, male candidates can choose between Permanent Commission and Short Service Commission. In case of female candidates, only Short Service Commission is available!
EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
Graduate Degree in any Discipline (Minimum 3 years long course) from a Recognized University with minimum 60% marks (aggregate, all papers put together) or PG Degree/Equivalent Diploma from a Recognized University with minimum 50% aggregate marks (all papers put together).
• AGE LIMIT
Between 20-26 years for both Graduates and Post Graduates, at the time when the course starts. Candidates below the age of 25 years must be unmarried.
• EXAMINATION, EXAM DATE AND USEFUL WEBSITES
Candidates will have to appear for AFCAT (Air Force Common Admission Test). It is conducted by the IAF twice a year. Advertisements are put out on June and December months. Candidates may use the website careerairforce.nic.in to register online.
Even final year students may apply. But they shouldn’t have any Backlogs present at the time when they apply and must have 60% aggregate marks at the time when the Graduation course is completed. Also, they must be able to provide provisional/Original Degree Certificate provided by the University, when asked by the authorities.
2 LOGISTICS BRANCH
This Branch primarily deals in management of Inventories, material management, equipment, transport etc. In Logistics Branch, male candidates may choose between Permanent Commission and SSC. In case of female candidates only SSC option is available.
• EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
Graduate Degree in any Discipline (Minimum 3 years long course) from a Recognized University with minimum 60% marks (aggregate, all papers put together) or PG Degree/Equivalent Diploma from a Recognized University with minimum 50% aggregate marks (all papers put together).
• AGE LIMIT
Between 20-26 years for both Graduates and Post Graduates, at the time when the course starts. Candidates below the age of 25 years must be unmarried.
• EXAMINATION, EXAM DATE AND USEFUL WEBSITES
Candidates will have to appear for AFCAT (Air Force Common Admission Test). It is conducted by the IAF twice a year. Advertisements are put out on June and December months. Candidates may use the website careerairforce.nic.in to register online.
Even final year students may apply. But they shouldn’t have any Backlogs present at the time when the course starts and must have 60% aggregate marks at the time when the Graduation course is completed. Also, they must be able to provide provisional/Original Degree Certificate provided by the University, when asked by the authorities.
3 ACCOUNTS BRANCH
This Branch focuses on Financial Matters and money management of IAF. This is the reason why this Branch requires a special Educational Qualification (discussed below). In case of male candidates, they may choose between PC and SSC. In case of female candidates, only SSC option is available.
• EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
Graduation in B.Com. from a Recognized University with minimum 60% marks (aggregate, all papers put together) or PG Degree (M.Com.)/CA/ICWA from a Recognized University with minimum 50% aggregate marks (all papers put together).
• AGE LIMIT
Between 20-26 years for both Graduates and Post Graduates, at the time when the course starts. Candidates below the age of 25 years must be unmarried.
• EXAMINATION, EXAM DATE AND USEFUL WEBSITES
Candidates will have to appear for AFCAT (Air Force Common Admission Test). It is conducted by the IAF twice a year. Advertisements are put out on June and December months. Candidates may use the website careerairforce.nic.in to register online.
Even final year students may apply. But they shouldn’t have any Backlogs present at the time when the course starts and must have 60% aggregate marks at the time when the Graduation course is completed. Also, they must be able to provide provisional/Original Degree Certificate provided by the University, when asked by the authorities.
4 EDUCATION BRANCH
Only Post Graduate candidates are eligible to apply for Education Branch. Male candidates may choose between PC and SSC. On the other hand female candidates have just SSC option available.
• EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
Post Graduate Degree in any Discipline with minimum 50% aggregate marks (all papers put together) from a Recognized University.
• AGE LIMIT
Between 20-26 years, at the time when the course starts. Candidates below the age of 25 years must be unmarried.
• EXAMINATION, EXAM DATE AND USEFUL WEBSITES
Candidates will have to appear for AFCAT (Air Force Common Admission Test). It is conducted by the IAF twice a year. Advertisements are put out on June and December months. Candidates may use the website careerairforce.nic.in to register online.
Even final year students may apply. But they shouldn’t have any Backlogs present at the time when the course starts and must have 60% aggregate marks at the time when the Graduation course is completed. Also, they must be able to provide provisional/Original Degree Certificate provided by the University, when asked by the authorities.
5 METEOROLOGY BRANCH
This Branch deals with Technical activities like- Weather monitoring, satellite imagery etc. Thus, to be eligible to join this Branch, one must have studied any one of the technical subject mentioned in the list below. Male candidates may choose between PC and SSC. Female candidates only have SSC choice available.
• EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATIONS
Post Graduation Degree in any science stream / Mathematics / Statistics / Geography / Computer Applications / Environmental Science / Applied Physics / Oceanography / Agricultural Meteorology / Ecology & Environment / Geo-physics / Environmental Biology. All candidates should have scored a minimum 50% marks in aggregate in all papers of Post Graduation put together and should have studied Maths & Physics in Graduation with minimum of 55% marks in both subjects.
• AGE LIMIT
Between 20-26 years, at the time when the course starts. Candidates below the age of 25 years must be unmarried.
• EXAMINATION, EXAM DATE AND USEFUL WEBSITES
Candidates will have to appear for AFCAT (Air Force Common Admission Test). It is conducted by the IAF twice a year. Advertisements are put out on June and December months. Candidates may use the website careerairforce.nic.in to register online.
Even final year students may apply. But they shouldn’t have any Backlogs present at the time when the course starts and must have 60% aggregate marks at the time when the Graduation course is completed. Also, they must be able to provide provisional/Original Degree Certificate provided by the University, when asked by the authorities.
SELECTION PROCESS
AFCAT written examination is the first step, when it comes to selection process. It is a 2 hours long Multiple Choice Questions style paper. Questions will test the verbal ability, military aptitude, logical reasoning and numerical ability of the candidate.
Candidates who perform well in AFCAT written exam are then called to appear for SSB Interview.
The SSB Interview is a 2 Stage process. These two stages together are spread over more than 5 days! The first stage consists of Officer Intelligence Rating Test and Picture Perception and Discussion Test. This stage is held on the very first day of SSB Interview. Candidates who manage to clear this stage are then required to stay at the SSB Centre for 4 (or even 5) more days and undergo tests that fall under Stage 2.
Stage 2 consists of series of tests, like- Psychological Tests, Group Tests (Physical and Mental tasks), GD, Interview and Conference. On the final day, Conference is held. It is during this time that a candidate is recommended or rejected by the Board. Those who manage to get recommended are then supposed to undergo Medical Examination.
Candidates who clear the Medical Examination are shortlisted and in the end, an all India Level Merit list is made. Candidates who manage to make it to this list after the Medical Examination are then selected to take part in Training program.
PHYSICAL AND MEDICAL STANDARDS
To join IAF, candidates, irrespective of the entry mode and educational qualifications, must satisfy a basic set of Physical standards. The list is quite long. But the main things that are checked are.
Weight and Height ratio
Good Physical and Mental health
Good hearing
Well developed chests (expansion should be at least 5cm after full inspiration)
Healthy Bones and Joints
For the entire list of Physical Standards’ criteria set by IAF, check out the charts provided below. You may click on the images to get an enlarged view. You may find the full set of Physical standards on the image. You may even save it for future use.
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| irst set of IAF’s Physical Standards. Click on this image to read! Click on image to enlarge! |
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| Second set of IAF’s Physical Standards. Click on image to enlarge it and read it! |
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