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 | |||||
01 Jan 70 - 01 Dec 72Group CaptainKapil Bhargava3939 GD(P)CmdtBangalore | 01 Dec 72 - 01 Feb 73Group CaptainChandra Kant Viswanath Gole3652 GD(P)CmdtBangalore | 01 Mar 73 - 01 Aug 74Air CommodoreChandra Kant Viswanath Gole3652 GD(P)CmdtBangalore | 01 Aug 74 - 30 Apr 75Group CaptainRipu Daman Sahni3867 GD(P)CmdtBangalore | 01 May 75 - 01 Dec 77Air CommodoreRipu Daman Sahni3867 GD(P)CmdtBangalore | |
01 Jan 78 - 01 Jul 79Air CommodorePartha Kumar Dey4404 GD(P)CmdtBangalore | 01 Jul 79 - 01 Sep 82Air CommodorePirthi Singh4480 GD(P)CmdtBangalore | 01 Oct 82 - 02 Jan 85Air CommodorePalamadai Muthuswamy Ramachandran4973 GD(P)CmdtBangalore | 01 Feb 85 - 01 Jul 86Air Vice MarshalPartha Kumar Dey4404 GD(P)CmdtBangalore | 01 Aug 86 - 01 Feb 87Air CommodoreAjit Singh Lamba4877 GD(P)CmdtBangalore | |
01 Mar 87 - 28 Apr 91Air Vice MarshalAjit Singh Lamba4877 GD(P)CmdtBangalore | 29 Apr 91 - 10 Jul 93Air CommodorePhilip Rajkumar6748 GD(P)CmdtBangalore | 11 Jul 93 - 01 Jan 96Air CommodoreSubhash Chandra Rastogi8999 GD(P)CmdtBangalore | 01 Jan 96 - 31 Dec 96Air CommodoreAkshay Kumar Thakur9724 GD(P)CmdtBangalore | 01 Jan 97 - 01 Jan 99Air CommodorePramod Kumar Mehra11581 GD(P)CmdtBangalore | |
01 Jan 99 - 01 Jan 01Air CommodoreParvez Hamilton Khokhar11860 GD(P)CmdtBangalore | 01 Jan 01 - 01 Mar 02Air CommodoreArvind Kumar Nagalia11633 GD(P)CmdtBangalore | 01 Mar 02 - 01 Dec 04Air CommodoreAnil Chopra13368 F(P)CmdtBangalore | 01 Dec 04 - 01 Oct 06Air CommodorePriya Ranjan Sharma13927 F(P)CmdtBangalore | 01 Dec 06 - 01 May 08Air CommodoreMuthumanikam Matheswaran14104 F(P)CmdtBangalore | |
01 May 08 - 01 Dec 10Air CommodoreMathappan Jose14278 F(P)CmdtBangalore | 01 Dec 10 - 27 Dec 11Air CommodoreBalabhadra Radha Krishna17326 F(P)CmdtBangalore | 28 Dec 11 - 30 Jun 14Air Vice MarshalRaghunath Nambiar16378 F(P)CmdtBangalore | 01 Jul 14 - 30 Sep 16Air Vice MarshalRajeev Hora17141 F(P)CmdtBangalore | 01 Oct 16 - 31 Dec 18Air Vice MarshalSandeep Singh17312 F(P)CmdtBangalore | |
01 Jan 19 - 31 May 20Air Vice MarshalShridher Kishore Mohlah18259 F(P)CmdtBangalore | 01 Jun 20 - 31 Dec 22Air Vice MarshalJeetendra Mishra18575 F(P)CmdtBangalore | 01 Jan 23 - Air Vice MarshalTejpal Singh20724 F(P)CmdtBangalore |