Western Air Command (India)

Western Air Command, Indian Air Force
Founded	July 22, 1949
Country	India
Branch	Indian Air Force
Type	Operational Air Command
Role	Air Defence, OCA, Offensive Ground Support, Civilian Relief.
Headquarters	New Delhi
Motto(s)	Sanskrit: Akasha Pasmatsoma
Engagements	1962 Sino-Indian War, 1971 India-Pakistan War, Operation Meghdoot
Commanders
Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief(AOC-in-C)	Air Marshal Pankaj Mohan Sinha, AVSM, VSM
Notable commanders	Air Marshal MSD Wollen Air Chief Marshal Anil Yashwant Tipnis Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha Air Chief Marshal Norman Anil Kumar Browne Air Chief Marshal Srinivasapuram Krishnaswamy

The Western Air Command (WAC) is the regional command of Indian Air Force headquartered in New Delhi. It is the largest and most important Air Command of the IAF, comprising sixteen Air Force Bases (AFBs), and is responsible for aerial defence of North India.

WAC's Area of Responsibility extends from Jammu and Kashmir to Rajasthan, also covering the states of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, New Delhi and Western Uttar Pradesh.

History

WAC was raised in 1947 as the No. 1 Operational Group which controlled all the flying units of Indian Air Force, including the flying training units. On July 22, 1949, the No. 1 Operational Group was re-designated as the Operational Command. In 1958, the rank of the Commanding Officer of Operational Command was upgraded from Air Commodore to Air Vice Marshal and later, to the rank of Air Marshal.

In the aftermath of the India-China War of 1962, the IAF began the process of demarcation of specific areas of responsibility, and splitting up of the flying Corps into various operational air commands. On June 10, 1963, Operational Command assumed its present name of Headquarters Western Air Command.

Due to its geographical location in the crucial North Indian region, surrounded by Pakistan to the west and China to the East, WAC has been involved in all major operations in India since independence, and has been the hub-centre of all operational activities during any operation.

The IAF Western Air Command is engaged in air logistics operations to supply troops deployed at Siachen Glacier. These operations are undertaken from the Siachen Forward Air Base, using Mi-17, HAL Dhruv and HAL Cheetah helicopters.

The Western Air Command has been the major operational command involved in most of the war fought by India, including the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947, Sino-Indian War in 1962, the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, Indo-Pakistan War of 1971, Operation Pawan (1986) in Sri Lanka and Operation Safed Sagar during the 1999 Kargil War.

Organization

Hindon AFS

Western Air Command is headquartered at Subroto Park, New Delhi. It is headed by an Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, WAC, of the rank of Air Marshal. Under the C-in-C come the Senior Air Staff Officer, Senior Maintenance Staff Officer and Senior Officer in Charge of Administration, who are of the ranks of Air Vice Marshal or Air Marshal. They handle the day-to-day activities of the Command and act as the liaison between the various Wings.

WAC also has a forward headquarters located at Chandigarh near the Army's Western Command. There is an Air Operations Group, formed in 1982, located at Udhampur, Jammu and Kashmir, which is principally tasked with the defence of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.

No. 224 Squadron, Indian Air Force was raised in July 1983 at Adampur and operated with WAC until its disbandment in 2007. Squadrons include:

_Adampur

_Ambala

_Amritsar

_Awantipur

_Bhatinda

_Chandigarh

_Halwara

_Hindon

_Leh

_{Palam, Delhi}

Pathankot

_Sarsawa

_Siachen

_Sirsa

_Srinagar

_Udhampur

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Location of WAC Air Bases

Squadron	Base	Equipment	Notes
No. 41 Squadron IAF	Palam Air Force Station	Avro 748 & Do-228M	No. 3 Wing
No. 3 Squadron IAF	Pathankot Air Force Station	MiG-21 Bison	No. 7 Wing
No. 125 Helicopter Squadron IAF	Pathankot Air Force Station	Boeing Apache
No. 5 Squadron IAF	Ambala Air Force Station	Jaguar IS	No. 7 Wing
No. 14 Squadron IAF	Ambala Air Force Station	Jaguar IS	No. 7 Wing
No. 17 Squadron IAF	Ambala Air Force Station	Dassault Rafale	No. 7 Wing
No. 47 Squadron IAF	Adampur Air Force Station	Mig-29	No. 8 Wing
No. 223 Squadron IAF	Adampur Air Force Station	Mig-29	No. 8 Wing
No. 220 Squadron IAF	Halwara Air Force Station	Su-30 MKI	No.9 Wing
No. 221 Squadron IAF	Halwara Air Force Station	Su-30 MKI	No.9 Wing
No. 25 Squadron IAF	Chandigarh Air Force Station	Il-76/AN-32	No. 12 Wing
No. 48 Squadron IAF	Chandigarh Air Force Station	AN-32	No. 12 Wing
No. 126 Helicopter Flight, IAF	Chandigarh Air Force Station	Mi-26/Chinook	No. 12 Wing
No. 114 Helicopter Unit, IAF	Leh Air Force Station	HAL Cheetah	No. 23 Wing IAF
No. 130 Helicopter Unit, IAF	Leh Air Force Station	Mi-17	No. 23 Wing IAF
No. 129 Helicopter Unit, IAF	Hindon Air Force Station	Mi-17	No. 28 Wing
No. 131 Helicopter Flight, IAF	Hindon Air Force Station	HAL Cheetah	No. 28 Wing
No. 181 Helicopter Flight, IAF	Hindon Air Force Station	Avro 748M	No. 28 Wing
No. 117 Helicopter Unit, IAF	Sarsawa Air Force Station	HAL Dhruv	No. 30 Wing
No. 152 Helicopter Unit, IAF	Sarsawa Air Force Station	Mi-17	No. 30 Wing
No. 132 Helicopter Flight, IAF	Udhampur Air Force Station	HAL Cheetah	No. 39 Wing
No. 153 Helicopter Unit, IAF	Udhampur Air Force Station	Mi-17	No. 39 Wing
No. 21 Squadron IAF	Sirsa Air Force Station	Su-30MKI	No. 45 Wing
No. 51 Squadron IAF	Srinagar Air Force Station	Mig 21 Bison

