The Vice Chief of the Air Staff (VCAS) is a statutory office held by the second-highest ranking officer of the Indian Air Force (IAF). Customarily held by a three-star air marshal, the VCAS is the senior most Principal Staff Officer (PSO) to the Chief of the Air Staff (CAS) - the professional head of the IAF. By duty, the VCAS has dual roles: in wartime, to oversee operational planning, capability build-up and force deployment during wartime; in peacetime, to act as an understudy to the CAS during peacetime.
The present VCAS is Air Marshal Nagesh Kapoor who assumed the office on 1 January 2026.
At the time of independence of India on 15 August 1947, Air Commodore Subroto Mukerjee was appointed Deputy Air Commander, Royal Indian Air Force, in addition to being Senior Air Staff Officer (SASO) at the newly-formed Air HQ. On 15 November the same year, he was promoted to the acting rank of Air Vice Marshal.
In 1949, the RIAF was reorganised and the post was re-designated Deputy Chief of the Air Staff (DCAS). The DCAS continued to be the Deputy Air Commander. On 1 January 1963, the post of Vice Chief of the Air Staff was created and became the second-highest post of the Indian Air Force.
The office of VCAS was first held by Air Vice Marshal Diwan Atma Ram Nanda. The appointment was then in the two-star rank of air vice marshal. On 15 January 1966, the office was raised to the three-star rank of Air Marshal and Pratap Chandra Lal was promoted to the rank.
The VCAS ranks at No. 23 on the Indian order of precedence, along with the Vice Chiefs of the Indian Army and Indian Navy and the Army Commanders (GOC-in-C), Naval Commanders (FOC-in-C) and Air Commanders (AOC-in-C).
The VCAS is at the Apex Pay grade (Grade 17), with a monthly pay of â¹225,000 (US$3,200).
The Vice Chief of Air staff is appointed by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister, from among the senior general officers of the Air Force. Since the appointment is of Commander-in-Chief grade, the appointees are usually one of the Air Commanders of the six operational commands.
Unlike the Chief of Air Staff, there is no fixed term nor term limit to the position of the VCAS, although most of those appointed to the office have typically served for one or two year tenures and serve until the age of 60.
The following table chronicles the appointees to the office of the Vice Chief of the Air Staff.
1.Later promoted to the post of the Chief of Air Staff.