Indian Armed Forces
The Indian Armed Forces are the military forces of the Republic of India. It consists of three professional uniformed services: the Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Air Force. Additionally, the Indian Armed Forces are supported by the Indian Coast Guard and paramilitary organisations and various inter-service commands and institutions such as the Strategic Forces Command, the Andaman and Nicobar Command and the Integrated Defence Staff; the President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Armed Forces. The Indian Armed Forces are under the management of the Ministry of Defence of the Government of India. With strength of over 1.4 million active personnel, it is the world's 2nd largest military force and has the world's largest volunteer army. It is important to note that the Central Armed Police Forces, which are and incorrectly referred to as'Paramilitary Forces' based on colonial perspective, are not armed forces; as such they are headed by civilian officers from the Indian Police Service and are under the control of the Ministry of Home Affairs, not the Ministry of Defence.
These are central police organisations. The Indian armed forces have been engaged in a number of major military operations, including: the Indo-Pakistani wars of 1947, 1965 and 1971, the Portuguese-Indian War, the Sino-Indian War, the 1967 Chola incident, the 1987 Sino-Indian skirmish, the Kargil War, the Siachen conflict among others. India honours its armed forces and military personnel annually on 7 December. Since 1962, the IAF has maintained close military relations with Russia, including cooperative development of programmes such as the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft and the Multirole Transport Aircraft. Armed with the nuclear triad, the Indian armed forces are undergoing modernisation, with investments in areas such as futuristic soldier systems and missile defence systems; the Department of Defence Production of the Ministry of Defence is responsible for the indigenous production of equipment used by the Indian Armed Forces. It comprises the 41 Indian Ordnance Factories under the control of the Ordnance Factories Board, eight Defence PSUs namely: HAL, BEL, BEML, BDL, MDL, GSL, GRSE and Midhani.
India was the largest importer of defence equipment in 2014 with Russia, Israel and the United States being the top foreign suppliers of military equipment. The Government of India has launched a Make in India initiative to indigenise manufacturing and reduce dependence on imports, including defence imports and procurement. India has one of the longest military histories, dating back several millennia; the first reference to armies is found in the Vedas as well as the epics Mahabaratha. Classical Indian texts on archery in particular, martial arts in general are known as Dhanurveda. Indian maritime history dates back 5,000 years; the first tidal dock is believed to have been built at Lothal around 2300 BC during the Indus Valley Civilisation period, near the present day port of Mangrol on the Gujarat coast. The Rig Veda written around 1500 BC, credits Varuna with knowledge of the ocean routes and describes naval expeditions. There is reference to the side wings of a vessel called Plava, which gives the ship stability in storm conditions.
A compass, Matsya yantra was used for navigation in the fourth and fifth century AD. The earliest known reference to an organisation devoted to ships in ancient India is in the Mauryan Empire from the 4th century BC. Powerful militaries included those of the: Maurya, Chola, Vijayanagara and Maratha empires. Emperor Chandragupta Maurya's mentor and advisor Chanakya's Arthashastra devotes a full chapter on the state department of waterways under navadhyaksha; the term, nava dvipantaragamanam appears in this book in addition to appearing in the Vedic text, Baudhayana Dharmashastra as the interpretation of the term, Samudrasamyanam. Sea lanes between India and neighbouring lands were used for trade for many centuries, are responsible for the widespread influence of Indian Culture on other societies; the Cholas excelled in foreign trade and maritime activity, extending their influence overseas to China and Southeast Asia. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the Maratha and Kerala fleets were expanded, became the most powerful Naval Forces in the subcontinent, defeating European navies at various times.
The fleet review of the Maratha navy, at which the ships Pal and Qalbat participated, took place at the Ratnagiri fort. The Maratha Kanhoji Angre, Kunjali Marakkar, the Naval chief of Saamoothiri were two notable naval chiefs of the period; the Royal Indian Navy was first established by the British while much of India was under the control of the East India Company. In 1892, it became a maritime component as the Royal Indian Marine. During World War I the Indian Army contributed a number of divisions and independent brigades to the European and Middle Eastern theatres of war. One million Indian troops served overseas. In total, 74,187 Indian soldiers died during the war, it fought against the German Empire on the Western Front. Indian divisions were sent to Egypt and nearly 700,000 served in Mesopotamia against the Ottoman Empire. Following WWI, the Indian Armed Forces underwent significant transformation. In 1928, Engineer Sub-lieutenant D. N. Mukherji became the first Indian to receive a commission in the Royal Indian Marine.
