Education and Career Forum

Hello Sir,
This is Rohan I completed my diploma in Mechanical Engineering and at present I am studying BE (3rd year ) in same stream. And I want to know that at which year I will be able to apply for Indian Airforce or Army. What are s the age limit for exams and in which field I have to be able to apply. And what are all preparation I have to do for the exam. I request you to guide me.

You can join Indian Air Force or Army through CDS exam or UES exam .

UPSC conducts CDS (Combined Defense Services) exam twice a year to make recruitment in the Indian Defense Services .

The eligibility criteria for CDS exam are as under:-

Nationality : Indian.

Educational Qualification :

Indian Military Academy/Officer's Training Academy-Graduation in any discipline.

Indian Naval Academy-Bachelor of Engineering.

Indian Air Force Academy-10+2 level degree with Physics and Mathematics or Bachelor of Engineering.

Age limit :

Indian Military Academy- 19 years to 24 years

Indian Naval Academy-19 years to 22 years

Indian Air Force Academy-19 years to 23 years

Officer's Training Academy-19 years to 25 years

Selection Process :

*Written Exam

*Interview by Services Selection Board.

There is another way for engineers to join defense is through UES exam.

UES stands for University Entry Scheme.

UES Exam is conducted for candidates to join in Army/Navy/Air Force.

The eligibility criteria for UES exam are as under:-

-The candidate must be a citizen of India.

- The candidate must have passed a B.Tech./B.E. degree from a recognized university. Final year appearing candidates can also apply for the exam.

- Only unmarried male candidate can apply for the UES Exam.

- The candidate age limit for the exam must be in between 19 years to 25 years .

Yes, you are eligible to join the Defence services after the 4th year of the B.E course. The candidates have to qualify in the CDS examination for the recruitment in the services.

The qualification to appear for the examination is candidates must have passed the graduation from the recognised university and the age of the candidates must be between the 19-23 for the Air Force and 19-24 for the Army.

So you can appear in the examination. The examination is conducted in the month of the February for the CDS I and in the September for the CDS II. The examination is conducted in the two stages and the candidates after qualifying in the written are eligible for the SSB.

For more information about the examination visit at the www.upsc.gov.in.

As you have mentioned in the query that you are in third year of mechanical engineering, so at present you are only eligible for the University Entry Scheme of Indian Army. Under University Entry Scheme, candidates are shortlisted on the basis of percentage of marks till last semester.

Those whose percentage of marks is above the cut off percentage is called for the direct Service Selection Board.

However when you will be in final year of engineering or after passing out, you will have so many opportunities like:

1. Combined defense Services for joining different academies of defense like IMA, INA, AFA, OTA.

>>Any bachelor's degree candidate can apply for this exam. For AFA and INA, mathematics or physics at 10+2 level or bachelor's degree in engineering is compulsory.

The age limit for IMA is 19-24 years, for INA is 19-22 years, for OTA is 19-25 years.

Only unmarried male and female candidates can apply for the exam.

2. Other than CDS, you can apply for the Airforce Common Admission test conducted by the Indian Airforce twice every year. Being a mechanical engineering, you can apply for the Tehnical, flying and ground duty branch.

The age limit is 19-24 years. In both the entrance exams, written test is followed by Service Selection board. For more details about AFCAT visit www.careerairforce.nic.in.

Work on the general aptitude, English, reasoning and awareness to clear the written test with ease.

You can apply CDS exam to join Indian Air Force and Army after B.E/B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering.

CDS exam stands for Combined Defense Service which is conducted by UPSC twice in a year to join following:

Indian Military Academy

Air Force Academy

Navel Academy

Officer Training Academy

Your age should be between 19-24 years.

Only Unmarried male candidates are eligible for CDS exam.

Selection Process:

Written exam which consist General Ability and Mathematics

SSB Interview

Physical and Medical Test

You can not apply for any entrance exam while studying third year of engineering but you can apply for various entrance exams for joining different wings of defense. The first exam is Combined defense Services.

For this exam, you can apply for joining different academies of defense like IMA, OTA, AFA etc. The age limit is 19-25 years. You must clear the written test and SSB to join these academies.

If you are interested in joining Indian Airforce, you can apply for the AFCAT exam. It stands for Air Force Common Admission test. It is held twice every year by the Air Force. The age limit for flying, technical and ground duty branch is 19-24 years. Written test is of general ability paper and Engineering knowledge test.

Focus on aptitude, reasoning, English and general awareness.

Since you are pursuing the third year of your Bachelor of Engineering course you will be eligible for joining Indian Air force and Indian Army by the next year as you will be in final year of your bachelor's degree course.

But for joining the same you do need to clear CDS examination held twice every year by Union Public Service Commission and is known as CDS I & CDS II.

CDS stands for Combined Defense Services and it has four wings which are Naval Academy ( NA ), Indian Air force Academy ( AFA ), Indian Military Academy ( IMA ) and Officer's Training Academy ( OTA ).

The qualifications required for appearing in the same examination are as here under :-

* You must have the nationality of India.

* You must be physically and mentally fir as per the service requirement norms.

* Your age must not be below 19 years and must not exceed 22 years for NA , 23 years for AFA, 24 years for IMA & 25 years for OTA wing.

* You must have completed your graduation course with any discipline of your choice from a recognized university. But for NA & AFA your bachelor degree must has Physics or Mathematics or Engineering trade as your main subjects. Students pursuing final year of same degree course are also eligible.

The examination is held in two stage which are called as Written examination and Service Selection Board interview which are held in mentioned order.

For further queries regarding the same examination you can log on to the link www.upsc.gov.in.

Originally Posted by Rohab

Hello Sir,
This is Rohan I completed my diploma in Mechanical Engineering and at present I am studying BE (3rd year ) in same stream. And I want to know that at which year I will be able to apply for Indian Airforce or Army. What are s the age limit for exams and in which field I have to be able to apply. And what are all preparation I have to do for the exam. I request you to guide me.

After completion of B.E in Mechanical Engineering you are eligible for Indian Air Force exam through AFCAT exam.

AFCAT is stand for Air Force Common Admission Test.

If you have completed BE/B.Tech degree then you are eligible for flying branch exam but your 12th standard subject must be physics and Mathematics. Your age should be in between 19 to 23 year.

If you have completed BE/B.Tech in Aeronautical engineering from a recognized university then you are eligible for Technical Branch exam. Your age should be in between 18 to 28 year.

If you have completed in PG Degree/Bachelor Degree in any subjects from a recognized university then you are eligible for Ground Duty Branches. Your age should be in between 19 to 27 years.

AFCAT exam pattern :-

There will be 100 questions exam paper(2 hr)
General Awareness
English language.
Numerical Ability.
Reasoning and Military Aptitude Test

Important Date for AFCAT 2015 exam:-

Start of Receipt of Applications: 27th June 2015

Last date for the Receipt of Applications: 23rd July 2015

Date of AFCAT & EKT Exam: 13th September 2015 (Sunday)

Date of Course Commencing: July 2016