# Chief of the Air Staff (Pakistan)

The Chief of the Air Staff (reporting name: CAS) is a military appointment and a statutory office held by an Air Chief Marshal in the Pakistan Air Force, who is appointed by the Prime Minister of Pakistan with final confirmation by the President of Pakistan. The CAS is the highest-ranking officer of the Pakistan Air Force.
The Chief of the 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 of Staff Committee to act as a principal military adviser to the Prime Minister and its civilian government in the line of defending and guarding the nation's airspace and aerial borders.$^{:40}$
The Chief of the Air Staff exercises his responsibility of command and control of the operational, administration, combatant, logistics, and training commands within the Air Force.$^{:140}$
The appointment, in principle, was constitutionally subjected for three years. However, in March 2024, the incumbent chief was controversially given a one year extension in his tenure. In November 2024, the term length was increased to five years. The Chief of the Air Staff is based at the Air Headquarters, and the current chief is Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmad Babar.

## History

The Pakistan Air Force was created from the partition of the Royal Indian Air Force after the Partition of British India in August 1947, and were commanded by the appointments approved by the British Air Council. The position was then-known as the Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Pakistan Air Force who would directly report to the Governor-General of Pakistan who was also under British monarchs.$^{:238}$ 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.$^{:238}$
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 person to hold the latter title. The Air Force had its first four-star rank officer, Air Chief Marshal Zulfiqar Ali Khan, in 1974. 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. Since 1974, there have been 14 four-star rank air force officers who have commanded the air force as its air chief.
The Chief of the Air Staff is nominated and appointed by the Prime Minister whose appointment is then confirmed by the President. The air force leadership is based in the AHQ (PAF) in Islamabad, at the vicinity of the Navy Headquarters.
The Chief of the Air Staff leads the functions of the AHQ, assisted by the civilians from the Air Force Secretariat-II of the Ministry of Defence (MoD). The Chief of the Air Staff exercise its responsibility of complete operational, training and logistics commands. In addition, the air chief has several staff officers:-
* Vice Chief of the Air Staff
** Deputy Chiefs of the Air Staff
*** Deputy Chief of The Air Staff (Operations) — DCAS(O)
*** Deputy Chief of The Air Staff (Engineering) — DCAS(E)
*** Deputy Chief of The Air Staff (Administration) — DCAS(A)
*** Deputy Chief of The Air Staff (Training) — DCAS(T)
*** Deputy Chief of The Air Staff (Personnel) — DCAS(P)
*** Deputy Chief of The Air Staff (Support) — DCAS(S)
*** Inspector General Air Force — IGAF
*** Chief Project Director JF-17 Thunder — CPD JF-17 Thunder
*** Director General Air Force Strategic Command — DG AFSC
*** Director General Air Intelligence — DG AI
*** Director General Command, Control, Communication, Computers and Intelligence — DG C4ISTAR
*** Director General Projects — DG Projects
*** Director General Security — DG Security

## Appointees

The following tables chronicle the appointees to the office of the Chief of the Air Staff or its preceding positions since the independence of Pakistan.
(**Seconded from the Royal Air Force)

### Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Pakistan Air Force (1947–56)

| No. | Commander-in-Chief | Took office | Left office | Time in office |
| 1 | Perry-Keene, AllanAir Vice Marshal Allan Perry-Keene CB OBE (1898–1987) | 15 August 1947 | 17 February 1949 | 1 year, 186 days |
| 2 | Atcherley, RichardAir Vice Marshal Richard Atcherley CB CBE AFC (1904–1970) | 18 February 1949 | 6 May 1951 | 2 years, 77 days |
| 3 | Cannon, LeslieAir Vice Marshal Leslie William Cannon CB CBE (1904–1986) | 7 May 1951 | 19 June 1955 | 4 years, 43 days |
| 4 | McDonald, ArthurAir Vice Marshal Arthur McDonald CB AFC (1903–1996) | 20 June 1955 | 23 March 1956 | 277 days |

