By Col Vijayant Thakur (Retd) · Defence faculty, The Cavalier
Below Air Headquarters in New Delhi the Indian Air Force is run through seven commands: five operational and two functional. The operational commands (Western, Eastern, Central, South Western and Southern) control the squadrons and air bases of one region. The functional commands, Training and Maintenance, have no region at all: one produces pilots, technicians and officers, the other overhauls and repairs the aircraft. Each is headed by an Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief (AOC-in-C), an Air Marshal.
If a paper asks for a headquarters, a year of raising or "which of these is not an Air Force command", it is asking about this page. It sits under the Indian Air Force hub in our Defence GK library. The hub gives a short table; here we add what a command is, how all seven came about between 1947 and 1998, and the look-alike names that trap candidates.
What an Air Command Is
A command is the largest formation below Air Headquarters. Air HQ, at Vayu Bhawan, makes policy, plans, equips and sets doctrine. A command carries it out in its own region (operational) or for one service-wide function (functional). Its head is the AOC-in-C, who holds the rank of Air Marshal; the Chief of the Air Staff above him is an Air Chief Marshal.
Under an operational command sit wings and air force stations, the bases, and on them the squadrons that fly the aircraft. The head of a base is also styled Air Officer Commanding, which is why the "in-Chief" matters. The ranks and numbering at each level are on stations, wings and squadrons. A functional command has no region to guard; its units are schools, colleges and repair depots, and the training side is on training establishments.
- Air Headquarters, New DelhiChief of the Air Staff · Air Chief Marshal
- 5 operational commandsWestern · Eastern · Central · South Western · Southern · AOC-in-C, Air Marshal
- Wings and air force stationsthe bases of one region
- Squadrons and flightsthe units that fly
- Wings and air force stationsthe bases of one region
- 2 functional commandsTraining (Bengaluru) · Maintenance (Nagpur) · AOC-in-C, Air Marshal
- Schools, colleges and repair depotspeople and machines, not a region
- 5 operational commandsWestern · Eastern · Central · South Western · Southern · AOC-in-C, Air Marshal
The AOC-in-C heads an Air Force command and is an Air Marshal. The Army's counterpart is the GOC-in-C, a Lieutenant General, and the Navy's is the FOC-in-C, a Vice Admiral. See rank equivalence for how the ranks line up.
The Seven Commands at a Glance
This is the table to learn. Headquarters and dates are those the Air Force's history and PIB give. The AOC-in-C column is filled in from our who's-who record, so it updates when a post changes hands.
| Command | Headquarters | Raised | Type | AOC-in-C |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Western Air Command | Subroto Park, New Delhi | 22 Jul 1949 as Operational Command; named Western Air Command on 10 Jun 1963 | Operational | Air Mshl George Thomas |
| Eastern Air Command | Upper Shillong | 1 Dec 1959 at Fort William, Kolkata (the group dates from 27 May 1958) | Operational | Air Mshl Mehtab Singh Deswal |
| Central Air Command | Bamrauli, Prayagraj | Mar 1962 at Kolkata; HQ moved to Prayagraj in Feb 1966 | Operational | Air Mshl Tarun Chaudhry |
| South Western Air Command | Gandhinagar | 23 Jul 1980 at Jodhpur; HQ moved to Gandhinagar in May 1998 | Operational | Air Mshl PV Shivanand |
| Southern Air Command | Thiruvananthapuram | 19 Jul 1984 | Operational | Air Mshl Jasvir Singh Mann |
| Training Command | Bengaluru | 22 Jul 1949 | Functional | Air Mshl S Shrinivas |
| Maintenance Command | Vayusena Nagar, Nagpur | 26 Jan 1955 at Kanpur | Functional | Air Mshl Yalla Umesh |
Sources disagree on several of these, and UPSC follows official figures. Western: 1947 is when the No. 1 Operational Group began, 1949 when it became the Operational Command and 1963 when it took its present name; all three are true of different events. Eastern: 1958 is the group, 1959 the command. Central: March 1962 is the usual raising, but 1963 also appears. Maintenance: PIB records the command from 1955, while some accounts trace it to a Maintenance Group at Chakeri, Kanpur, in 1950. South Western: the Jodhpur group dates from 1972, the command from 1980. In a direct question, choose the year attached to the word "command".
