Chief of Air Staff (Pakistan)

Chief of Air Staff of the Pakistan Air Force
CAS

Flag of the Chief of Air Staff
Incumbent
Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman
since 19 March 2015
Ministry of Defence
Air Force Secretariat-II at MoD[1]
Abbreviation CAS
Member of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee
Reports to Prime Minister of Pakistan
Minister of Defence
Seat Air AHQ
Islamabad in Pakistan
Nominator Prime Minister of Pakistan
Appointer President of Pakistan
Term length 3 years
Renewable only once
Precursor Air Force Commander-in-Chief
Formation March 3, 1972 (1972-03-03)
First holder Air Mshl Zafar Chaudhry
Succession On basis of seniority, subjected to the decision of the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
Unofficial names Air chief
Deputy Vice Chief of Air Staff (VCAS)
Salary According to Pakistan Military officer's Pay Grade(apex Scale)
Website Official website

The Chief of Air Staff (Urdu: سربراہ پاک فضائيه‎) (reporting name: CAS), is a military appointment and a statutory office held by the four-star rank air force general in the Pakistan Air Force, who is appointed by the Prime Minister of Pakistan and final confirmation by the President of Pakistan.[2]

The Chief of Air Staff is a senior most military appointment in the Pakistani military who is a senior member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee in a separate capacity, usually providing necessary consultation to the Chairman joint chiefs to act as a principle military adviser to the Prime Minister and its civilian government in the line of defending and guarding the nations's airspace and aerial borders.:40[3][4]

The Chief of Air Staff exercise its responsibility of command and control of the operational, administration, combatant, logistics, and training commands within the Air Force, as an oppose to its U.S. Air Force's Chief of Staff.:140[3] Due to its statue, the Chief of Air Staff maintain its importance of providing the strategic control and final decision-making issues relating the nation's national security.[4]

The appointment, in principle, is constitutionally subjected for three years but extensions may be granted by the President upon recommendations and approvals from the Prime Minister. The Chief of Air Staff is based on the Air AHQ, and the current Chief of Air Staff is Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman, serving in this capacity since 19 March of 2015.[2]

History

The Pakistan Air Force was created from the partition of the Royal Indian Air Force after the partition of India in 1947, and were commanded by the appointments approved by the British Air Council. The position was then-known as the Commander in Chief who would directly reported to the Governor-General who was also under British monarchs.:238[5] At first, the office was held by the two-star rank air officer, an Air Vice Marshal, and later upgraded to a three-star rank, Air Marshal. The British Air Council continued making the appointment at the command level until 1957, when Pakistan had promoted a local air officer to the commanding position.:238[5]

On 20 March 1972, the title of the office was changed from "Commander in Chief" to the "Chief of Air Staff" with Air Marshal Zafar Chaudhry being appointed as the first air chief.:contents[6] The Air Force had its first four-star rank officer, an Air Chief Marshal, in 1974.:contents[7] The term of the superannuation was then constrained to three years in the office as opposed to four years and air chief was made a permanent member of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee.:contents[6][4] Since 1974, there has been 14 four-star rank air force officers who have commanded the air force as its air chief.:contents[6]

The Chief of Air Staff is nominated and appointed by the Prime Minister whose appointment is then confirmed by the President.[2] The air force leadership is based in the Air AHQ in Islamabad, at the vicinity of the Navy NHQ.[4]

The Chief of Air Staff leads the functions of the Air AHQ, assisted by the civilians from the Air Force Secretariat-II of the Ministry of Defence (MoD).[1] The Chief of Air Staff exercise its responsibility of complete operational, training and logistics commands.[4] In addition, the Air chief has several staff officers:

List of Chiefs of Air Staff

Order Name Rank Portrait Appointment Date End of Term Decorations

Commanders-in-Chief of the Pakistan Air Force (C-in-C)