Air Bases

See also: List of Indian Air Force Bases

WAC has been assigned 10 permanent Air Force Stations (AFS)and 6 Forward Base Support Units (FBSUs), including the strategic Forward Air Base at Siachen. Along with these, WAC also has over 200 operational bases, Advance Landing Grounds (ALGs), and Operational centres placed under its command.

The Air Force Stations/Wings under WAC control are:

Forward Base Support Units (FBSU)

Base	ICAO	Runway	Elevation	Coordinates	State/Territory
Amritsar AFS	VIAR	16/34	755 ft / 230 m	31°42′27.95″N 74°47′57.25″E	Punjab
Bathinda AFS	VIBT	13/31	700 ft /213 m	30°16′12.50″N 74°45′20.78″E	Punjab
Sarsawa AFS	VISP	09/27	891 ft / 272 m	29°59′39.53″N 77°25′27.25″E	Uttar Pradesh
Siachen Glacier AFS			22,000 ft / 6,706 m	35.5°N 77.0°E / 35.5; 77.0 (Siachen Glacier AFS)	Ladakh
Sirsa AFS	VISA	05/23	650 ft / 198 m	29°33′38.09″N 75°00′21.87″E	Haryana
Udhampur AFS	VIUX	18/36	1,950 ft / 594 m	32°54′08.06″N 75°09′18.54″E	Jammu & Kashmir

List of Commanders

Rank	Name	Assumed office	Left office
Air Officer Commanding No. 1 Operational Group
Air Commodore	Mehar Singh	22 December 1947	27 September 1948
	Aspy Engineer	27 September 1948	21 July 1949
Air Officer Commanding Operational Command
Air Commodore	Aspy Engineer	22 July 1949	11 December 1950
	Arjan Singh	12 December 1950	11 December 1952
	Atma Ram Nanda	12 December 1952	7 December 1955
	Arjan Singh	8 December 1955	30 April 1958
Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Operational Command
Air Vice Marshal	Arjan Singh	1 May 1958	17 November 1959
	Erlic Wilmot Pinto	17 November 1959	9 June 1963
Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Air Command
Air Vice Marshal	Erlic Wilmot Pinto	10 January 1963	22 November 1963
	Pratap Chandra Lal	24 November 1963	30 September 1964
	Ramaswamy Rajaram	1 October 1964	4 March 1966
	Shivdev Singh	5 March 1966	29 February 1968
Air Marshal		1 March 1969	31 July 1969
	Minoo Merwan Engineer	6 August 1969	31 March 1973
	Hrushikesh Moolgavkar	1 April 1973	31 January 1976
	Edul Jahangir Dhatigara	1 February 1976	3 September 1978
	Dilbagh Singh	1 October 1978	31 December 1980
	Lakshman Madhav Katre	5 January 1981	28 February 1983
	Malcolm Shirley Dundas Wollen	1 March 1983	30 September 1981
	Denis Anthony Lafontaine	1 November 1981	2 July 1985
	Man Mohan Singh	22 July 1985	31 July 1988
	Prithi Singh	1 August 1988	30 April 1992
	Swaroop Krishna Kaul	1 May 1992	31 July 1993
	Pratap Rao	3 September 1993	5 July 1994
	Satish Kumar Sareen	6 July 1994	31 July 1995
	Anil Yashwant Tipnis	1 August 1995	31 March 1997
	Vinod Patney	1 April 1997	31 October 1999
	Srinivasapuram Krishnaswamy	1 November 1999	1 July 2001
	Vinod Kumar Bhatia	1 August 2001	28 April 2002
	Adi Rustomji Ghandhi	29 April 2002	16 November 2003
	Shashindra Pal Tyagi	16 November 2003	31 December 2004
	Avdesh Kumar Singh	1 January 2005	31 January 2007
	Padamjit Singh Ahluwalia	1 February 2007	31 December 2007
	Pranab Kumar Barbora	1 January 2008	31 May 2009
	Norman Anil Kumar Browne	1 January 2009	31 December 2010
	Dinesh Chandra Kumaria	1 January 2011	31 May 2012
	Arup Raha	1 June 2012	30 June 2013
	Suneet Shripad Soman	1 July 2013	31 August 2015
	Shirish Baban Deo	1 September 2015	31 December 2016
	Chandrashekharan Hari Kumar	1 January 2017	28 February 2019
	Raghunath Nambiar	1 March 2019	31 October 2019
	Balakrishnan Suresh	1 November 2019	31 July 2020
	Vivek Ram Chaudhari	1 August 2020	30 June 2021
	Balabhadra Radha Krishna	1 July 2021	30 September 2021
	Amit Dev	1 October 2021	28 February 2022
	Sreekumar Prabhakaran	1 March 2022	31 December 2022
	Pankaj Mohan Sinha	1 January 2023	Incumbent

External links

• Western Air Command at IAF Official Website.
• Bharat Rakshak, IAF Command Structure