# College of Air Warfare

College of Air Warfare (CAW) is a defence service training institution of the Indian Air Force. The college conducts courses and programmes in the art of Joint Warfare, with special emphasis on employment of Air Power. The functional and the administrative control of the college is with the Training Command of the IAF. The current Commandant of the college is Air Vice Marshal Manish Khanna AVSM, VM

## History

The college was established on 1 July 1959 and was initially known as School of Land and Air Warfare (SLAW) situated at New Delhi. After receiving the approval from the President of India, SLAW moved to its present location in Secunderabad on 25 July 1959. Air Commodore K L Sondhi was the first Commandant. The college was inaugurated by the then Minister of Defence, V. K. Krishna Menon formally, on 3 September 1959. The School of Land Warfare was renamed as the Joint Air Warfare School (JAWS) on 25 November 1967, with the introduction of Naval aspects of warfare. It was renamed the "College of Air Warfare" in January 1976 after the IAF received sanction from the President on 9 November 1975.

## Location

The college is located on the busy Sardar Patel Road in Secunderabad. It overlooks the expanse of the General K. V. Krishna Rao Parade Ground. The campus is situated about 1.5 km from the Secunderabad Junction railway station and the Begumpet Airport.

## Courses

CAW conducts the following courses
* Higher Air Command Course (HACC)
* Basic Professional Knowledge Course-Flying (BPKC-F)
* Ground Liaison Officers Course (GLOC)
* Senior Officers Study Period (SOSP)
* Combined Operational Review and Evaluation Programme

## Objectives

The training objectives of the college are:
* To assist in development of Air Force doctrines, concepts and strategy.
* To study and teach 'Air Power' and conduct training in concepts of Air Warfare.
* To conduct training in Joint Air Operations for officers of Army, Navy and Air Force.
* To conduct computer aided War-Games of the Air War.
* To establish and maintain liaison with similar organisations in the other countries.
* To impart training to junior and middle level officers of the Indian Air Force in leadership and behavioural sciences, so as to improve their qualities of leadership and man management.
* To research, compile and publish books on IAF Personalities, Institutions, Campaigns and Squadrons.

## List of Commandants

| S.No | Name | Assumed office | Left office |
| Commandant School of Land and Air Warfare ||||
| 1 | Air Commodore K L Sondhi | 14 July 1959 | 7 December 1959 |
| 2 | Air Commodore S N Goyal | 11 December 1959 | 31 March 1961 |
| 3 | Air Commodore H S Ratnagar | 6 June 1961 | 12 January 1966 |
| 4 | Air Commodore A R Pandit, DFC | 13 January 1966 | 24 November 1967 |
| Commandant Joint Air Warfare School ||||
| 1 | Air Commodore A R Pandit, DFC | 25 November 1967 | 14 December 1967 |
| 2 | Air Commodore P C Ramachandran, AFC | 15 December 1967 | 30 September 1970 |
| 3 | Air Commodore FVA Scudder, AVSM | 15 October 1970 | 7 May 1972 |
| 4 | Air Commodore S S Achreja | 24 May 1972 | 29 February 1976 |
| 5 | Air Commodore R P Sinha | 1 March 1976 | 11 November 1976 |
| Commandant College of Air Warfare ||||
| 1 | Air Commodore R P Sinha | 12 November 1976 | 31 March 1980 |
| 2 | Air Commodore A M Shahane | 12 November 1980 | 2 August 1981 |
| 3 | Air Vice Marshal Man Singh, AVSM, VM, VSM | 3 August 1981 | 16 December 1984 |
| 4 | Air Vice Marshal I D Bhalla, AVSM | 17 December 1984 | 31 July 1986 |
| 5 | Air Vice Marshal R K Dhawan, AVSM, VM | 20 August 1986 | 14 February 1988 |
| 6 | Air Vice Marshal P J Jayakumar, AVSM | 15 February 1988 | 2 July 1989 |
| 7 | Air Vice Marshal Dushyant Singh, VM, VSM | 3 July 1989 | 8 March 1991 |
| 8 | Air Vice Marshal V Kapila, AVSM, VrC | 11 March 1991 | 31 May 1992 |
| 9 | Air Vice Marshal Jagbir Singh, VrC | 19 October 1992 | 30 December 1994 |
| 10 | Air Vice Marshal S S Hussain Naqvi, AVSM, VrC | 31 December 1994 | 31 August 1997 |
| 11 | Air Vice Marshal A K Trikha, AVSM, VSM | 3 October 1997 | 31 August 1999 |
| 12 | Air Vice Marshal A R Ghandhi, AVSM, VrC | 1 September 1999 | 31 March 2001 |
| 13 | Air Vice Marshal D E Jonas, AVSM | 1 April 2001 | 31 April 2004 |
| 14 | Air Vice Marshal V R Iyer | 1 November 2004 | 31 January 2007 |
| 15 | Air Vice Marshal K G Bewoor, AVSM, VM | 1 February 2007 | 22 March 2009 |
| 16 | Air Vice Marshal PS Gill, AVSM, VM | 23 March 2009 | 31 December 2010 |
| 17 | Air Vice Marshal D P Upot, VSM | 2 May 2011 | 30 November 2014 |
| 18 | Air Vice Marshal Sreekumar Prabhakaran, VM | 1 December 2014 | 19 June 2016 |
| 19 | Air Vice Marshal Upakarjeet Singh, AVSM | 20 June 2016 | 28 February 2017 |
| 20 | Air Vice Marshal R Radhish, AVSM, VM | 1 March 2017 | 12 November 2018 |
| 21 | Air Vice Marshal Suraj Kumar Jha | 13 November 2018 | 30 September 2019 |
| 22 | Air Vice Marshal Dilip Kumar Patnaik, VM | 1 October 2019 | 31 July 2020 |
| 23 | Air Vice Marshal K. S. K. Suresh, VM | 1 August 2021 | To date |