How the Commands Grew, 1947 to 1998
The seven commands were not designed together. They arrived in three waves, and the order is easy to remember as a story.
| Year | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1947 | The IAF's operational flying is grouped under No. 1 Operational Group at Delhi; ground training is under No. 2 (Training) Group at Bangalore, renamed from No. 2 (Indian) Group RAF on 15 September 1947 |
| 22 Jul 1949 | No. 1 Operational Group becomes the Operational Command, and No. 2 (Training) Group becomes Training Command: the first two commands, on the same day |
| 26 Jan 1955 | Maintenance Command is formed at Kanpur, the second functional command; Harjinder Singh (later an Air Vice Marshal) was its first head |
| 1 Dec 1959 | A group set up at Ranikutir, Kolkata, on 27 May 1958 becomes Eastern Air Command, HQ Fort William, with AVM K L Sondhi as first AOC-in-C |
| 1962 | The IAF splits its areas of responsibility. Central Air Command is formed in March at Rani Kutir, Kolkata, to keep vigil along the Indo-Nepal boundary. After the war with China later that year, a full-fledged Eastern Air Command is built at Shillong (its new HQ began work there on 10 Jun 1963) |
| 10 Jun 1963 | The Operational Command takes its present name, Western Air Command, as the other operational commands now cover their own areas |
| 1963 to 1966 | Maintenance Command moves its HQ from Kanpur to Nagpur, in 1963 by the Air Force's own account (some books give other years); in February 1966 Central Air Command, judged too far east at Kolkata, shifts to Bamrauli, Allahabad (now Prayagraj) |
| 23 Jul 1980 | The No. 1 Operational Group at Jodhpur, set up on 21 September 1972, is renamed South Western Air Command |
| 19 Jul 1984 | Southern Air Command is established at Thiruvananthapuram; its HQ is inaugurated next day at Belhaven Palace by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, with Air Marshal T J Desa as first AOC-in-C |
| May 1998 | South Western Air Command moves its HQ to Gandhinagar |
Read as three waves. 1949 to 1955 gave the Air Force its first commands: Operational, Training and Maintenance. 1958 to 1966 was the eastern reorganisation around the China war: Eastern, Central, and the Operational Command renamed Western. 1980 and 1984 added South Western and Southern as the force grew. Since 1984 the list has not changed.
PIB's obituary of Marshal of the Air Force Arjan Singh records that in 1949, as an Air Commodore, he took over as Air Officer Commanding of the Operational Command, which later became Western Air Command, and that his 1949 to 1952 tenure was the longest of any AOC of that command; he returned from 1957 to 1961. Our explainer on Arjan Singh has the rest.
- 1 Dec 2025 to 1 Jul 2026: new AOCs-in-C take over Maintenance (1 Dec 2025), Training (1 Jan), Central (1 Jun), and Southern and South Western (1 Jul), per PIB.
- 31 Oct 2026: a new Chief takes over as the 29th CAS; see our explainer on the new Chief and Vice Chief.
- 1 Nov 2026: a new AOC-in-C takes over Eastern Air Command, as the previous holder becomes Vice Chief of the Air Staff.
The Seven Commands, One by One
The detail below is limited to what the Air Force and PIB have published. For areas of responsibility and key stations, see the two group pages: Operational Commands and Functional Commands.
- Western is run from Subroto Park, New Delhi, and is the oldest operational command by lineage: the Operational Command of 1949, renamed in 1963. It covers the northern and north-western part of the country, including the capital.
- Eastern has its HQ at Upper Shillong. PIB (8 October 2023) says it controls air operations over 12 states, from the seven north-eastern states and Sikkim to West Bengal, Bihar and parts of Odisha and Jharkhand, with a 6,300 km international boundary with China, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and Bangladesh. Its motto is "Samareshu Parakram" (valour in battle), and it is the Air Force's first responder in north-eastern floods.
- Central was formed to watch the Indo-Nepal boundary and sits at Bamrauli, Prayagraj. The city was Allahabad until 2018, which is why older papers say Allahabad.
- South Western was named in 1980 at Jodhpur. In the mid-1980s units at Pune and Mumbai were transferred to it from Central Air Command. Our explainer on Tarang Shakti 2026 shows the Jodhpur air base in the news.
- Southern, the youngest, was raised in 1984 in response to changing geopolitics around the southern peninsula, as the Air Force's own account puts it.
- Training, HQ Bengaluru, took over the buildings of No. 2 (Training) Group at Bangalore High Grounds in 1949, with Air Cmde R H D Singh as first AOC. The HQ moved to Hebbal in 1958, and since 15 September 1954 all flying establishments have been under it.
- Maintenance, HQ Vayusena Nagar, Nagpur, repairs, overhauls and maintains the Air Force's aircraft and equipment. It grew out of the repair depots at Kanpur, and Nagpur was chosen as a central location for units spread across the country.
