The Western Air Command (WAC) is the regional command of Indian Air Force headquartered in New Delhi. It is the largest 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 Air Officer Commanding the Operational Command was upgraded from Air Commodore to Air Vice Marshal and later, to the rank of Air Marshal, with the post also upgraded to Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief.

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

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.WAC at Globalsecurity.org

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

SquadronBaseEquipmentNotesNo. 41 Squadron IAFPalam Air Force StationAvro 748 & Do-228MNo. 3 WingNo. 3 Squadron IAFPathankot Air Force StationMiG-21 BisonNo. 7 WingNo. 125 Helicopter Squadron IAFPathankot Air Force StationBoeing ApacheNo. 5 Squadron IAFAmbala Air Force StationJaguar ISNo. 7 WingNo. 14 Squadron IAFAmbala Air Force StationJaguar ISNo. 7 WingNo. 17 Squadron IAFAmbala Air Force StationDassault RafaleNo. 7 WingNo. 47 Squadron IAFAdampur Air Force StationMig-29No. 8 WingNo. 223 Squadron IAFAdampur Air Force StationMig-29No. 8 WingNo. 220 Squadron IAFHalwara Air Force StationSu-30 MKI No.9 WingNo. 221 Squadron IAFHalwara Air Force StationSu-30 MKINo.9 WingNo. 25 Squadron IAFChandigarh Air Force StationIl-76/AN-32No. 12 WingNo. 48 Squadron IAFChandigarh Air Force StationAN-32No. 12 WingNo. 126 Helicopter Flight, IAFChandigarh Air Force StationMi-26/ChinookNo. 12 WingNo. 114 Helicopter Unit, IAFLeh Air Force StationHAL CheetahNo. 23 Wing IAFNo. 130 Helicopter Unit, IAFLeh Air Force StationMi-17No. 23 Wing IAFNo. 129 Helicopter Unit, IAFHindon Air Force StationMi-17No. 28 WingNo. 131 Helicopter Flight, IAFHindon Air Force StationHAL CheetahNo. 28 WingNo. 181 Helicopter Flight, IAFHindon Air Force StationAvro 748MNo. 28 WingNo. 117 Helicopter Unit, IAFSarsawa Air Force StationHAL DhruvNo. 30 WingNo. 152 Helicopter Unit, IAFSarsawa Air Force StationMi-17No. 30 WingNo. 132 Helicopter Flight, IAFUdhampur Air Force StationHAL CheetahNo. 39 WingNo. 153 Helicopter Unit, IAFUdhampur Air Force StationMi-17No. 39 WingNo. 15 Squadron IAFSirsa Air Force StationSu-30MKINo. 45 WingNo. 51 Squadron IAFSrinagar Air Force StationMig 21 Bison

Air 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 Punjab Bathinda AFS VIBT 13/31 700 ft /213 m Punjab Sarsawa AFS VISP 09/27 891 ft / 272 m Uttar Pradesh Siachen Glacier AFS 22,000 ft / 6,706 m Ladakh Sirsa AFS VISA 05/23 650 ft / 198 m Haryana Udhampur AFS VIUX 18/36 1,950 ft / 594 m Jammu & Kashmir

List of Commanders Rank Name Assumed office Left officeAir Officer Commanding No. 1 Operational GroupAir Commodore Mehar Singh Aspy Engineer Air Officer Commanding Operational CommandAir Commodore Aspy Engineer Arjan Singh Atma Ram Nanda Arjan Singh Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Operational CommandAir Vice Marshal Arjan Singh Erlic Wilmot Pinto Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Western Air CommandAir Vice Marshal Erlic Wilmot Pinto Pratap Chandra Lal Ramaswamy Rajaram Shivdev Singh Air Marshal Minoo Merwan Engineer Hrushikesh Moolgavkar Edul Jahangir Dhatigara Dilbagh Singh Lakshman Madhav Katre Malcolm Shirley Dundas Wollen Denis Anthony Lafontaine Man Mohan Singh Prithi Singh Swaroop Krishna Kaul Pratap Rao Satish Kumar Sareen Anil Yashwant Tipnis Vinod Patney Srinivasapuram Krishnaswamy Vinod Kumar Bhatia Adi Rustomji Ghandhi Shashindra Pal Tyagi Avdesh Kumar Singh Padamjit Singh Ahluwalia Pranab Kumar Barbora Norman Anil Kumar Browne Dinesh Chandra Kumaria Arup Raha Suneet Shripad Soman Shirish Baban Deo Chandrashekharan Hari Kumar Raghunath Nambiar Balakrishnan Suresh Vivek Ram Chaudhari Balabhadra Radha Krishna Amit Dev Sreekumar Prabhakaran Pankaj Mohan Sinha Jeetendra Mishra George Thomas Present

References

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