![]() Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment Date Raised : 1970-01-01 Location : Bengaluru Aircraft & Systems Testing Establishment (ASTE) started its journey as Armament Testing Unit (ATU) in Kanpur in 1948. In 1957, it was formally raised as Aircraft and Armament Testing Unit (A&ATU) at Kanpur. On 23 August 1972, it was renamed as ASTE and moved to Bangalore in 1973 into the make shift hangars of HAL. As its name implies, ASTE evaluates aircraft and systems for induction into user organisations. Most new aircraft types and major airborne systems must have ASTE's stamp of approval to be considered fit for service in India. While many countries have testing facilities of one kind or the other, training of flight test personnel is not often imparted in them. ASTE's Air Force Test Pilots School (AFTPS) is only the fifth such institution in the world. This is not surprising for the world's fourth largest air force. The combination of flight testing and training makes ASTE Indian Air Force's mini-Edward's Air Force Base (USA) or Boscombe Down (UK) Read Detailed History
Aircraft Types operated over the years: |
Commanding Officers | |||||
Dates | Rank & Name | Number | Remarks | Location | Photo |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
01 Jan 70 to 01 Dec 72 | Group Captain Kapil Bhargava | 3939 GD(P) | Cmdt | Bangalore | |
01 Dec 72 to 01 Feb 73 | Group Captain Chandra Kant Viswanath Gole | 3652 GD(P) | Cmdt | Bangalore | |
01 Mar 73 to 01 Aug 74 | Air Commodore Chandra Kant Viswanath Gole | 3652 GD(P) | Cmdt | Bangalore | |
01 Aug 74 to 30 Apr 75 | Group Captain Ripu Daman Sahni | 3867 GD(P) | Cmdt | Bangalore | |
01 May 75 to 01 Dec 77 | Air Commodore Ripu Daman Sahni | 3867 GD(P) | Cmdt | Bangalore | |
01 Jan 78 to 01 Jul 79 | Air Commodore Partha Kumar Dey | 4404 GD(P) | Cmdt | Bangalore | |
01 Jul 79 to 01 Sep 82 | Air Commodore Pirthi Singh | 4480 GD(P) | Cmdt | Bangalore | |
01 Oct 82 to 02 Jan 85 | Air Commodore Palamadai Muthuswamy Ramachandran | 4973 GD(P) | Cmdt | Bangalore | |
01 Feb 85 to 01 Jul 86 | Air Vice Marshal Partha Kumar Dey | 4404 GD(P) | Cmdt | Bangalore | |
01 Aug 86 to 01 Feb 87 | Air Commodore Ajit Singh Lamba | 4877 GD(P) | Cmdt | Bangalore | |
01 Mar 87 to 28 Apr 91 | Air Vice Marshal Ajit Singh Lamba | 4877 GD(P) | Cmdt | Bangalore | |
29 Apr 91 to 10 Jul 93 | Air Commodore Philip Rajkumar | 6748 GD(P) | Cmdt | Bangalore | |
11 Jul 93 to 01 Jan 96 | Air Commodore Subhash Chandra Rastogi | 8999 GD(P) | Cmdt | Bangalore | |
01 Jan 96 to 31 Dec 96 | Air Commodore Akshay Kumar Thakur | 9724 GD(P) | Cmdt | Bangalore | |
01 Jan 97 to 01 Jan 99 | Air Commodore Pramod Kumar Mehra | 11581 GD(P) | Cmdt | Bangalore | |
01 Jan 99 to 01 Jan 01 | Air Commodore Parvez Hamilton Khokhar | 11860 GD(P) | Cmdt | Bangalore | |
01 Jan 01 to 01 Mar 02 | Air Commodore Arvind Kumar Nagalia | 11633 GD(P) | Cmdt | Bangalore | |
01 Mar 02 to 01 Dec 04 | Air Commodore Anil Chopra | 13368 F(P) | Cmdt | Bangalore | |
01 Dec 04 to 01 Oct 06 | Air Commodore Priya Ranjan Sharma | 13927 F(P) | Cmdt | Bangalore | |
01 Dec 06 to 01 May 08 | Air Commodore Muthumanikam Matheswaran | 14104 F(P) | Cmdt | Bangalore | |
01 May 08 to 01 Dec 10 | Air Commodore Mathappan Jose | 14278 F(P) | Cmdt | Bangalore | |
01 Dec 10 to 27 Dec 11 | Air Commodore Balabhadra Radha Krishna | 17326 F(P) | Cmdt | Bangalore | |
28 Dec 11 to 30 Jun 14 | Air Vice Marshal Raghunath Nambiar | 16378 F(P) | Cmdt | Bangalore | |
01 Jul 14 to 30 Sep 16 | Air Vice Marshal Rajeev Hora | 17141 F(P) | Cmdt | Bangalore | |
01 Oct 16 to 31 Dec 18 | Air Vice Marshal Sandeep Singh | 17312 F(P) | Cmdt | Bangalore | |
01 Jan 19 to 31 May 20 | Air Vice Marshal Shridher Kishore Mohlah | 18259 F(P) | Cmdt | Bangalore | |
01 Jun 20 to 31 Dec 22 | Air Vice Marshal Jeetendra Mishra | 18575 F(P) | Cmdt | Bangalore | |
01 Jan 23 to | Air Vice Marshal Tejpal Singh | 20724 F(P) | Cmdt | Bangalore |