Which Is NOT an Air Force Command
"Which of the following is not a command of the Indian Air Force?" is the commonest form of this topic. The wrong option borrows its geography from the Army or Navy, or invents a direction no service uses.
| Name offered | An Air Force command? | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Northern Air Command | No | There is none. The Air Force has no command named Northern; the north is covered by Western Air Command |
| North Eastern Air Command | No | The North-East belongs to Eastern Air Command, HQ Shillong |
| Southern Naval Command | No | The Navy's training command at Kochi |
| Andaman and Nicobar Command, Strategic Forces Command | No | The two tri-service commands |
The five directions are used by more than one service, so a direction alone proves nothing. Learn the three-way table below, then ask which service owns the full name.
| Direction | Army command | Navy command | Air Force command |
|---|---|---|---|
| Western | Chandimandir | Mumbai | New Delhi |
| Eastern | Fort William, Kolkata | Visakhapatnam | Shillong |
| Southern | Pune | Kochi (training) | Thiruvananthapuram |
| Central | Lucknow | none | Prayagraj |
| South Western | Jaipur | none | Gandhinagar |
| Northern | Udhampur | none | none |
Army: Northern, Western, Eastern, Southern, Central, South Western plus ARTRAC. Navy: Western, Eastern, Southern. Air Force: Western, Eastern, Central, South Western, Southern plus Training and Maintenance. Only the Air Force has a Maintenance command and only the Army has a Northern one. The Army side is on Army commands and the Navy side on Navy commands.
Commands, Theatre Commands and the Plan to Merge Them
The seven Air Force commands are single-service commands. Together with the Army's seven and the Navy's three they make up 17 single-service commands, alongside two tri-service commands: the Andaman and Nicobar Command and the Strategic Forces Command.
A theatre command would put the Army, Navy and Air Force units of one region under a single commander. The idea has been discussed officially for years, and our theatre commands page records only what has been announced. As reported, in late October 2026 the Defence Secretary said a blueprint was ready and approval at the highest level was awaited; no theatre command exists yet. For group discussion, weigh unity of command against spreading scarce air assets across theatres, and practise with our GD guide. PIB's releases on 1 November 2026 still name the AOC-in-C of Eastern Air Command, so the table above stands. If theatre commands are notified, this page will be revised. The higher organisation is on tri-services.
Guide: Pages in This Branch
This page is the overview. The two group pages below carry the detail, and the others sit one step away.
| Page | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Operational Commands | Western, Eastern, Central, South Western and Southern: HQ, area of responsibility, key stations and the AOC-in-C of each |
| Functional Commands | Training Command at Bengaluru and Maintenance Command at Nagpur: their roles and the establishments under them |
| Stations, Wings and Squadrons | The chain below a command, the rank at each level and how squadrons are numbered |
| Training Establishments | The Air Force Academy, flying and technical schools, and the staff and warfare colleges |
| Theatre Commands | The plan to merge the single-service commands, with a dated status tracker |
Back up one level at the Indian Air Force hub, or compare with Army commands and Navy commands. The fourth uniformed service has its own regional structure: see the Indian Coast Guard. Next after this are air defence and flying squadrons.
Exam pins
- The IAF has seven commands: five operational and two functional. The head of a command is an AOC-in-C, an Air Marshal.
- Headquarters: Western, New Delhi; Eastern, Shillong; Central, Prayagraj; South Western, Gandhinagar; Southern, Thiruvananthapuram; Training, Bengaluru; Maintenance, Nagpur.
- There is no Northern Air Command and no North Eastern Air Command. The Army has a Northern Command.
- The Operational Command (22 July 1949) was renamed Western Air Command on 10 June 1963. Training Command was also formed on 22 July 1949.
- Maintenance Command was formed on 26 January 1955 at Kanpur; the HQ is now at Nagpur.
- Eastern became a command on 1 December 1959 at Fort William, Kolkata; after the 1962 war it was built up at Shillong.
- Central was formed in March 1962 at Kolkata and shifted to Allahabad in February 1966; South Western was named on 23 July 1980 at Jodhpur, with its HQ moved to Gandhinagar in May 1998.
- Southern Air Command is the youngest: established 19 July 1984, with Air Marshal T J Desa as first AOC-in-C.
- Eastern Air Command's area covers 12 states and a 6,300 km international boundary (PIB, October 2023); its motto is Samareshu Parakram.
- Counting all services: 17 single-service commands (7 Army, 3 Navy, 7 Air Force) and 2 tri-service commands.
Asked in past papers
Direct questions on the Air Force's command list are rare in the official papers we checked. The same belonging trap shows up in the model papers, and rank and tri-service questions keep the vocabulary alive. These three train the same habits.
Which of the following is NOT a command of the Indian Air Force?
(a) Training Command (b) Southern Air Command (c) Eastern Air Command (d) Northern Air Command
Answer: (d). The IAF has Western, Eastern, Central, South Western, Southern, Training and Maintenance Commands, and no Northern one. Northern Command is an Army formation at Udhampur, which is what makes (d) tempting.
Which one of the following is not a correct ascending order of commissioned ranks in the defence forces of India?