In 1932, the Indian Air Force was established as an auxiliary air force.
13th Lok Sabha
The 13th Lok Sabha is the thirteenth session of the Lok Sabha. It was convened after Indian general election, 1999 held during September–October 1999; this majority group in the Lok Sabha during this period was the National Democratic Alliance, a rightist group led by the Bharatiya Janata Party, which won 270 seats, 16 more than 12th Lok Sabha. The NDA, under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee completed its term till the next general elections of May 2004 for the next 14th Lok Sabha. 4 sitting members from Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of Indian Parliament, were elected to 13th Lok Sabha after the Indian general election, 1999. Speaker: G. M. C. Balayogi from 22 October 1999 to 3 March 2002 Manohar Joshi from 10 May 2002 to 2 June 2004 Deputy Speaker: P M Sayeed from 27 October 1999 to 2 June 2004 Secretary General: G C Malhotra from 14 July 1999 to 28 July 2005 Leader of the House Atal Bihari Vajpayee Leader of the Opposition Sonia Gandhi Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Pramod Mahajan Sushma Swaraj Government of India – Fourteenth Lok Sabha
India
India known as the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh largest country by area and with more than 1.3 billion people, it is the second most populous country as well as the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, the Bay of Bengal on the southeast, it shares land borders with Pakistan to the west. In the Indian Ocean, India is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka and the Maldives, while its Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Thailand and Indonesia; the Indian subcontinent was home to the urban Indus Valley Civilisation of the 3rd millennium BCE. In the following millennium, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism began to be composed. Social stratification, based on caste, emerged in the first millennium BCE, Buddhism and Jainism arose. Early political consolidations took place under the Gupta empires. In the medieval era, Zoroastrianism and Islam arrived, Sikhism emerged, all adding to the region's diverse culture.
Much of the north fell to the Delhi Sultanate. The economy expanded in the 17th century in the Mughal Empire. In the mid-18th century, the subcontinent came under British East India Company rule, in the mid-19th under British Crown rule. A nationalist movement emerged in the late 19th century, which under Mahatma Gandhi, was noted for nonviolent resistance and led to India's independence in 1947. In 2017, the Indian economy was the world's sixth largest by nominal GDP and third largest by purchasing power parity. Following market-based economic reforms in 1991, India became one of the fastest-growing major economies and is considered a newly industrialised country. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, corruption and inadequate public healthcare. A nuclear weapons state and regional power, it has the second largest standing army in the world and ranks fifth in military expenditure among nations. India is a federal republic governed under a parliamentary system and consists of 29 states and 7 union territories.
A pluralistic and multi-ethnic society, it is home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats. The name India is derived from Indus, which originates from the Old Persian word Hindush, equivalent to the Sanskrit word Sindhu, the historical local appellation for the Indus River; the ancient Greeks referred to the Indians as Indoi, which translates as "The people of the Indus". The geographical term Bharat, recognised by the Constitution of India as an official name for the country, is used by many Indian languages in its variations, it is a modernisation of the historical name Bharatavarsha, which traditionally referred to the Indian subcontinent and gained increasing currency from the mid-19th century as a native name for India. Hindustan is a Middle Persian name for India, it was introduced into India by the Mughals and used since then. Its meaning varied, referring to a region that encompassed northern India and Pakistan or India in its entirety; the name may refer to either the northern part of India or the entire country.
The earliest known human remains in South Asia date to about 30,000 years ago. Nearly contemporaneous human rock art sites have been found in many parts of the Indian subcontinent, including at the Bhimbetka rock shelters in Madhya Pradesh. After 6500 BCE, evidence for domestication of food crops and animals, construction of permanent structures, storage of agricultural surplus, appeared in Mehrgarh and other sites in what is now Balochistan; these developed into the Indus Valley Civilisation, the first urban culture in South Asia, which flourished during 2500–1900 BCE in what is now Pakistan and western India. Centred around cities such as Mohenjo-daro, Harappa and Kalibangan, relying on varied forms of subsistence, the civilization engaged robustly in crafts production and wide-ranging trade. During the period 2000–500 BCE, many regions of the subcontinent transitioned from the Chalcolithic cultures to the Iron Age ones; the Vedas, the oldest scriptures associated with Hinduism, were composed during this period, historians have analysed these to posit a Vedic culture in the Punjab region and the upper Gangetic Plain.
