IAF's Online Testing System Launched for Officers and Airmen Cadres Recruitment, Online Registration begins 15th December 2017

The Indian Air Force - IAF’s Online Testing system was launched yesterday making IAF the first amongst the three Indian Defence Forces to take up an IT-enabled online testing platform for induction of Officers and Airmen. The online registration on the official IAF platform will begin from 15th December 2017 and the online testing will commence from January 2018, next month. The official statement read, “The project will be implemented with effect from January 2018 for Air Force Common Admission Test (AFCAT) for Officer's cadre and Scheduled Test for Airmen Recruitment (STAR) for Airmen cadre.”

The Indian Air Force has developed the Online Testing system in collaboration with Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) and the same was launched by Minister of State for Defence – Mr Subhash Bhamre, in presence of IAF Vice Chief, Air Marshal S.B. Deo and many other senior IAF officers.

As per the official statement released yesterday, “The selection system for officers and airmen cadres in the IAF has been continuously evolving and sustained efforts are in place to strengthen the testing system. Though the existing system is time-tested and well proven, constraints of testing capacity and geographical reach were major limitations in according opportunity to all deserving and eligible candidates from across the country, especially the rural youth.”

An MOU (memorandum of understanding) was signed between IAF and C-DAC on 31st October 2017 for the Online Testing system to make sustainable improvisation in the existing system, make it candidate-friendly and enhance organizational efficiency.

As per the current system, the Indian Air Force has more than 100 Centres for Officer cadre exams and 14 Centres for Airmen cadre exams, across the country. However, there are currently many States and UTs across India where IAF doesn’t have any testing centre. The candidates from these areas have to commute to the allotted centres to give tests.

As per the new testing system, IAF will have around 760 testing centres across India now, making it easily approachable for thousands of candidates interested in joining the Indian Air Force. “It will enable approximately four lakh candidates for Airmen's selection and two lakh for Officer's selection, to appear in the exam every six months,” read the statement.