The Chief of the Air Staff (Urdu: سربراہ پاک فضائيہ) (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 and final confirmation by the President of Pakistan. The CAS is the highest-ranking officer of the Pakistan Air Force and only pilots are appointed in this post.
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 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 Air Staff exercise its responsibility of command and control of the operational, administration, combatant, logistics, and training commands within the Air Force.:140 Due to its statute, the Chief of Air Staff maintain its importance of providing the strategic control and final decision-making issues relating the nation’s national security.
The appointment, in principle, is constitutionally subjected for three years but extensions may be granted by the President upon recommendations and approvals from the Prime Minister. The Chief of Air Staff is based at the Air Headquarters, and the current Chief of Air Staff 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 India in 1947, and were commanded by the appointments approved by the British Air Council. The position was then-known as the Commander in Chief who would directly reported to the Governor-General 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.:contents The Air Force had its first four-star rank officer, an Air Chief Marshal, in 1974.:contents 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.:contents Since 1974, there has been 14 four-star rank air force officers who have commanded the air force as its air chief.:contents
The Chief of 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 in Islamabad, at the vicinity of the Navy Headquarters.
The Chief of 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 Air Staff exercise its responsibility of complete operational, training and logistics commands. In addition, the Air chief has several staff officers:-
- Vice Chief of Air Staff
- Deputy Chief of Air Staff Aerial Support (DCAS(S))
- Deputy Chief of Air Staff Training and Evaluation (DCAS (T&E))
- Deputy Chief of Air Staff Air Operations (DCAS AO)
- Deputy Chief of Air Staff Personnel (DCAS P)
- Deputy Chief of Air Staff Engineering (DCAS (E))
- Director-General C4ISTAR (DG C4ISTAR)
- Commander Air Force Strategic Command
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 (1947-55)
The Royal Indian Air Force was divided between India and Pakistan following the partition of India, hence the Royal Pakistan Air Force was formed in 1947. It was then headed by a Commander-in-Chief.
| No. | Portrait | Commander-in-Chief | Took office | Left office | Time in office |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
 |
Air Vice Marshal Allan Perry-Keene CB, OBE (1898–1987) |
15 August 1947 | 17 February 1949 | 1 year, 186 days |
| 2 |
 |
Air Vice Marshal Richard Atcherley CB, CBE, AFC (1904–1970) |
18 February 1949 | 6 May 1951 | 2 years, 77 days |
| 3 |
|
Air Vice Marshal Leslie William Cannon CB, CBE (1904–1986) |
7 May 1951 | 19 June 1955 | 4 years, 43 days |
| 4 |
|
Air 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 in 23 March 1956, hence royal was dropped from the name of the air force.
| No. | Portrait | Commander-in-Chief | Took office | Left office | Time in office |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 |
|
Air Vice Marshal Arthur McDonald CB, AFC (1903–1996) |
23 March 1956 | 22 July 1957 | 1 year, 121 days |
| 5 |
 |
Air Marshal Asghar Khan HPk, HQA (1921–2018) |
23 July 1957 | 22 July 1965 | 7 years, 364 days |
| 6 |
 |
Air Marshal Nur Khan SPk, HJ, HQA (1923–2011) |
23 July 1965 | 31 August 1969 | 4 years, 40 days |
| 7 |
|
Air Marshal Abdur Rahim Khan SPk, HJ, SBt (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. | Portrait | Chief of Air Staff | Took office | Left office | Time in office |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |
|
Air Marshal Zafar Chaudhry SQA (1926–2019) |
3 March 1972 | 15 April 1974 | 2 years, 43 days |
| 2 |
 |
Air Chief Marshal Zulfiqar Ali Khan NI(M) (1930–2005) |
16 April 1974 | 22 July 1978 | 4 years, 97 days |
| 3 |
 |
Air Chief Marshal Anwar Shamim NI(M), SJ (1931–2013) |
23 July 1978 | 5 March 1985 | 6 years, 226 days |
| 4 |
|
Air Chief Marshal Jamal Khan NI(M), SJ, SBt (born 1934) |
5 March 1985 | 8 March 1988 | 3 years, 3 days |
| 5 |
|
Air Chief Marshal Hakeemullah Khan Durrani NI(M), SJ, SBt (born 1935) |
9 March 1988 | 9 March 1991 | 3 years, 0 days |
| 6 |
|
Air Chief Marshal Farooq Feroze Khan NI(M), SBt (born 1939) |
9 March 1991 | 8 November 1994 | 3 years, 244 days |
| 7 |
|
Air Chief Marshal Abbas Khattak NI(M), SBt (born 1943) |
8 November 1994 | 7 November 1997 | 2 years, 364 days |
| 8 |
|
Air Chief Marshal Pervaiz Mehdi Qureshi NI(M), SBt (born 1943) |
7 November 1997 | 20 November 2000 | 3 years, 13 days |
| 9 |
|
Air Chief Marshal Mushaf Ali Mir NI(M), SBt (1947–2003) |
20 November 2000 | 20 February 2003 † | 2 years, 92 days |
| 10 |
|
Air Chief Marshal Kaleem Saadat NI(M) (born 1951) |
18 March 2003 | 18 March 2006 | 3 years, 0 days |
| 11 |
|
Air Chief Marshal Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed NI(M), SBt (born 1952) |
18 March 2006 | 18 March 2009 | 3 years, 0 days |
| 12 |
|
Air 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 |
|
Air Chief Marshal Tahir Rafique Butt NI(M), TBt (born 1955) |
19 March 2012 | 19 March 2015 | 3 years, 0 days |
| 14 |
 |
Air 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 |
 |
Air 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 |
 |
Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmad Babar Sidhu HI(M), SI(M), TI(M), NI(M) |
19 March 2021 | Incumbent | 66 days |
Vice Chief of Air Staff
The Vice Chief of Air Staff (VCAS) is the post that is principal deputy and second-in-command (S-in-C) of the Pakistan Air Force, reporting under the Chief of Air Staff. The post is usually held by an Air Marshal, a three-star rank air force general, who is responsible for flight safety, intelligence, procurement, public relations, and the Air War College.