Most historians consider this period to have encompassed several waves of Indo-Aryan migration into the subcontinent from the north-west. The caste system, which created a hierarchy of priests and free peasants, but which excluded indigenous peoples by labeling their occupations impure, arose during this period. On the Deccan Plateau, archaeological evidence from this period suggests the existence of a chiefdom stage of political organisation. In South India, a progression to sedentary life is indicated by the large number of megalithic monuments dating from this period, as well as by nearby traces of agriculture, irrigation tanks, craft traditions. In the late Vedic period, around the 6th century BCE, the small states and chiefdoms of the Ganges Plain and the north-western regions had consolidated into 16 major oligarchies and monarchies that were known as the mahajanapadas; the emerging urbanisation gave rise to non-Vedic religious movements, two of which became independent religions. Jainism came into prominence during the life of Mahavira.
Buddhism, based on the teachings of Gautama Buddha, attracted followers from all social classes excepting the middle
Intercontinental ballistic missile
An intercontinental ballistic missile is a guided ballistic missile with a minimum range of 5,500 kilometres designed for nuclear weapons delivery. Conventional and biological weapons can be delivered with varying effectiveness, but have never been deployed on ICBMs. Most modern designs support multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles, allowing a single missile to carry several warheads, each of which can strike a different target. Early ICBMs had limited precision, which made them suitable for use only against the largest targets, such as cities, they were seen as a "safe" basing option, one that would keep the deterrent force close to home where it would be difficult to attack. Attacks against military targets still demanded the use of a more precise, manned bomber. Second- and third-generation designs improved accuracy to the point where the smallest point targets can be attacked. ICBMs are differentiated by having greater range and speed than other ballistic missiles: intermediate-range ballistic missiles, medium-range ballistic missiles, short-range ballistic missiles and tactical ballistic missiles.
Short and medium-range ballistic missiles are known collectively as theatre ballistic missiles. The development of the world's first practical design for an ICBM, A9/10, intended for use in bombing New York and other American cities, was undertaken in Nazi Germany by the team of Wernher von Braun under Projekt Amerika; the ICBM A9/A10 rocket was intended to be guided by radio, but was changed to be a piloted craft after the failure of Operation Elster. The second stage of the A9/A10 rocket was tested a few times in January and February 1945; the progenitor of the A9/A10 was the German V-2 rocket designed by von Braun and used at the end of World War II to bomb British and Belgian cities. All of these rockets used liquid propellants. Following the war, von Braun and other leading German scientists were relocated to the United States to work directly for the US Army through Operation Paperclip, developing the IRBMs, ICBMs, launchers; this technology was predicted by US Army General Hap Arnold, who wrote in 1943: Someday, not too distant, there can come streaking out of somewhere – we won't be able to hear it, it will come so fast – some kind of gadget with an explosive so powerful that one projectile will be able to wipe out this city of Washington.
In the immediate post-war era, the US and USSR both started rocket research programs based on the German wartime designs the V-2. In the US, each branch of the military started its own programs, leading to considerable duplication of effort. In the USSR, rocket research was centrally organized, although several teams worked on different designs. Early designs from both countries were short-range missiles, like the V-2, but improvements followed. In the USSR, early development was focused on missiles able to attack European targets; this changed in 1953 when Sergei Korolyov was directed to start development of a true ICBM able to deliver newly developed hydrogen bombs. Given steady funding throughout, the R-7 developed with some speed; the first launch led to an unintended crash 400 km from the site. The first successful test followed on 21 August 1957; the first strategic-missile unit became operational on 9 February 1959 at Plesetsk in north-west Russia. It was the same R-7 launch vehicle that placed the first artificial satellite in space, Sputnik, on 4 October 1957.
The first human spaceflight in history was accomplished on a derivative of R-7, Vostok, on 12 April 1961, by Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. A modernized version of the R-7 is still used as the launch vehicle for the Soviet/Russian Soyuz spacecraft, marking more than 60 years of operational history of Sergei Korolyov's original rocket design; the U. S. initiated ICBM research in 1946 with the RTV-A-2 Hiroc project. This was a three-stage effort with the ICBM development not starting until the third stage. However, funding was cut after only three successful launches in 1948 of the second stage design, used to test variations on the V-2 design. With overwhelming air superiority and intercontinental bombers, the newly forming US Air Force did not take the problem of ICBM development seriously. Things changed in 1953 with the Soviet testing of their first thermonuclear weapon, but it was not until 1954 that the Atlas missile program was given the highest national priority; the Atlas A first flew on 11 June 1957.