1. Allan Perry-Keene Air Vice Marshal 15 August 1947 17 February 1949 CB, OBE
2 Richard Atcherley Air Vice Marshal 18 February 1949 6 May 1951 CB, CBE, AFC
3 Leslie William Cannon Air Vice Marshal 7 May 1951 19 June 1955 CB, CBE
4 Arthur McDonald Air Vice Marshal 20 June 1955 22 July 1957 CB AFC
5 Asghar Khan Air Marshal 23 July 1957 22 July 1965 HPk, HQA
6 Nur Khan Air Marshal 23 July 1965 31 August 1969 SPk, HJ, HS, HQA, OI(J), NOC, OVN
7 Abdul Rahim Khan Air Marshal 1 September 1969 2 March 1972 SPk, HJ, SBt

Chiefs of Air Staff of Pakistan Air Force (CAS)


1 Zafar Chaudhry Air Marshal 3 March 1972 15 April 1974 SQA
2 Zulfiqar Ali Khan Air Chief Marshal 16 April 1974 22 July 1978 NI(M)
3 Anwar Shamim Air Chief Marshal 23 July 1978 5 March 1985 NI(M), SJ
4 Jamal Khan Air Chief Marshal 6 March 1985 8 March 1988 NI(M), SJ, SBt
5 Hakimullah Air Chief Marshal 9 March 1988 9 March 1991 NI(M), SJ, SBt
6 Farooq Feroze Khan Air Chief Marshal 9 March 1991 8 November 1994 NI(M), SBt
7 Abbas Khattak Air Chief Marshal 8 November 1994 7 November 1997 NI(M), SBt
8 Parvaiz Mehdi Qureshi Air Chief Marshal 7 November 1997 20 November 2000 NI(M), SBt
9 Mushaf Ali Mir Air Chief Marshal 20 November 2000 20 February 2003 NI(M), SBt
10 Kaleem Saadat Air Chief Marshal 18 March 2003 18 March 2006 NI(M)
11 Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed Air Chief Marshal 18 March 2006 18 March 2009 NI(M), SBt
12 Rao Qamar Suleman Air Chief Marshal 19 March 2009 19 March 2012 NI(M), HI(M), SI(M), TI(M), SBt, LOM, OM, OKA
13 Tahir Rafique Butt Air Chief Marshal 19 March 2012 19 March 2015 NI(M), TBt
14 Sohail Aman Air Chief Marshal 19 March 2015 Present NI(M), HI(M), SI(M), TI(C)

Vice Chief of Air Staff

The Vice Chief of Air Staff (VCAS) is the post that is principal deputy and second-in-command (S-in-C) of the Pakistan Air Force, reporting under the Chief of Air Staff.[4] The post is usually held by an Air Marshal, a three-star rank air force general, who is responsible for flight safety, intelligence, procurement, public relations, and the Air War College.[4]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 MoD, Ministry of Defence. "Organogram of MoD" (PDF). mod.gov.pk/. Ministry of Defence Press. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 Mateen Haider; Irfan Haider (18 March 2015). "Air Marshal Sohail Aman appointed as new air chief". DAWN.COM. Dawn Newspaper, Islamabad. Dawn Newspapers. Retrieved 28 July 2017.
  3. 1 2 Cheema, Pervaiz Iqbal (2002). "Defence Administration". The Armed Forces of Pakistan (google books) (1st ed.). New York, U.S.: NYU Press. p. 225. ISBN 9780814716335. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Usman, Shabbir (2003). "Command & Structure control" (html). pakdef.org. PakDef Military Consortium. Retrieved 25 July 2017.
  5. 1 2 Cheema, Pervaiz I.; Riemer, Manuel (1990). Pakistan's Defence Policy 1947-58. Springer. ISBN 9781349209422. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  6. 1 2 3 Alam, Dr Shah (2012). "Modernization under Bhutto". Pakistan Army: Modernisation, Arms Procurement and Capacity Building (googlebooks). Vij Books India Pvt Ltd. ISBN 9789381411797. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
  7. ↑ Ramsey, Syed (2017). "Recovery from 1971 war". Pakistan and Islamic Militancy in South Asia (google books). Vij Books India Pvt Ltd. ISBN 9789386367433. Retrieved 27 July 2017.
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