The Chief of the Air Staff , is a military appointment and a statutory office held by an Air Chief Marshal in the Pakistan Air Force, who is appointed by the Prime Minister of Pakistan and final confirmation by the President of Pakistan. The CAS is the highest-ranking officer of the Pakistan Air Force and only pilots are appointed in this post. The Chief of the Air Staff is a senior most military appointment in the Pakistani military who is a senior member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee in a separate capacity, usually providing necessary consultation to the Chairman joint chiefs to act as a principal military adviser to the Prime Minister and its civilian government in the line of defending and guarding the nations's :Template:Borders of Pakistan|airspace and aerial borders. The Chief of Air Staff exercise its responsibility of command and control of the operational, administration, combatant, logistics, and training commands within the Air Force, as an oppose to its U.S. Air Force's Chief of Staff. Due to its statue, the Chief of Air Staff maintain its importance of providing the :Category:Nuclear command and control|strategic control and final decision-making issues relating the nation's national security. The appointment, in principle, is constitutionally subjected for three years but extensions may be granted by the President upon recommendations and approvals from the Prime Minister. The Chief of Air Staff is based on the Air AHQ, and the current Chief of Air Staff is Air Chief Marshal Mujahid Anwar Khan.
History
The Pakistan Air Force was created from the partition of the Royal Indian Air Force after the partition of India in 1947, and were commanded by the appointments approved by the British Air Council. The position was then-known as the Commander in Chief who would directly reported to the Governor-General who was also under British monarchs. At first, the office was held by the two-star rankair officer, an Air Vice Marshal, and later upgraded to a three-star rank, Air Marshal. The British Air Council continued making the appointment at the command level until 1957, when Pakistan had promoted a local air officer to the commanding position. On 20 March 1972, the title of the office was changed from "Commander in Chief" to the "Chief of Air Staff" with Air Marshal Zafar Chaudhry being appointed as the first person to hold the latter title. The Air Force had its first four-star rank officer, an Air Chief Marshal, in 1974. The term of the superannuation was then constrained to three years in the office as opposed to four years and air chief was made a permanent member of Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. Since 1974, there has been 14 four-star rank air force officers who have commanded the air force as its air chief. The Chief of Air Staff is nominated and appointed by the Prime Minister whose appointment is then confirmed by the President. The air force leadership is based in the Air AHQ in Islamabad, at the vicinity of the Navy NHQ. The Chief of Air Staff leads the functions of the Air AHQ, assisted by the civilians from the Air Force Secretariat-II of the Ministry of Defence. The Chief of Air Staff exercise its responsibility of complete operational, training and logistics commands. In addition, the Air chief has several staff officers:
* Vice Chief of Air Staff
**Deputy Chief of Air Staff Aerial Support
**Deputy Chief of Air Staff Training and Evaluation
The Vice Chief of Air Staff is the post that is principal deputy and second-in-command of the Pakistan Air Force, reporting under the Chief of Air Staff. The post is usually held by an Air Marshal, a three-star rank air force general, who is responsible for flight safety, intelligence, procurement, public relations, and the Air War College.