The first successful flight of an Atlas missile to full range occurred 28 November 1958. The first armed version of the Atlas, the Atlas D, was declared operational in January 1959 at Vandenberg, although it had not yet flown; the first test flight was carried out on 9 July 1959, the missile was accepted for service on 1 September. The R-7 and Atlas each required a large launch facility, making them vulnerable to attack, could not be kept in a ready state. Failure rates were high throughout the early years of ICBM technology. Human spaceflight programs served as a visible means of demonstrating confidence in reliability, with successes translating directly to national defense implications; the US was well behind the Soviet Union in the Space Race, so U. S. President John F. Kennedy increased the stakes with the Apollo program, which used Saturn rocket technology, funded by President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Agni-I
Agni-I is a short-range ballistic missile developed by DRDO of India under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program. It is a single-stage missile developed after the Kargil War to fill the gap between 250 km range of Prithvi-II and 2,500 km range of Agni-II, it was first launched on 25 January 2002 from a road mobile launcher at Integrated Test Range, Wheeler Island. Less than 75 launchers are deployed. Agni-I was first tested at the Interim Test Range in Chandipur in 1989, is capable of carrying a conventional payload of 1,000 kg or a nuclear warhead. Agni missiles consist of two stages; these are road mobile and powered by solid propellants. The Agni I has a range of 700–900 km, they are claimed to be a part of the "Minimum credible deterrence". Agni-I is a single stage, solid fuel and rail mobile, short-range ballistic missile; the need for the Agni-I was felt after the Kargil war with Pakistan. It took DRDO 15 months to develop the Agni-I after having completed Agni-II development, it is propelled by solid fuel.
Maneuvering RV body-lift aerodynamics give it the ability to correct trajectory errors and reduce thermal stresses. The MRV has a velocity correction package to correct launch trajectory variances; some Agni RV versions use a set of solid fueled thruster cartridges of predetermined impulse, allowing the onboard guidance controller to trim velocity, using discrete combination of impulse quanta along the desired spatial orientation. The 15 metre tall Agni-1 missile, weighing about 12 tonnes, is capable of carrying both conventional as well as nuclear warheads of 1,000 kg. Indian Army conducts user trials of the missile to train the user team to launch the missile; the tests are conducted by the Strategic Forces Command of the Indian Army with logistic support from Defence Research and Development Organisation. Such User trials were carried out multiple times since 2007, with the first one being in October 5, 2007 from Wheelers' Island and the latest one being on November 27, 2015. Another successful user trial was conducted on March 14, 2016 from launch pad-4 of the Integrated Test Range at Abdul Kalam Island.
Multiple successful user trials of the missile have been conducted on 22 November 2016 and 6 February 2018 by the Strategic Forces Command at Abdul Kalam Island. Agni-I is used by the 334 Missile Group at Secunderabad, under the Strategic Forces Command of the Indian Army, Integrated Guided Missile Development Program - A Ministry of Defence program for the research and development of a comprehensive range of missiles. Defence Research and Development Organisation - The agency responsible for development of Agni missile system. BrahMos NPO Mashinostroyenia List of missiles Bharat-Rakshak Agni strategic missile Section
Agni-V
Agni-V is an intercontinental ballistic missile developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation of India. Agni V is part of the Agni series of missiles, one of the missile systems under the original Integrated Guided Missile Development Program; the DRDO chief V. K. Saraswat declined to disclose the exact range of Agni-V. However, he described Agni V as a missile with a range of 5,500–5,800 km. Du Wenlong, a researcher at China’s PLA Academy of Military Sciences, told the Global Times that the missile has a range of around 8,000 kilometres. US Air Force National Air and Space Intelligence Center estimates that as of June 2017 no missiles yet were operationally deployed. Agni V is for enhancing India’s nuclear deterrence against China; until the longest range missile India had was Agni-III with a range of 3000–3500 km. This range was not sufficient to reach targets on the extreme eastern and north- eastern region of China. Most of the important economic centres of China lay on its eastern sea board.
