AFCAT 01/2027 Recruitment 2026 — 284 Posts

AFCAT 01/2027 Recruitment — 284 Posts

The Indian Air Force has invited online applications for the Air Force Common Admission Test (AFCAT) 01/2027, for the Flying Branch and Ground Duty (Technical and Non-Technical) Branches, along with the NCC Special Entry and GATE Score Entry, for courses commencing in January 2028 at the Air Force Academy, Dundigal. Registration opens on 12 November 2026 at 11:00 AM and closes on 11 December 2026 at 11:30 PM. The online exam will be held on 31 January 2027.

How this post was verified — please read

The official AFCAT hosts (afcat.cdac.in and afcat.edcil.co.in) do not load from our server, so the official documents were read from byte-faithful mirror copies on files.govtjobsalert.in: the 66-page detailed notification and the 2-page Employment News short notice (CBC 10801/11/0010/2827). Every figure in this post is taken from those documents, not from aggregator summaries.

Vacancy total: 284, not 379

Some press coverage reports 379 vacancies. That figure appears nowhere in the detailed notification and the short notice prints no total at all — its Vacancies column reads "As published in Notification for induction cycle 01/2027". The detailed notification's branch-wise table adds up to exactly 284 posts, and this post uses 284. Vacancies are tentative and subject to change without notice. Two seats are reserved from Ground Duty (Non-Technical) vacancies for Law-qualified candidates (3-year LLB after graduation or 5-year LLB after 10+2). Ten percent of Ground Duty (Technical and Non-Technical) vacancies are reserved for NCC Air Wing Senior Division 'C' certificate holders. The NCC Special Entry takes 10 percent of AFCAT SSC seats and 10 percent of CDSE PC (Men) seats — these are within the 284, not extra.

Branches and vacancies

Flying Branch: 36 posts. Ground Duty (Technical): 124 posts — Aeronautical Engineering (Electronics) 88 and Aeronautical Engineering (Mechanical) 36. Ground Duty (Non-Technical): 108 posts — Weapon Systems 30, Administration 53, Logistics 11, Accounts 8, Education 4, Meteorology 2. GATE Score Entry: 16 posts — Aeronautical Engineering (Electronics) 11 and Aeronautical Engineering (Mechanical) 5. See the vacancy table below for course numbers and the eligibility for each branch.

Pay

Flying Officer: Rs. 56,100 to Rs. 1,77,500 per month (Defence Matrix, Level 10) plus Military Service Pay of Rs. 15,500 per month. Flight Cadets receive a fixed stipend of Rs. 56,100 per month during training. Allowances on commissioning depend on branch, duty and place of posting.

Who can apply

Flying Branch: 10+2 with Physics and Mathematics, and a three-year graduation in any discipline, or BE/B.Tech (4 years), or Sections A and B of AMIE (India) / Aeronautical Society of India.

Ground Duty (Technical) Aeronautical Engineering (Electronics): 10+2 with Physics and Mathematics, and a four-year BE/B.Tech or integrated post-graduation in one of 94 listed Electronics, Electrical, Computer and allied disciplines, or MSc Electronics with BSc Physics, or AMIE / Aeronautical Society Sections A and B, or IETE Graduate Membership.

Ground Duty (Technical) Aeronautical Engineering (Mechanical): 10+2 with Physics and Mathematics, and a four-year BE/B.Tech or integrated post-graduation in one of 39 listed Aerospace, Mechanical, Production, Metallurgical and allied disciplines, or AMIE / Aeronautical Society Sections A and B.

Weapon Systems: 10+2 with Physics and Mathematics plus any three-year graduation or BE/B.Tech. Administration and Logistics: 10+2 plus any graduate degree of minimum 3 years, or AMIE / Aeronautical Society Sections A and B. Accounts: 10+2 plus B.Com (minimum 3 years), or BBA/BMS/BBS with Finance specialisation, or qualified CA/CMA/CS/CFA, or B.Sc with Finance specialisation. Education: 10+2 plus post-graduation in any discipline. Meteorology: 10+2 plus B.Sc with Physics and Mathematics, or a four-year engineering degree in one of 22 listed streams.

NCC Special Entry (Flying): Flying Branch qualification plus NCC Air Wing Senior Division 'C' certificate acquired within two years before the AFCAT registration date; the written test is exempted and candidates are called directly to AFSB.

GATE Score Entry: BE/B.Tech in the listed disciplines plus a GATE result declared between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2027 in the listed paper.

Final-year students with no present backlog may apply but must submit proof of completing final exams by 30 November 2027; no extension will be given. A diploma in place of 10+2 is not accepted. No minimum percentage is printed in the eligibility rules. Candidates who failed CPSS earlier, or Flight Cadets suspended from flying training at AFA, are not eligible for the Flying Branch.

The age limit is 20 to 24 years for the Flying Branch (26 years only for valid DGCA Commercial Pilot Licence holders) and 20 to 26 years for Ground Duty (Technical and Non-Technical), including GATE Score Entry, all reckoned as on 01 January 2028. No category-wise age relaxation is listed in the notification. Candidates must be unmarried at the time of commencement of the course, and marriage is not permitted during training.

Fee

AFCAT Entry: Rs. 550 plus 18 percent GST, non-refundable — total payable Rs. 649. Pay online only (net banking, debit card, credit card or UPI) after submitting the form. No cash, cheque or demand draft is accepted. NCC Special Entry: no examination fee. GATE Score Entry: no examination fee.

Exam and selection

The online AFCAT will be held on 31 January 2027 (Sunday) — reporting 8:00 AM, exam 10:00 AM to 12:00 noon. Admit cards can be downloaded from 27 January 2027 (11:00 AM). The test is a computer-based test in English only: 100 questions, 300 marks, 2 hours, covering General Awareness, Verbal Ability in English, Numerical Ability, Reasoning and Military Aptitude; 3 marks for a correct answer, minus 1 for a wrong answer, 0 for an unattempted question. NCC Special Entry candidates are exempt from the written test and are called directly to AFSB; GATE Score Entry candidates are shortlisted on GATE score.

Selection is through the online AFCAT, then AFSB testing (Stage-I screening; Stage-II of five days: psychological tests, group tests and interview; boards at Dehradun, Mysuru, Gandhinagar, Varanasi and Guwahati), then CPSS for the Flying Branch only (once in a lifetime), medical examination and the final merit list (written plus AFSB total).

Training begins in the first week of January 2028 at Air Force Academy, Dundigal (Hyderabad): 74 weeks for Flying and Ground Duty (Technical), 50 weeks for Ground Duty (Non-Technical). Permanent Commission is available for men and women; Short Service Commission is 14 years for Flying and an initial 10 years with a possible 4-year extension for Ground Duty (Technical and Non-Technical). Short Service Commission officers are not entitled to pension.

How to apply

Apply online only at afcat.edcil.co.in. Registration opens on 12 November 2026 at 11:00 AM — the portal was not live at the time this post was verified, before 11:00 AM. A separate registration is needed for each entry (AFCAT, NCC or GATE). Aadhaar is mandatory for registration; a PAN card and an SBI or nationalised-bank account are mandatory at the time of joining the Academy. Apply by 11 December 2026 at 11:30 PM.