(a) Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Lieutenant Colonel, Colonel, Brigadier, Major General, Lieutenant General, General (b) Flying Officer, Flight Lieutenant, Squadron Leader, Wing Commander, Group Captain, Air Commodore, Air Vice Marshal, Air Marshal, Air Chief Marshal (c) Flying Officer, Flight Lieutenant, Squadron Leader, Group Captain, Wing Commander, Air Commodore, Air Vice Marshal, Air Marshal, Air Chief Marshal (d) Sub Lieutenant, Lieutenant, Lieutenant Commander, Commander, Captain, Commodore, Rear Admiral, Vice Admiral, Admiral
Answer: (c). Wing Commander is below Group Captain, so (c) swaps them. This is the ladder an AOC-in-C tops: Air Marshal is the second-highest rank, below Air Chief Marshal.
Which one of the following best describes the Andaman & Nicobar Island Command?
(a) A cyber security command (b) A unified command comprising Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard (c) A unified command comprising Navy and the Coast Guard (d) One of the commands of the Indian Navy
Answer: (b). It is the tri-service command at Port Blair, not one of the 17 single-service commands. Option (d) tempts because a naval officer often heads it. The stored key for this paper is blank, so this answer is from the official description of the command.
Practice MCQs (with answers)
- The headquarters of South Western Air Command is at
- Jodhpur
- Gandhinagar
- Jaipur
- Ahmedabad
- The two functional commands of the Indian Air Force are
- Training and Southern
- Western and Training
- Maintenance and Eastern
- Training and Maintenance
- Which is the youngest command of the Indian Air Force?
- Southern Air Command
- South Western Air Command
- Central Air Command
- Maintenance Command
- An Air Force command is headed by an
- Air Vice Marshal
- Air Chief Marshal
- Air Marshal
- Air Commodore
- The headquarters of Eastern Air Command is at
- Kolkata
- Shillong
- Guwahati
- Prayagraj
- Which of the following command and headquarters pairs is correct?
- Central Air Command : Pune
- Western Air Command : Chandimandir
- Southern Air Command : Thiruvananthapuram
- Maintenance Command : Bengaluru
1-b, 2-d, 3-a, 4-c, 5-b, 6-c. Q1: SWAC began at Jodhpur but its HQ is at Gandhinagar; Jaipur is the Army's South Western Command. Q3: South Western was named in 1980 and Southern was established in 1984, so Southern is the youngest; the two names are easy to swap. Q4: the Chief of the Air Staff is an Air Chief Marshal, and an AOC-in-C is an Air Marshal. Q5: Kolkata was the first HQ, in 1959; Guwahati is a well-known North-East city but not the HQ. Q6: Central is at Prayagraj, Western at New Delhi and Maintenance at Nagpur; Chandimandir is the Army's Western Command.
Where to Go Next
Boards ask "know your service", so read our SSB interview tips with this page open. For the career side, the career in the Indian Air Force page shows the entry routes into these commands, and the AFCAT defence awareness notes cover the wider syllabus. Our explainer on the Air Force's structure gives the same chain in current-affairs form. Cavalier's AFCAT coaching batches cover general awareness, military aptitude, reasoning, numerical ability and English, and prepare you for the Air Force Selection Board.
Frequently asked questions
How many commands does the Indian Air Force have?
The Indian Air Force has seven commands. Five are operational: Western, Eastern, Central, South Western and Southern. Two are functional: Training Command at Bengaluru and Maintenance Command at Nagpur. Each is headed by an Air Marshal called the AOC-in-C.
Is there a Northern Air Command in the IAF?
No. The Indian Air Force has no Northern Air Command. Northern Command is an Army formation headquartered at Udhampur. Air operations in the north are the responsibility of Western Air Command, headquartered at Subroto Park in New Delhi.
Where are the headquarters of the IAF commands?
Western Air Command is at New Delhi, Eastern at Upper Shillong, Central at Prayagraj, South Western at Gandhinagar and Southern at Thiruvananthapuram. Training Command is at Bengaluru and Maintenance Command at Nagpur. Eastern was earlier at Kolkata and Central was first at Kolkata before moving to Allahabad in 1966.
Which is the youngest command of the Indian Air Force?
Southern Air Command, with its headquarters at Thiruvananthapuram, is the youngest. The Air Force records that it was established on 19 July 1984, and its headquarters was inaugurated the next day. South Western Air Command, named on 23 July 1980, is the next youngest.
Who is the AOC-in-C of Eastern Air Command?
Air Mshl Mehtab Singh Deswal heads Eastern Air Command, which is based at Upper Shillong. An AOC-in-C is an Air Marshal. The command covers 12 states and a 6,300 km international boundary, according to PIB.
← Back to Indian Air Force · Defence GK home
Sources: pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1965562 · static.pib.gov.in/WriteReadData/specificdocs/documents/2024/oct/doc2024107411201.pdf · pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2210485 · pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2196863
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