Education and Career Forum

Procedure to become an Air Force Officer? Age limit required for it?

To become an Air Force Officer, first you need to appear in NDA or CDS examination which are considered as entrance examinations for joining in Air Force. If you have completed 12th standard, you can appear in NDA examination or if you have already completed Graduation, you can appear in CDS examination.

Eligibility Criteria :-
--> For NDA :-
1. Educational Qualification :- 12th pass with Mathematics and Physics subjects from a recognised board.
2. Age Limit :- 16 1/2 to 19 years

--> For CDS :-
1. Educational Qualification :- Graduation in any discipline from a recognised university.
2. Age Limit :- 19 to 24 years

One can join the Air Force as an Officer in either one of the three branches,

Flying Branch,

Technical Branch or

Ground Branch.

Educational Qualification required for different branches of Air force are as under:-

For Technical Branch: Bachelor of Engineering .

For Ground duty branch : Graduation in any stream .

For Flying branch :10+2 with Physics and Mathematics .


Procedure to become an Air Force Officer are as under :-

-The candidate has to appear for the either NDA or CDS exam in order to join Indian Air Force .

Eligibility criteria for NDA exam:

Qualification :10+2 with Physics,Chemistry and Mathematics .

Age Limit : 16.5 years to 19 years .

Selection Procedure :

Written Exam

Interview by Services Selection Board.


Eligibility criteria for CDS exam:

Qualification :Bachelor's Degree in Engineering or B.Sc with Physics or Mathematics .

Age Limit : 19 years to 23 years .

Selection Procedure :

Written Exam

Interview by Services Selection Board.

Physical and Medical Test.

To become an Air force officer you will have to crack either NDA examination or CDS examination depending upon your qualification.

NDA stands for National Defense Academy where as CDS stands for Combined Defense Services. Both the examinations are held by Union Public Service Commission twice every year.

* The eligibility criteria for NDA examinations for Air force wing are as here under :-

--> You must have the nationality of India and you must be an unmarried male also.

--> Your age must lie within 16.5 years to 19 years.

--> You must have a higher secondary degree with Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and English as your main subjects from a recognized board of education.

* Also the qualifications required for CDS examination for your desired wing are as :-

--> You must have the nationality of India.

--> Your age must be within 19 years to 23 years.

--> You must have the bachelor degree with Physics or Mathematics or any engineering course from a recognized university.

For both the examinations physical and mental fitness is required as per the service requirement norms.

Also both the examinations are held in two stages which are called as General ability test ( written test ) and Service selection board interview held in given order.

For more queries related to the same examinations you can visit the official link of UPSC i.e; www.upsc.gov.in.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Procedure to become an Air Force Officer? Age limit required for it?

To become a Air Force Officer, you need to qualify in AFCAT exam.

1.Flying branch :-

Candidate must have complete the graduation in any trade from a recognized university but you must have mathematics and physics in 12th standard.

Candidates age should be in between 19-23 years.

2.Technical branch:-

Candidate must have complete the graduation in engineering field.

Candidates age should be in between 18-28 years.

3.Ground duty branch:-

Candidate must have complete the graduation in any trade.

Candidates age should be in between 20-27 years.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Procedure to become an Air Force Officer? Age limit required for it?

Those candidates who are interested to become an Air Force officer must appear and qualify in the Combined Defence Service (CDS) entrance exam which is conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).

Educational Qualification:
Three year full time graduation in any science stream from a recognized University is the minimum educational qualification required to apply for Air Force academy through CDS exam. It is mandatory the candidates should have studied Physics and Mathematics in higher secondary and Graduation level. Those who have completed B.E. or B.Tech in any stream are also eligible.

Age Limit and Marital Status:
Applicants who are in the age group of 19 to 23 years are eligible to apply. There is no upper age relaxation given to any category students and only unmarried male candidates are eligible.

Official website - www.upsc.gov.in

To become Air force officer you can apply for CDS Exam, that is Combined Defence Services Examination.

Age Limit : 19 to 23 years.

CDS Exam is conducted twice a year by UPSC. You can apply for this exam on UPSC official website.

Candidate must have passed B.Sc with Physics or Mathematics or Bachelor of Engineering.

Candidate have to appear in written exam that consists of 300 marks.
After passing written exam candidate have to appear for SSB Interview. SSB Interview consists of 300 marks.
After passing SSB Interview you have to go through some medical test, it is the last step.

For more details about the exam please go through the attachment.

Yes, there is age limits in becoming Indian Air Force Officer. When I say age limits, it means that there are multiple criteria for the range of age. Now your question would be what are they. You have three categories under which you can apply to become and air force officer which are
Technical crew
Flying crew
Ground crew
For being a technical crew your age must be within 28 years. If you do not have graduation then you need to complete one and that too with minimum 60% marks. If you want to join the flying crew then your age must be within 22 years and if you have complete B.tech in that time, it is even better. You can grasp the technology of flying better when you are a B.tech graduate. For being a ground crew also your age limit is 22-23 years. Along with it you must have scored minimum 60% in graduation. After your graduation just sit for union public service commission. The score you get in union public service commission examination will determine in which division will you be able to apply.

Eligibilities for indian air officier:
the candidate must be indian citizen.
He must complete 12th from recognised board.
He must be physically fit . Minimum height 153 cms. The must be unmarried male candidate.
Proper hearing, eye vision, chest expansion, weight' speaking skills is needed.

One can join the IAF as an officer through CDSE or AFCAT.

CDSE is conducted by the UPSC twice a year in the month of February and October for the recruitment of officers in the defence forces.

The eligibility criteria for the same is as follows :

* The candidate should be a citizen of India.

* The candidate should be mentally and physically fit.

* The candidate should have done the graduation under the scheme of 10+2+3 at least from a recognized university.

* The minimum age for appearing is 21 years at least.

You can appear in the examination right from the final year of your graduation degree.


AFCAT stands for the Air Force Common Admission Test.

It is the test conducted by the India Air Force twice the year for the recruitment of Engineers as the officers in the IAF.

According to the notification released by the IAF, the eligibility criteria is as follows :

* The candidate should be a citizen of India.

* The candidate should be mentally and physically fit.

* The candidate should have done the Engineering (BE/BTech) from any stream.

* The minimum age for appearing is 21 years at least.

You can appear in the examination right from the final year of your Engineering degree.

You can become Indian Air Force officer through NDA, CDS and AFCAT. For NDA you need 10 2 qualification and for CDS and AFCAT you need graduation qualification with good physical fitness.

For NDA age required is 16.5 to 19 years and for Graduates age limit is 19 to 23 years. You have to crack entrance exam abs interview for getting the officer job. Therefore, be prepared for these exams if you have the qualification.