Chief of the Air Staff ( India ) - wikipedia Chief of the Air Staff ( India ) Chief of the Air Staff of the Indian Air Force Flag of the Chief of the Air Staff Incumbent Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa since 31 December 2016 Seat Central Secretariat Appointer President of India Term length 3 years or till the age of 62, whichever is earlier. Precursor Commander - in - Chief, Indian Air Force Formation 1 April 1955 First holder Air Marshal Subroto Mukherjee Deputy Vice Chief of Air Staff Air Marshal Shirish Baban Deo Chief of the Air Staff is the commander and the highest - ranking officer of the Indian Air Force. The position is abbreviated as CAS in the Indian Air Force cables & communication, and is usually held by a four - star officer of the rank Air Chief Marshal. The current CAS is Air Chief Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa who took office on 31 December 2016, following the retirement of Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha. The position was held by an Air Commodore ( 1919 -- 1923 ), by an Air Vice-Marshal ( 1923 -- 1929 ) and by an Air Marshal ( 1929 -- 1965 ). In 1966, the position was upgraded to that of an Air Chief Marshal. The highest rank in the IAF is Marshal of the Air Force, which is conferred by the President of India only in exceptional circumstances. It has only been given once in January 2002 to Marshal of the Indian Air Force Arjan Singh. This is a five - star rank and is equivalent to a Field Marshal in the Army and Admiral of the Fleet in the Navy. Contents 1 Appointees 1.1 Commander, Indian Group ( 1919 to 1920 ) 1.2 Air Officer Commanding RAF, India ( 1920 -- 1938 ) 1.3 Air Officer Commander - in - Chief, Air Forces in India ( 1938 -- 1947 ) 1.4 Air Officer Commanding, Royal Indian Air Force ( 1947 -- 1948 ) 1.5 Commander - in - Chief, Royal Indian Air Force ( 1948 -- 1950 ) 1.6 Commander - in - Chief, Indian Air Force ( 1950 -- 1955 ) 1.7 Chief of the Air Staff ( 1955 -- present ) 1.8 Marshal of the Air Force 2 See also 3 References 4 External links Appointees Commander, Indian Group ( 1919 to 1920 ) No. Name Rank Photo Appointment Date Left Office Decorations Tom Webb - Bowen Air Commodore ( later Air Vice-Marshal ) 20 September 1919 27 January 1920 CB, CMG Air Officer Commanding RAF, India ( 1920 -- 1938 ) No. Name Rank Photo Appointment Date Left Office Decorations Tom Webb - Bowen Air Commodore ( later Air Vice-Marshal ) 27 January 1920 31 December 1922 CB, CMG Philip Game Air Vice-Marshal 31 December 1922 5 November 1923 CB, DSO Sir Edward Leonard Ellington Air Vice-Marshal ( later Marshal of the Royal Air Force ) 5 November 1923 27 December 1926 KCB, CMG, CBE Sir Geoffrey Salmond Air Marshal ( later Air Chief Marshal ) 27 December 1926 6 February 1931 KCB, KCMG, DSO 5 Sir John Miles Steel Air Marshal ( later Air Chief Marshal ) 6 February 1931 2 March 1935 KCB, KBE, CMG 6 Sir Edgar Ludlow - Hewitt Air Marshal ( later Air Chief Marshal ) 2 March 1935 29 September 1937 KCB, CMG, DSO, MC 7 Sir Philip Joubert de la Ferté Air Marshal ( later Air Chief Marshal ) 29 September 1937 27 December 1938 KCB, CMG, DSO Air officer commander - in - Chief, Air forces in India ( 1938 -- 1947 ) No. Name Rank Photo Appointment Date Left Office Decorations Sir Philip Joubert de la Ferté Air Marshal ( later Air Chief Marshal ) 27 December 1938 6 October 1939 KCB, CMG, DSO Sir John Frederick Andrews Higgins Air Marshal 6 October 1939 26 September 1940 KCB, KBE, DSO, AFC Sir Patrick Playfair Air Marshal 26 September 1940 6 March 1942 KBE, CB, CVO, MC Sir Richard Peirse Air Marshal ( later Air Chief Marshal ) 6 March 1942 27 April 1943 KCB, DSO, AFC 5 Sir Guy Garrod Air Marshal ( later Air Chief Marshal ) 27 April 1943 8 March 1944 KCB, OBE, MC, DFC 6 Meredith Thomas Air Vice-Marshal 8 March 1944 1 April 1946 CSI, CBE, DFC, AFC 7 Sir Roderick Carr Air Marshal 1 April 1946 22 November 1946 KBE, CB, DFC, AFC 8 Sir Hugh Walmsley Air Marshal 22 November 1946 15 August 1947 KCIE, CBE, MC, DFC ( On 15 August 1947, the unified RIAF was separated into the Royal Indian Air Force and the Royal Pakistan Air Force ) The following tables chronicle the appointees to the office of the Chief of the Air Staff or its preceding positions since the independence of India. ( * * Seconded from the Royal Air Force ) Air Officer Commanding, Royal Indian Air Force ( 1947 -- 1948 ) No. Name Rank Photo Appointment Date Left Office Decorations Sir Thomas Elmhirst * * Air Marshal 15 August 1947 21 June 1948 KBE, CB, AFC Commander - in - Chief, Royal Indian Air Force ( 1948 -- 1950 ) No. Name Rank Photo Appointment Date Left Office Decorations Sir Thomas Elmhirst * * Air Marshal 21 June 1948 25 January 1950 KBE, CB, AFC Commander - in - Chief, Indian Air Force ( 1950 -- 1955 ) No. Name Rank Photo Appointment Date Left Office Decorations Sir Thomas Elmhirst * * Air Marshal 26 January 1950 23 February 1950 KBE, CB, AFC Sir Ronald Ivelaw - Chapman * * Air Marshal ( later Air Chief Marshal ) 23 February 1950 9 December 1951 KBE, GCB, CB, DFC, AFC Gerald Gibbs * * Air Marshal 10 December 1951 31 March 1954 CIE, CBE, MC & Two Bars Subroto Mukerjee Air Marshal 1 April 1954 31 March 1955 OBE Chief of the Air Staff ( 1955 -- present ) No. Name Rank Photo Appointment Date Left Office Decorations Subroto Mukerjee Air Marshal 1 April 1955 8 November 1960 OBE 5 Aspy Engineer Air Marshal 1 December 1960 31 July 1964 DFC 6 Arjan Singh Air Chief Marshal ( later Marshal of the Indian Air Force ) 1 August 1964 15 July 1969 DFC, PV 7 Pratap Chandra Lal Air Chief Marshal 16 July 1969 15 January 1973 PV, PB, DFC 8 Om Prakash Mehra Air Chief Marshal 16 January 1973 31 January 1976 PVSM, PV 9 Hrushikesh Moolgavkar Air Chief Marshal 1 February 1976 31 August 1978 PVSM, MVC, LOM 10 Idris Latif Air Chief Marshal 1 September 1978 31 August 1981 PVSM 11 Dilbagh Singh Air Chief Marshal 1 September 1981 3 September 1984 PVSM, AVSM, VM 12 Lakshman Mohan Katre Air Chief Marshal 3 September 1984 1 July 1985 PVSM, AVSM 13 Denis Anthony La Fontaine Air Chief Marshal 3 July 1985 31 July 1988 PVSM, AVSM, VSM 14 Surinder Mehra Air Chief Marshal 1 August 1988 31 July 1991 PVSM 15 Nirmal Chandra Suri Air Chief Marshal 31 July 1991 31 July 1993 PVSM, AVSM, VSM 16 Swaroop Kaul Air Chief Marshal 1 August 1993 31 December 1995 PVSM, MVC 17 Satish Kumar Sareen Air Chief Marshal 31 December 1995 31 December 1998 PVSM, AVSM, VM 18 Anil Tipnis Air Chief Marshal 31 December 1998 31 December 2001 PVSM, AVSM, VM 19 Srinivasapuram Krishnaswamy Air Chief Marshal 31 December 2001 31 December 2004 PVSM, AVSM, VM & Bar 20 Shashindra Pal Tyagi Air Chief Marshal 31 December 2004 31 March 2007 PVSM, AVSM, VM, ADC 21 Fali Homi Major Air Chief Marshal 31 March 2007 31 March 2009 PVSM, AVSM, SC, VM, ADC 22 Pradeep Vasant Naik Air Chief Marshal 31 March 2009 31 July 2011 PVSM, VSM, ADC 23 Anil Kumar Browne Air Chief Marshal 31 July 2011 31 December 2013 PVSM, AVSM, VM, ADC 24 Arup Raha Air Chief Marshal 31 December 2013 31 December 2016 PVSM, AVSM, VM, ADC 25 Birender Singh Dhanoa Air Chief Marshal 31 December 2016 Incumbent PVSM AVSM, YSM, VM, ADC Marshal of the Air Force Only once has this rank ever been given : Arjan Singh -- Marshal of the Air Force in January 2002 ( the highest rank ever given in the history of the Indian Air force ). It is equal to a five star General or a Field Marshal in the Army and Admiral of the Fleet in the Navy. See also Chief of the Army Staff ( India ) Chief of the Naval Staff ( India ) References Jump up ^ `` Ex-Chiefs Gallery ''. Indian Air Force. Archived from the original on 3 April 2014. Retrieved 16 August 2014. Jump up ^ `` Air Marshal Birender Singh Dhanoa AVSM YSM VM takes over as Vice Chief of the Air Staff ''. PIB. GOI. Archived from the original on 7 May 2016. Retrieved 24 April 2016. Jump up ^ `` Press Information Bureau ''. Archived from the original on 28 August 2017. Retrieved 20 December 2016. Jump up ^ `` Air Chief Marshal BS Dhanoa takes over as the 25th Chief of the Air Staff ''. pib.nic.in. Archived from the original on 1 January 2017. Retrieved 31 December 2016. line feed character in title = at position 43 ( help ) Jump up ^ Chiefs of the Indian Air Force 1931 to 1947 Archived 2 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine. Jump up ^ `` Chiefs of Air Staff ''. Bharat Rakshak. Archived from the original on 26 December 2013. Retrieved 18 January 2014. Jump up ^ Chiefs of the Indian Air Force 1947 to Present Archived 26 December 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Chiefs of the Indian Air Force External links `` Chief of The Air Staff ''. Indian Air Force. 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Question: who is the current chief of indian air force
Answer: Birender Singh Dhanoa