Air Force Academy (India): Difference between revisions

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}

{{Use Indian English|date=August 2022}}

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| name         = Indian Air Force Academy

| caption     =  

| IATA         =  

| ICAO         = VODG

| type         = [[Military academies in India|Defence Service]] training institute

| owner       = [[Ministry of Defence (India)|Ministry of Defence]], [[Government of India]]

| operator     = [[Indian Air Force]]

| city-served =  

| location     = [[Dundigal, Hyderabad, Telangana]], India

| metric-elev =  

| elevation-f = 2,013

| elevation-m = 614

| website     =  

| r1-number   = 10R/28L

| r1-length-f = 6,800

| r1-length-m = 2,073

| r1-surface   = [[Asphalt]]

| r2-number   = 10L/28R

| r2-length-m = 2,515

| r2-length-f = 8,250

| r2-surface   = [[Concrete]]

| stat-year   =  

| stat1-data   =  

| stat2-data   =  

| footnotes   =  

'''Indian Air Force Academy, Dundigal''' {{Airport codes||VODG}} is a [[Defense (military)|Defence Service]] training institute located in [[Medchal-Malkajgiri district]] {{cvt|43|km}} from [[Hyderabad (India)|Hyderabad]], in the [[States and territories of India|Indian state]] of [[Telangana]].<ref>[http://careerairforce.nic.in/index1.asp?lang=1&ls_id=66&lid=52&level=2&pid=7 Air Force Academy Dundigal]</ref>

 

The academy was set up to train cadets from [[Indian Airforce|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]] (IAF). It inducted women cadets into the IAF for the first time in June 1993.<ref>{{cite news |title=Half the IAF women trainee pilots quit in a year |url=http://www.rediff.com/news/jun/18pilot.htm |access-date=29 October 2018 |work=Rediff.com |date=19 June 1997}}</ref>

The foundation stone of the Air Force Academy was laid by the then [[President of India]] [[Dr. Zakir Hussain]] on 11 October 1967. The academy was established in 1969 and started operations in 1971. It is located at Dundigal, about {{cvt|25|km}} from the twin cities of [[Hyderabad]] and [[Secunderabad]], spread over {{cvt|7,050|acre}}. [[Air commodore (India)|Air Commodore]] J. D. Aquino was the first Commandant of the academy.

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]] officer holding the rank of [[Air marshal (India)|Air Marshal]].

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 [[Dassault Rafale|Rafale]],<ref>{{cite web |url=https://m.economictimes.com/news/defence/iaf-accepts-rafale-formal-hand-over-on-dussehra/articleshow/71223533.cms |title=rafale: IAF 'accepts' Rafale, formal hand-over on Dussehra - The Economic Times |website=m.economictimes.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190921171228/https://m.economictimes.com/news/defence/iaf-accepts-rafale-formal-hand-over-on-dussehra/articleshow/71223533.cms |archive-date=2019-09-21}}</ref> [[Sukhoi Su-30MKI|Su-30MKI]], [[Mikoyan MiG-29|MiG-29]], [[Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21|MiG-21]], [[Dassault Mirage 2000|Mirage 2000]], [[HAL Tejas|Tejas]] aircraft. For those interested in flying transport aircraft, the IAF offers heavy multi engined [[Ilyushin Il-76|Il-76]] aircraft, [[Boeing C-17 Globemaster III|C-17 Globemaster III]]  and the twin engined multi role [[Antonov An-32|An-32]] transport aircraft, besides [[Hawker Siddeley HS 748|HS 748]] and the [[Dornier 228]] 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 [[HAL Dhruv|Dhruv]], Attack helicopter like [[Boeing AH-64 Apache|AH-64 Apache]],<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://m.economictimes.com/news/defence/eight-us-made-apache-attack-helicopters-inducted-into-iaf/articleshow/70955482.cms|title=Apache Attack helicopters: Eight US made Apache attack helicopters inducted into IAF|newspaper=The Economic Times|last1=Gurung|first1=Shaurya Karanbir}}</ref> [[Mil Mi-26|Mi-26]], heavy-lift choppers, casualty evacuation, para dropping of troops and air lifting of supplies.