### Commander-in-Chief of the Pakistan Air Force (1956–72)

Pakistan became an Islamic republic on 23 March 1956, hence royal was dropped from the name of the air force.
| No. | Commander-in-Chief | Took office | Left office | Time in office |
| 1 | McDonald, ArthurAir Vice Marshal Arthur McDonald CB AFC (1903–1996) | 23 March 1956 | 22 July 1957 | 1 year, 121 days |
| 2 | Khan, AsgharAir Marshal Asghar Khan NT HPk HQA PM (GCCT) MA (1921–2018) | 23 July 1957 | 22 July 1965 | 7 years, 364 days |
| 3 | Khan, NurAir Marshal Nur Khan HJ HS OI(J) ON NOC HQA SQA SPk SK (1923–2011) | 23 July 1965 | 31 August 1969 | 4 years, 40 days |
| 4 | Khan, AbdurAir Marshal Abdur Rahim Khan HJ HQA SPk SK SBt KSJ (1925–1990) | 1 September 1969 | 2 March 1972 | 2 years, 183 days |

### Chiefs of Air Staff of Pakistan Air Force (1972–present)

Rank insignia of the whole PAF was changed when ACM Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed was in the office.
| No. | Chief of Air Staff | Took office | Left office | Time in office |
| 1 | Chaudhry, ZafarAir Marshal Zafar Chaudhry SQA (1926–2019) | 3 March 1972 | 15 April 1974 | 2 years, 43 days |
| 2 | Khan, ZulfiqarAir Chief Marshal Zulfiqar Ali Khan NI(M) (1930–2005) | 16 April 1974 | 22 July 1978 | 4 years, 97 days |
| 3 | Shamim, AnwarAir Chief Marshal Anwar Shamim NI(M) SJ (1931–2013) | 23 July 1978 | 5 March 1985 | 6 years, 226 days |
| 4 | Khan, JamalAir Chief Marshal Jamal A. Khan NI(M) SJ SBt (born 1934) | 5 March 1985 | 8 March 1988 | 3 years, 3 days |
| 5 | Durrani, HakimullahAir Chief Marshal Hakimullah Khan Durrani NI(M) SJ SBt (1935–2024) | 9 March 1988 | 9 March 1991 | 3 years |
| 6 | Khan, FarooqAir Chief Marshal Farooq Feroze Khan NI(M) SBt (1939–2021) | 9 March 1991 | 8 November 1994 | 3 years, 244 days |
| 7 | Khattak, AbbasAir Chief Marshal Abbas Khattak NI(M) SBt (born 1943) | 8 November 1994 | 7 November 1997 | 2 years, 364 days |
| 8 | Qureshi, PervaizAir Chief Marshal Pervaiz Mehdi Qureshi NI(M) SBt (born 1943) | 7 November 1997 | 20 November 2000 | 3 years, 13 days |
| 9 | Mir, MushafAir Chief Marshal Mushaf Ali Mir NI(M) SBt (1947–2003) | 20 November 2000 | 20 February 2003 † | 2 years, 92 days |
| - | Hussain Qaiser, SyedAir Marshal Syed Qaiser Hussain | 20 February 2003 | 18 March 2003 | 26 days |
| 10 | Saadat, KaleemAir Chief Marshal Kaleem Saadat NI(M) (born 1951) | 19 March 2003 | 18 March 2006 | 2 years, 364 days |
| 11 | Ahmed, TanvirAir Chief Marshal Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed NI(M) SBt (born 1952) | 18 March 2006 | 18 March 2009 | 3 years, 0 days |
| 12 | Suleman, RaoAir Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman NI(M) HI(M) SI(M) TI(M) SBt (born 1954) | 19 March 2009 | 19 March 2012 | 3 years, 0 days |
| 13 | Butt, TahirAir Chief Marshal Tahir Rafique Butt NI(M) TBt (born 1955) | 19 March 2012 | 19 March 2015 | 3 years, 0 days |
| 14 | Aman, SohailAir Chief Marshal Sohail Aman NI(M) HI(M) SI(M) TI(M) (born 1959) | 19 March 2015 | 19 March 2018 | 3 years, 0 days |
| 15 | Khan, MujahidAir Chief Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan NI(M) HI(M) SI(M) TI(M) (born 1962) | 19 March 2018 | 19 March 2021 | 3 years, 0 days |
| 16 | Babar, ZaheerAir Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmad Babar NI(M) HI(M) SI(M) TI(M) (born 1965) | 19 March 2021 | Incumbent | 3 years, 337 days |