Indian Air Force marks 86th anniversary! Here's a look at its strengths

86 and going strong!

Established on Oct 8, 1932, Indian Air Force ranks 4th in the world behind US, Russia and China.

Since 1950 the IAF has been involved in four wars with neighboring Pakistan and one with the People's Republic of China.

Strength in numbers

139,576 personnel are in service with the Indian Air Force as of July 1, 2017

Garud Commando Force

Formed in 2004, the Garud Commando Force is the special forces unit and has a current strength of approximately 1080 personnel. Garud is tasked with the protection of critical Air Force bases and installations

The 7 Commands

The Indian Air Force has seven Commands, 5 operational and 2 functional

Western Air Command (WAC)

Eastern Air Command (EAC)

Central Air Command (CAC)

South Western Air Command (SWAC)

Southern Air Command (SAC)

Training Command (TC)

Maintenance Command (MC)

Fighter Aircraft

SU-30 MKI of Russian origin

Mirage-2000 of French origin

MiG-29 of Russian origin

MiG-27 of Russian origin

MiG-21 BISON of Russian origin

Jaguar of Anglo-French origin

Helicopter Aircraft

The Indian Air Force boasts of over 500 French, US, Indian and Soviet built types of helicopter aircraft. The pride of the force is, undoubtedly, the Mi-26 heavy lift helicopter. The Chetak/Cheetah helicopter fleet has been the backbone in Search and Rescue Operations

The IAF currently operates the Prithvi-II short-range ballistic missile (SRBM). The Prithvi-II is an IAF-specific variant of the Prithvi ballistic missile.

The SPYDER (Surface-to-air PYthon and DERby) is an Israeli short and medium range mobile air defence system developed by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems with assistance from Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI).

6 SPYDER-MRs along with 300 Python-5 surface to missiles (SAMs) and 300 Derby SAMs are in service with the Indian Air Force.

The IAF currently operates 7 Ilyushin Il-78MKIs in the aerial refuelling (tanker) role.