Senior defence scientist M. Natrajan disclosed in 2007 that DRDO was working on an upgraded version of the Agni III, known as the Agni-V, that it would be ready in 4 years; the missile was to have a range of more than 5,000 kilometres. It was estimated that the missile will be operational by 2014 to 2015 after four to five repeatable tests. Indian authorities believed that the solid-fuelled Agni-V is more than adequate to meet current threat perceptions and security concerns. With a range of only 5,000 km, the Agni-V could hit any target in China, including Beijing; the missile will allow India to strike targets into Europe. The missile's range will allow the Indian military to target all of China from Agni-5 bases in central and southern India, further away from China; the missile was designed to be easy to transport by road through the utilisation of a canister-launch missile system, distinct from those of the earlier Agni missiles. Agni-V would carry MIRV payloads being concurrently developed.
A single MIRV equipped missile can deliver multiple warheads at different targets. With a launch mass of around 50 tonnes and a development cost of over ₹2,500 crore, Agni-V incorporated advanced technologies involving ring laser gyroscope and accelerometer for navigation and guidance, it took its first stage from Agni-III, with a modified second stage and a miniaturised third stage enabling it to fly distance of 5,000 kilometres. With a canister-launch system to impart higher road mobility, the missile will give the armed forces much greater operational flexibility than the earlier-generation of Agni missiles. According to a source, the accuracy levels of Agni-V and the 3,800-kilometre Agni-IV, with their better guidance and navigation systems, are far higher than Agni-I, Agni-II and Agni-III. According to the Project Director of Agni V, Tessy Thomas, the missile achieved single-digit accuracy in its second test; the Former Indian defence minister A. K. Antony, addressing the annual DRDO awards ceremony, asked defence scientists to demonstrate the 5,000-kilometre missile's capability at the earliest opportunity.
DRDO chief V. K. Saraswat told Times of India in mid-2011 that DRDO had tested the three solid-propellant composite rocket motor stages of Agni-V independently and all ground tests had been completed. In September 2011, Saraswat confirmed that the first test flight would be conducted in 2012 from Wheeler Island off the Orissa coast. In February 2012, a source revealed that DRDO was ready for the test, but there were scheduling and logistical issues since the missile was to traverse halfway across the Indian Ocean. Countries like Indonesia and Australia as well as international air and maritime traffic in the test zone had to be alerted 7– 10 days before the test. Moreover, Indian Navy warships, with DRDO scientists and tracking and monitoring systems, were to be positioned midway and near the impact point in the southern Indian Ocean. On 19 April 2012 at 08.05 am, the Agni V was test-fired by DRDO from Wheeler Island off the coast of Orissa. The test launch was made from the Launch Complex 4 of the Integrated Test Range at Wheeler Island using a rail mobile launcher.
The flight time lasted 20 minutes and the third stage fired the re-entry vehicle into the atmosphere at an altitude of 100 kilometres. The missile re-entry vehicle subsequently impacted the pre-designated target point more than 5,000 kilometres away in the Indian Ocean; the director of the test range, S. P. Das, informed BBC. According to news reports the Agni-V was able to hit the target nearly at pin-point accuracy, within a few metres of the designated target point. Chinese experts say that the missile has the potential to reach targets 8000 km away and that the Indian government had deliberately downplayed the missile's capability in order to avoid causing concern to other countries; the exact range of the Agni-V missile is classified. On September 15, 2013 India conducted a second test flight of Agni-V from the Wheeler Island off Odisha coast; the missile was test-fired from a mobile launcher from Launch Complex 4 of the Integrated Test Range at about 8:50 am. The flight duration was little over 20 minutes and hit the pre-designed target in the Indian Ocean with an accuracy of a few metres.
On 31 January 2015, India conducted a third successful test flight of the Agni-V from the Wheeler Island facility. The test used a canisterised version of the missile, mounted over a Tatra truck; the Integrated Te
Indian Air Force
The Indian Air Force is the air arm of the Indian Armed Forces. Its complement of personnel and aircraft assets ranks fourth amongst the air forces of the world, its primary mission is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during armed conflict. It was established on 8 October 1932 as an auxiliary air force of the British Empire which honoured India's aviation service during World War II with the prefix Royal. After India gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1947, the name Royal Indian Air Force was kept and served in the name of Dominion of India. With the government's transition to a Republic in 1950, the prefix Royal was removed after only three years. Since 1950 the IAF has been involved in four wars with neighboring Pakistan and one with the People's Republic of China. Other major operations undertaken by the IAF include Operation Vijay, Operation Meghdoot, Operation Cactus and Operation Poomalai; the IAF's mission expands beyond engagement with hostile forces, with the IAF participating in United Nations peacekeeping missions.
The President of India holds the rank of Supreme Commander of the IAF. As of 1 July 2017, 139,576 personnel are in service with the Indian Air Force; the Chief of Air Staff, an air chief marshal, is a four-star officer and is responsible for the bulk of operational command of the Air Force. There is never more than one serving ACM at any given time in the IAF; the rank of Marshal of the Air Force has been conferred by the President of India on one occasion in history, to Arjan Singh. On 26 January 2002 Singh became the first and so far, only five-star rank officer of the IAF; the IAF's mission is defined by the Armed Forces Act of 1947, the Constitution of India, the Air Force Act of 1950. It decrees that in the aerial battlespace: Defence of India and every part there of including preparation for defence and all such acts as may be conducive in times of war to its prosecution and after its termination to effective demobilisation. In practice, this is taken as a directive meaning the IAF bears the responsibility of safeguarding Indian airspace and thus furthering national interests in conjunction with the other branches of the armed forces.
The IAF provides close air support to the Indian Army troops on the battlefield as well as strategic and tactical airlift capabilities. The Integrated Space Cell is operated by the Indian Armed Forces, the civilian Department of Space, the Indian Space Research Organisation. By uniting the civilian run space exploration organizations and the military faculty under a single Integrated Space Cell the military is able to efficiently benefit from innovation in the civilian sector of space exploration, the civilian departments benefit as well; the Indian Air Force, with trained crews and access to modern military assets provides India with the capacity to provide rapid response evacuation, search-and-rescue operations, delivery of relief supplies to affected areas via cargo aircraft. The IAF provided extensive assistance to relief operations during natural calamities such as the Gujarat cyclone in 1998, the tsunami in 2004, North India floods in 2013; the IAF has undertaken relief missions such as Operation Rainbow in Sri Lanka.
The Indian Air Force was established on 8 October 1932 in British India as an auxiliary air force of the Royal Air Force. The enactment of the Indian Air Force Act 1932 stipulated out their auxiliary status and enforced the adoption of the Royal Air Force uniforms, badges and insignia. On 1 April 1933, the IAF commissioned its first squadron, No.1 Squadron, with four Westland Wapiti biplanes and five Indian pilots. The Indian pilots were led by British RAF Commanding officer Flight Lieutenant Cecil Bouchier. During World War II, the IAF played an instrumental role in halting the advance of the Japanese army in Burma, where the first IAF air strike was executed; the target for this first mission was the Japanese military base in Arakan, after which IAF strike missions continued against the Japanese airbases at Mae Hong Son, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai in northern Thailand. The IAF was involved in strike, close air support, aerial reconnaissance, bomber escort and pathfinding missions for RAF and USAAF heavy bombers.
RAF and IAF pilots would train by flying with their non-native air wings to gain combat experience and communication proficiency. IAF pilots participated in air operations in Europe as part of the RAF. During the war, the IAF experienced a phase of steady expansion. New aircraft added to the fleet included the US-built Vultee Vengeance, Douglas Dakota, the British Hawker Hurricane, Supermarine Spitfire, Westland Lysander. In recognition of the valiant service by the IAF, King George VI conferred the prefix "Royal" in 1945. Thereafter the IAF was referred to as the Royal Indian Air Force. In 1950, when India became a republic, the prefix was dropped and it reverted to being the Indian Air Force. After it became independent from the British Empire in 1947, British India was partitioned into the new states of the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan. Along the lines of the geographical partition, the assets of the air force were divided between the new countries. India's air force retained the name of the Royal Indian Air Force, but three of the ten operational squadrons and facilities, located within the borders of Pakistan, were transferred to the Royal Pakistan Air Force.
The RIAF Roundel was changed to an interim'Chakra' roundel derived from the Ashoka Chakra. Around the same time, conflict broke out between them over the control of the princely state of Jammu & Kashmir. With Pakistani forces moving into the state, its Maharaja decided to accede to India in order to receive military help; the day after, the Instrument of Accession was signed, the RIAF
India
Indian Armed Forces
Indian Air Force
Indian Navy
Indian Army
